Google has turned on a new type of content browser called Fast Flip which loads news articles almost instantly to provide a natural magazine-style page browsing experience.
A media-rich page loads dozens of files and can take as much as 10 seconds to load over broadband. “Fast Flip lets you browse sequentially through bundles of recent news, headlines and popular topics, as well as feeds from individual top publishers,” Google said in an official bog.
As the name suggests, flipping through content using the tool becomes quick and easy, so a web user can speed read through a lot of pages until they find something interesting.
The idea is that by making articles easier to read, the web will attract more users and advertisers.
The company said it has so far partnered with three dozen publishers, including the likes of New York Times, Salon, Marie Claire and Newsweek who will share the revenue earned from relevant ads. Fast Flip will serve up contextual adverts around the page screenshots.
Fast Flip displays stories by topic, by publication or by ‘most viewed.’ Browsers can view only the first page of a story, and those who want to read more have to click through to the website of the relevant publication.
There is also a mobile version of Fast Flip for Android-powered devices and the iPhone. Both versions are available at http://fastflip.googlelabs.com/.
