Page-flip, swipe, scroll: which reading mode to use

The five modes

• Page-flip — a realistic magazine turn with drag-curl. Best for lookbooks, brochures and anything where the page-turn feel matters.
• Swipe — fast horizontal paging, one page at a time. The natural choice for phone-first audiences.
• Scroll — one continuous vertical scroll. Best for long price lists and reference catalogs people skim.
• Spread — two pages side by side, like an open magazine. Great on desktop for design-led catalogs.
• Kiosk — full-bleed and distraction-free. Built for presentations, showrooms and tablets on a stand.

Set defaults per device

You don’t have to choose just one. Set a default mode for desktop and a different one for mobile — for example, spread on desktop and swipe on phones — so each reader gets the best fit automatically. You can also restrict which modes readers are allowed to switch between.

A quick rule of thumb

• Selling visuals (fashion, furniture, promo): page-flip or spread.
• Phone-heavy or social traffic: swipe.
• Long reference lists / wholesale price lists: scroll.
• A showroom screen or a live pitch: kiosk.

Keep going

• How to turn a PDF into an interactive flipbook
• Set up a branding preset you reuse on every catalog