Every term we use, in one place. If we’re calling something a “reel” or a “branching path”, this is what we mean.
WebStory
The whole interactive experience.
A WebStory is a complete, swipeable mobile experience — typically a column of reels with optional branching rows. Brands embed a WebStory as their landing page, onboarding flow, shoppable storefront, or course.
Reel
One frame in the story.
The atomic unit of content. A reel is a single full-screen, vertical frame — video, image, or canvas — that a viewer swipes past. Stories are sequences of reels.
Video reel
Short-form vertical video.
The most common reel type. Usually 5–60 seconds, plays automatically, supports closed captions. Best for testimonials, walkthroughs, and hook moments.
Image reel
A still photo, full-screen.
A photo reel — product shot, lifestyle image, screenshot. Use them between video reels for pacing or as the full medium for image-led stories.
Canvas reel
Photo + text overlays.
A canvas reel is a designed frame: typography, layout, image — composed inside WebStory rather than imported as a flat picture. Best for chapter breaks, quotes, product specs, or anything where words carry the moment.
Branching path
Pick-your-own-adventure for stories.
A row of alternative reels attached to the main column. Viewers self-select which branch to follow at decision points; the main path resumes when they return. Use branching for personalisation, persona splits, or product-line forks.
Column
The main story spine.
The vertical sequence of reels every viewer scrolls through by default. Most stories are one column with a few branching rows.
Row
A horizontal branch off the column.
A horizontal lane of alternative reels at a given decision point. Viewers tap or swipe sideways into a row, see a sequence, then return to the column.
Action
What viewers can do inside the story.
Actions are the interactive primitives WebStory ships with: external links, lead forms, Shopify add-to-cart, calendar bookings. Actions are attached to reel buttons or trigger automatically after a delay.
Reel button
Call-to-action overlaid on a frame.
A button rendered on top of a reel — “Learn more”, “Add to cart”, “Book a call”. Tap-triggered or auto-revealed after a few seconds. Each button fires one action.
CTA preset
Pre-styled button shapes.
WebStory ships a small set of opinionated button styles — arrow, cart, buy-now, sign-up, learn-more — so creators can drop in the shape they need without hand-styling. Branding still controls colour and typography.
Lead form
Capture without redirecting.
An in-story form — email, phone, custom fields — that collects a contact without sending the viewer off-site. Submissions land in the dashboard and pipe through Zapier, Campaign Monitor, or webhooks.
Branding
How a story looks like your brand.
Per-story branding controls: logo, primary and secondary colours, navigation tint, aspect ratio. Reusable across stories so a creator’s third WebStory looks like their first.
Published snapshot
The live version of a story.
The frozen, deployed copy of a WebStory that viewers see. Edits in the dashboard are draft work; nothing changes for the public until you hit publish — so you can stage updates without breaking what’s live.
Story link
The shareable URL for a story.
Every published story gets its own URL on a brand subdomain (e.g. brand.webstory.app). On the Custom plan, swap in your own domain.
