2017

• Orientation switching: Most devices support orientation switching, so regardless
of the target platform, you'll probably have to think about doing two different
layouts.
Operating systems
A sad fact of designing for digital devices is this: different operating systems require
different apps. If you want to make content available natively on as many phones as
possible, you may need to find or create an e-reader for iOS, Android, Windows OS,
webOS, and Blackberry OS. Even the same OS can work differently on different devices
(for example, different devices run different "flavors" of Android).
Fortunately, there are several ways to avoid having to write a native app for each
operating system. For example:
• You can deliver content using a special version of your Web site that is designed
for use on mobile devices.
• You can deliver content using a generic platform that delivers players for different
platforms. For example, you can view Flash content on any platform for which
there is a Flash player. However, you cannot currently view Flash content on iOS,
and Flash support is still evolving even on mobile platforms that do support it.
• You can deliver content using a proprietary platform that delivers players for
different platforms. For example, HTML5 content is readable on a wide variety of
platforms, and offers the ability to include interactive content for multiple
platforms, as well as static text. HTML5 Publications from QuarkXPress can be
read on variety of mobile and tablet devices including desktop browsers.
• You can deliver content using a generic format that can be read on almost any
platform, such as HTML5, ePub or PDF.
Multimedia format limitations
When choosing a delivery format, keep in mind that not all multimedia files are
supported on all platforms. For example, video must be encoded to H.264 format in
order to be viewed on iOS, and support for Flash is currently unavailable on iOS devices
and limited on many other devices.
Delivery formats
There are several types of formats for delivering content to handheld devices:
• Open formats such as HTML5, ePub, and PDF. Formats such as these can be
attractive because of their ability to display on almost any device and operating
system. However, you should keep in mind that it can be difficult to monetize
content in an open format that has no established framework for control and
distribution.
• Device-specific or OS-specific formats, such as apps for iOS or Android. Content
in this type of format may allow only for limited release, but may allow the author
14 | DIGITAL PUBLISHING WITH QUARKXPRESS 2017
HARDWARE, OPERATING SYSTEMS, AND FORMATS