The word stories is already heard even in the soup: Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook … they all have stories as their favorite son, even Twitter is preparing the way. Stories are fast content, ideal for keeping up with something without investing a lot of time,
The fact is that Google is also betting on something like that, and for this we have already seen details of how AMP stories work, a format that is gradually becoming more popular, and that already has a plugin for WordPress.
Available on google.github.io in beta state (not recommended for production environments and yes for the brave), it has a very simple operation, as can be seen in that Twitter post:
Web Stories are coming to WordPress!
The first public beta is now available (for the adventurous) to install & test.
More info here: https://t.co/KYUwyF8h8j pic.twitter.com/55qKNX1c4s
– Paul Bakaus (@pbakaus) July 1, 2020
It has a function to drag the background, put masks, respect the security area, put text with good contrast … as well as links with tips that will help us create appropriate stories that point to our content.
Web Stories is an immersive, tappable, and easily shareable storytelling format. Web stories are created using a subsection of the AMP framework. Web Stories is an opportunity for creators and publishers to structure content into a visually rich and engaging full-screen experience for users.
Recommendations for Web Stories
To get the most out of it we have to tell complete and interesting stories, with covers with high quality images and an attractive title, without having a text below 10 words per page.
When we use videos, the shorter ones are the best, so it will have to be told in less than 15 seconds. An average length of 10-20 pages allows most authors to tell a good narrative.
Animations should not be abused, and you have to pay attention to the transition time (remember, the reader’s time is money).
It is not about making stories of anything. You have to plan the introduction of the story, create an arc and build a complete narrative. Once we know what we mean, divide it. Just as complex as writing a YouTube video script.
Each Web Story should be a minimum of 4 pages and ideally less than 30.
Google’s Web Stories plugin
Once the plugin is installed, we will have it in the side menu, in the Web Stories section, where we can click on create a new one to start. We can add photos, texts and colors, creating pages, one after another, to finish specifying the logo of the publication and the cover. In the right menu we have the format of what we are publishing (colors, font, shadows, transparencies …), while at the top there will be the option to publish or leave as a draft.
The story will be available in a specific url (it is possible to define the permanent link) and publish it in a publication if we wish. Here’s one that I created a few hours ago as an example: click here. Although I have done the design from scratch in about 5 minutes, it is possible to choose one of the available templates (there are not many at the moment).
