9.0

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.
Generally speaking, multimedia elements should be used only when they introduce value
that could not otherwise be harvested from the content. An audio sample in an article
about a band might be appropriate, where an audio sample from an interview with a
dull-sounding subject might not.
When you do use multimedia elements, make sure the control of those multimedia elements
is squarely in the hands of your users. A movie that plays when users first view a page
might be fine in a publication where the user is unlikely to visit that page again, but could
become tiresome if the user has to sit through the movie each time he or she returns to
the page. Instead of having such multimedia elements start automatically, consider
providing clear visual indicators of their presence and allowing the user to decide whether
he/she wants to view and/or listen to them. Just as importantly, make sure the user always
has an obvious way to stop the playback of a multimedia element, in case he or she decides
against viewing or listening to it.
In situations where you provide visual indicators of the presence of multimedia elements,
it may be tempting to get creative, but your users will probably be happiest if you use
industry-standard visual cues. For example, if you want to indicate that a box contains a
video snippet, a right-facing triangle in the center of the window is probably the clearest
way you can indicate this. Similarly, a horizontal bar with a play button is the preferable
way to indicate the presence of an audio clip.
It's also important to adhere to industry standards when it comes to navigation. As of this
writing, the standard way to navigate from one page to the next on a handheld device is
to use a horizontal swipe of the finger. On multi-touch screens, the current standard for
zooming in and out is to use pinch-in and pinch-out gestures. On devices that do not
support such gestures, arrow icons work well for page turning, and magnifying glass icons
work well for zooming. (This may seem obvious, but it's still important enough to mention.)
If you want to create a high-end digital publication, one of the most important mistakes
you might want to avoid is creating something that looks like it was created by mindlessly
shoving content into a template. There's nothing wrong with starting from a template,
DIGITAL PUBLISHING WITH QUARKXPRESS 9 | 15
MISTAKES TO AVOID