Digital Publishing with QuarkXPress 9
CONTENTS Contents Introduction.......................................................................................3 Quark digital publishing options.......................................................4 Defining your goals and limitations...................................................5 Characterizing your content...................................................................................5 Assessing your customers' needs........................................................................
INTRODUCTION Introduction Digital publishing is a huge publishing opportunity. In fact, maybe a little too huge. There are so many options - and so many uncertainties — that decision-making can be a bit daunting. To make things even more complex, the answer to most of the questions you're likely to ask is probably, "It depends." The purpose of this Guide is to help you to make good decisions about digital publishing, so that your efforts will meet with success.
QUARK DIGITAL PUBLISHING OPTIONS Quark digital publishing options The purpose of this topic is to present the digital publishing options available through Quark® for quick reference. You may want to refer back to this table as you read about the various aspects of digital publishing referred to in the rest of the document.
DEFINING YOUR GOALS AND LIMITATIONS Defining your goals and limitations When you think about digital publishing, it's easy to assume that your first questions should be: • Which devices do I want to publish to? • What format do I want to publish in? • Which tools do I want to use? However, this may not be the best place to start.
DEFINING YOUR GOALS AND LIMITATIONS Examples of layout view (left) and reflow view (right) If your content is designed to make a strong visual impression, if you need to maintain your branding, and if you want to include multimedia components, you might want to consider creating a custom app, or using App Studio to create content that can be viewed in a custom reader app.
DEFINING YOUR GOALS AND LIMITATIONS • Do you want to provide your users with industry-standard navigation controls and icons that they can use without having to think about it too hard, or do you want to create custom controls that provide a more unique experience? • Do you plan to deliver the same content on the Web? If so, what (if anything) should differentiate the Web version of the content from the version delivered on handheld devices? If there are no meaningful differences between the presentation o
DEFINING YOUR GOALS AND LIMITATIONS provide a default or "fallback" image or other graphic element in each spot where you display content live via the Web. For more information about the formats discussed here, see "Hardware, operating systems, and formats." Planning for distribution Just as there are many different ways to distribute print content, there are many different ways to distribute content for handheld devices.
DEFINING YOUR GOALS AND LIMITATIONS When you're thinking about advertising, you might also want to think about analytics. Do you want your app to provide you with information about how it's being used, and how your content is being consumed? Both iAd and AdMob include options for gathering such information and using it to tailor advertising.
HARDWARE, OPERATING SYSTEMS, AND FORMATS 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.
HARDWARE, OPERATING SYSTEMS, AND FORMATS • 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.
HARDWARE, OPERATING SYSTEMS, AND FORMATS • 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 to take advantage of the existing infrastructure of an institution such as the Apple App Store and the Android Marketplace. Writing your own app also leaves you leeway to create pretty much anything you want, provided you're willing to put in the effort.
GENERAL DESIGN APPROACH General design approach Before you start designing anything, you should know as much as possible about the answers to the questions asked earlier in this document. The features and limitations of the format(s), operating system(s), and device(s) you're targeting may severely limit your choices when it comes to design. If you feel like you already have a good understanding of what you want to create, here are some suggestions on how to approach creating it.
GENERAL DESIGN APPROACH A page stack • Build and test your templates. If you're templating multiple publications, make sure you think about orientation during the templating phase and do plenty of testing before you start using those templates in production. Test your fonts, colors, styling, and UI on all of the devices you plan to publish to.
MISTAKES TO AVOID Mistakes to avoid Digital publishing is an extremely flexible medium. This flexibility means it's possible to do amazing things, but it also means there are pitfalls that you may not be aware of. For example, just because you can use multimedia elements such as movies, slideshows, and audio in a digital publication, that doesn't mean you should do so on every page.
MISTAKES TO AVOID but if you don't use some of the design features that are offered by high-end tools such as QuarkXPress, you may be leaving money on the table. Lastly, always make sure you test your digital publications on inexperienced users before releasing them. This is a great way to reveal design flaws that otherwise might not be obvious. For example, it's easy to design a page that includes full-screen multimedia elements that can prevent the user from being able to turn the page.
WHERE TO GO NEXT Where to go next Nobody really knows what's going to happen next with digital publishing. It's a new market, with new players and new tools, and it's difficult to predict which direction it's going to evolve in. The best you can do is learn as much as you can about how the market works and the tools you can use to enter it - so whatever happens next, you're ready. We hope you find this guide is helpful in that respect.
LEGAL NOTICES Legal notices © 1986-2012 Quark Software Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Protected by the following United States Patents: 5,541,991; 5,907,704; 6,005,560; 6,052,514; 6,081,262; 6,633,666 B2; 6,947,959 B1; 6,940,518 B2; 7,116,843; and other patents pending. Quark, the Quark logo, Quark Publishing System, and QPS are trademarks or registered trademarks of Quark Software Inc. and its affiliates in the U.S. and/or other countries.
