If you are using our school website CMS you will be aware that the ‘documents’ section allows you to upload in a large number of file formats including PDF, DOC, PPT, RTF, WPD, ODT and more. When you upload a file, it is instantly sent over to Issuu and within seconds is available as a beautiful, interactive reader.

While Issuu is a really great tool there are limitations and there are certain types of publications it is better for than others.

Using Issuu for glossy brochures

Have a look at the example below. This is a great example of how to use Issuu within your school website. The content is rich, the design is professional and it very much brings the page to life. This is the very best way of using Issuu within your site.

Text-Heavy Documents

We completely understand the temptation to use Issuu all over your website but there are certain things that are better handled in a different way. The best example of this is the policies page on your school website. If you have 15-20 individual policies, adding an embedded Issuu reader into a single page for each one will be difficult to use no matter what device the user is on, plus it will take significantly longer to load the page. Big no no.

So what is the alternative? Have a look at this for a really good example of a policies page – ww.walmsley.bolton.sch.uk/parents/school-policies

Not a particularly exciting page but it is functional, easy to use and does exactly what it needs to; it make it easy for users to get at important, text-heavy documents and download them.

Other Information about Issuu

There are one or two limitations with Issuu. Firstly, there isn’t an option to download and print so make sure you bear that in mind. Certain documents on your website really need that option so, particularly for policies, steer clear.

There are also a few brilliant features which you may be interest in.
Issuu has a great app, particularly for iOS that is worth a look.
The files that are embedded use HTML5 which means they will work on any device – that’s a big deal!
Analytics is included if you sign up for your own account and don’t rely on our integration. That’s useful if you need information on how many times one of your documents has been read and for how long.
Again, a premium feature, but there are options for social sharing available within Issuu as well that you may find helpful to take full control.

Issuu is a great tool, a really great tool. As with anything though, just be aware of what the best applications are when using it.