Storehouse+Description

I had fun using this app, with that said it's very much a version 1.0 app just yet (January 2014).

The app allows you to create an immersive storytelling experience using pictures, text, and videos. You can have up to 50 images or videos and the videos can be no longer than 30 seconds each. I loved that I can use images from my camera roll, dropbox, flickr, and instagram accounts.

I liked the design constraints: text elements use a full line across "the page" but pictures and videos snap to various preset arrangements. Playing around with the placement of images or videos gives you a good feel for where things can go (1, 2, or 3 pictures (which you can crop as you like) fit across the page, not 4.) I really liked that you can have pictures or videos bleed over the edges to give a full screen experience. Using the audio track from the videos used in the story can help create a mood to accompany the text. I tried to do that in the Dominoe example linked below.

I'm not thrilled with the viewing & sharing options. The best viewing experience is in the app. You have to create a free account to use the app. When your story is done you can share it with others who don't have an iPad (the only device on which this app will work to date – Jan 2014) with a link to the story on the Storehouse website. The videos I embedded in the story of Dominoe play really well in the app enhancing the immersive experience. They don't play at all on the website. In order to view a story made by someone else in the app you have to do an in-app search for their user name; then you can browse through their stories.

This is a really fun storytelling app; I really like the immersive in-app experience it offers. I wish it was a similar experience on the web and I wish I could embed stories on other websites rather than just linking to them.

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