“One of the top sites featuring Israel with 33 VRs from four regions of the country.”

Experience Israel is a virtual reality tour of the the holy land, featuring 33 virtual realies from four regions of the country – and these regions comprise the four sections of the website: Jerusalem, the Coast, Galilee and the Dead Sea.

The website was originally developed in 2002 – when virtual reality was in its infancy. The webite has since gone through two major renovations and rebuilds.

As the web development and technologies have advanced, Experience Israel has had to adapt and change. In the most recent iteration of the website done in 2014, the website was became responsive –  accommodating multiple device platforms including tablets and mobile phones. Because of the content, the platform needed to be flexible, yet preserve the high-fidelity of the material. 

The original Flash content was replaced with HTML5/CSS compliant formats that were friendlier to mobile devices' batteries and still allowed an excellent experience.

Developing a custom virtual reality platform that would provide a smooth user experience was challenging from a technical standpoint. In addition to making the site responsive and HTML5/CSS compatible by replacing Flash, the site also needed:

• Compatible with a Single-Page 
• Scroll Design
• Rotator Compatible with Proprietary Virtual Reality Files
• Retractable Drawer Controls
• Clickable Map Controls
• Clickable Thumbnails
• Information Box Controls
• Compatible JQuery Plugins

Plans are already in the works for the next version.