2017

Hardware, operating systems, and
formats
When you're thinking about publishing to handheld devices, it's good to know as
much as possible about the hardware, operating systems, and formats currently available
for such devices.
Hardware
It's important to know which types of hardware you want to make your content
available on because different devices have different advantages and disadvantages.
For example:
• Physical size: If you're designing content for delivery on a smaller screen, you
probably want to design it differently than you would for a larger screen. When
designing for a large screen, you might augment the table of contents with
thumbnail previews for each item — but on a smaller screen, you might want to
keep thumbnail images to a minimum. On smaller screens, you might also want
to give serious thought to providing access to all of your content in reflow view.
• Resolution: When designing on a computer monitor, keep in mind that the
resolution you're designing at might be different from the resolution your content
will be viewed at. If the resolution of your monitor is significantly higher or lower
than the resolution of the device you're designing for, you need to keep that
difference in mind during design. It also means you should do usability testing
with your content early on, to avoid committing yourself to a design that may
be unreadable when viewed on the target device.
• Network access: Does the device you're designing for have constant access to the
Internet? Or is it designed to download content only from a proprietary server,
like the Amazon Kindle? If the device has constant access to the network, is it
only at a limited speed or limited file size? You need to know the answers to these
questions if you're planning to provide on-the-fly downloadable content such as
updates or magazine issues.
• User interface: Selecting and zooming are a major part of the experience of
consuming content on a digital device. Does the device you're designing for have
a touch screen? If so, what gestures does it support? If you're designing for multiple
devices, do you know what kind of gestures they all support? Does every device
you want to use support multiple orientations?
DIGITAL PUBLISHING WITH QUARKXPRESS 2017 | 13
HARDWARE, OPERATING SYSTEMS, AND FORMATS