Hi. I’m new here. I live in Greece and in the past have published hard copy tourist magazines. I’m now venturing into the world of digitally formatted magazines and so have one simple question to ask of you. Which programme/app would you use to create a flippy A4 looking magazine for laptop/tablet users that is also compatible with smart phones, even if it means creating 2 separate issues? At present I’m looking at flipsnack (with a little In Design thrown in for extra versatility in templates) v In Design + In5. Has anyone used these and are there other options I should be looking at?
Many thanks
If you subscribe to Adobe’s Creative Cloud, you already have a built-in digital publishing platform using InDesign that works in all major browsers on any platform. Of course, if you ever drop your CC subscription, it goes away.
I have a client who requested that I use it for their biannual event catalog.
By the way, welcome to the forum. 
AFAIK if you drop your Adobe subscription it stays on the servers for 90 days - you just don’t have access to the metrics or the updates - you can simply resubscribe for a month or a year whatever suits and update what you need or get the metrics. Adobe says it ‘may’ delete the content after 90 days… so you’ll have time to sort your stuff out.
Everything has a caveat - subscription - or buyer beware - hosting costs.
Just like Adobe if you stop paying your hosting website the content won’t be available either.
It’s about doing research and finding out what suits you best
I’ve done quite a lot in the past and here’s my view
FlipSnack
Easy to use drag and drop. You can have interactive features like links, videos, animations, etc.
It works across platforms.
It’s all cloud based so no need for special software.
Limited compared to InDesign in terms of layout and advanced design.
Full features require ongoing payment.
nDesign + in5
InDesign offers best customisation and precision for professional design.
in5 allows exporting interactive HTML5 publications that work well on laptops, tablets, and phones.
Animations, clickable buttons, embedded videos, etc.
Create separate layouts for different devices.
Learning Curve
Requires more expertise, especially with interactivity in InDesign.
Manual optimisation design for different screen sizes if responsiveness isn’t perfect.
InDesign subscription + in5 plugin purchase can be pricey.
Others
Adobe Express
Simple, visually appealing digital magazines.
Limited in terms of interactivity but good for basic, responsive content.
Canva Pro
Offers design tools and templates, though it’s not as robust as InDesign.
Simple for creating engaging flipbook-style content.
FlippingBook
Focused on converting PDFs into responsive, interactive flipbooks.
Easy to use and mobile-friendly, though not as design-centric as InDesign.
Lucidpress
Web-based and user-friendly, with solid design capabilities.
Ideal for collaborative workflows, though interactivity is limited compared to in5.
Foleon
Enterprise-level tool for creating highly interactive, responsive magazines.
Expensive but powerful for professional-grade publications.
PubHTML5
Converts PDFs into HTML5 flipbooks, much like in5 but with simpler tools.
Less feature-rich than in5 but more affordable.
OK, thanks for that.