Industry Talk

The need of the hour is information on the go and to address this issue of information anytime anywhere, users demanded information on their easily accessible. But it did pose problems initially with information being reformatted to suit its technicalities. But the evolving field of computing and communication resolved this annihilating factor with the concept of content adaptation.

Web content adapts to any device!

Web development professionals and web service providers had to cater to the varying range of users each requiring a different version of the content. Such multiple versions of same content had to be created by considering the end users’ device’s computing power such as display resolution, memory space, CPU power, and network bandwidth as well as software running on it. To complicate the situation the web servers had to publish content according to the specific client preferences for content. This phenomenon was popularly phrased as personalization of content. Obviously this was an ordeal for the web content writers and web designers.

Most of the information would be tuned to suit the mobile users but it was observed that the variety of electronic devices imposed a new set of challenges which the W3C Device Independence Working Group described in its report Authoring Challenges for Device Independence. With the trend for content adaptation users and content publishers breathe easy! No longer did web authors need to deliver separate content for different devices.

Accessing the web through the mobile made easy with the introduction of content adaptation

With content adaptation device-independent markup language, such as XDIME could be converted for implementation into XHTML Basic, C-HTML or WML.  Plus a suitable device-specific CSS style sheet or a set of in-line styles can be generated from abstract style definitions. The prerequisite for content adaptation however is a processor that performs the selection, modification and generation of materials to form the device-specific result. Some such popular processors are IBM’s Websphere Everyplace Mobile Portal (WEMP), BEA Systems’ WebLogic Mobility Server, Morfeo’s MyMobileWeb and Apache Cocoon

Some other tools that are essential for content adaptation are Wurfl and WALL which are open source tools. The former is an XML-based Device Description Repository containing APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) to access the data in Java, PHP and other programming languages. A web developer uses WALL (Wireless Abstraction Library) to create mobile pages that resemble plain HTML, but actually converts them to WML, C-HTML and XHTML Mobile Profile depending on the capabilities of the HTTP request generating (sourcing) device.

Not many software can match up to LaTex, which emerged as one of the most fascinating desktop publishing tools in the 1980s. This document markup language and document preparation system is a delight for mathematicians, scientists, engineers, philosophers, linguists, economists and other academicians.  Typesetting for academia related publications attained a new perspective with the launch of this software. It offered automated inclusion of essential academic requirements like cross-referencing, tables and figures, page layout and bibliographies.

Monotype Typesetting Machine : An antique piece in this era of software aided typesetting for the publishing industry

LaTeX is as integral to typesetting as grids and templates to graphic designing. Another reason why LaTex became so popular was the fact that it is a free software marketed under the LaTeX Project Public License (LPPL). Like most other software in vogue nowadays LaTeX too has undergone up-gradation to meet the needs of its users. Currently the LaTeX2e is in use. However, LaTeX3 which was started in the early 1990s is near completion with plans to launch it in the market by 2010. This version it is said will include additional features especially hyperlink support.

The LaTeX3 project is a volunteer project funded by donations. Recent developments of the LaTeX3 which is still in its beta version include the revision of the xparse and the xtemplate. The xparse package allows complex documents to be with a variety of optional arguments and flags.  On the other hand as the LaTeX project site itself informs, the new improved xtemplate enables users to separate the logical information from the visual part of the document. With this new version templates can be swapped with having to change the markup of the source document or to edit internal LaTeX macro. In near future, the engineers aim at compiling these with the xpackages as a whole.

For the publishing and advertising industries layout is a very important aspect. To provide the campaign, book, website or any other sort of publication the necessary visual appeal layout is an intrinsic attribute and grids and templates are absolutely integral to the concept of layout. Innumerable images, illustrations, logos, pictures that account for the publication’s imploring ocular charm rests on the appropriate use of these layout design patterns. It is obvious that layout does enhance the credibility and saleabilty of the publication.

Grids: The Quintessential Element of Graphic Designing

Grid is defined as set of measuring lines that serve as parameters for imaging and drawing. They are invisible to the end user but extremely crucial for the designers. The primary purpose of grids is aligning page elements. The graphic designer’s skill comes to play in manipulating the grid lines to arrange the elements in the best possible orientation. Another important factor that the grid takes care of is the repetition of design styles. While concentrating on the graphic designing part the expert has to pay equal attention to the congruency of the repetitive elements. It is true, grid lines are not very difficult to create but it is in implementing them to create the final page that needs sufficient acumen.

Mostly grids are defined for a certain set of publications like literature covers, inside spreads, back pages, presentation title and text slides, advertisements, etc. However, this does not mean that grid lines cannot be experimented with. Usually the desktop publishing software allows for grids in the form of a page containing automatic dots placed at specific places at equal horizontal and vertical distances. Sometimes automatic margins or gutter (booklet spine lines) are determined beforehand for applying it globally for all the documents.

But to conform to the diverse fields of publication some programs deviate from the usual set of grid lines and incorporate more dynamic styles. For instance, Xara has the option to choose an isometric grid, Freehand has a special tool, Illustrator comprises a plug-in, CorelDraw transforms the object perspectives and so on.  Even the 3M brand identity system having a specific grid order has a separate montage field, allowing different businesses and advertisements to use the space to develop their exclusivity.

Templates - Giving the user a freedom to design and customize their web page

Grids are at all times not meant for the end audience but templates contrarily are created for the user to see. The graphic designer builds a template and leaves scope for the person to customize it for their end needs. There is no skill or expertise required to modify page elements on a template. Blog users especially would be aware of how templates provide them with a free hand meddle with and experiment with the layout – repositioning the foreground elements and at times altering the background colour. Designers find Adobe Illustrator pretty handy because in the special templates images can be drawn simply by tracing almost as if a tracing paper was placed on it.

Collage of Web Templates

Software templates can be constructed or created by duplicating a template data file, or with master page features in a multiple-page document. Master pages frequently include grid elements and template elements such as header and footer elements, automatic page numbering, and automatic table of contents features for faster and adept designing solutions.

Newsweek began its venture as a magazine with Thomas J.C. Martyn as its founder on February 17, 1933. But within a year it collaborated with Today to popularize the business by investing $600,000 in addition to the initial investments. The total expenditure in raising the business and promoting it as one of the most sought for published journals was nearly $2.5 million.

But print publications were improving and catching up with the fast paced electronic mode of information exchange to prevent an early departure from the realm of booming business. Newsweek trailed on Times toes but while the latter retained its reader base, Newsweek admitted of a setback.  The conspicuous web developments that ensued made it mandatory for the publishing houses to use the electronic media effectively. Times and the other popular newspapers and journals worldwide quickly launched websites and started publishing news online.

A Once Upon A Time Promising Publishing House

The web has not spelt doomsday for journals and print media but compelled them to secure a virtual location on the Internet in addition to their already existing physical business. Apparently, Newsweek was unprepared for the sudden change. Though economists and industrialists suspected the Newsweek’s business crisis, it was only as late as May 2010 that the Washington Post, the owner of the magazine, confessed to the decision of selling the Newsweek magazine.

The Newsweek worldwide circulation recorded a humungous 4 million readers in 2003 including the 2.7 million readership base in the U.S. These numbers drastically fell to less than 1.5 million in 2010. The economic depression that hit the global market did account for its losses but Newsweek was written off from the publishing business (as the magazine itself admitted) because of the lack of web proficiency required to compete with businesses that had extended online.

The magazine perhaps did get a hint of its publication’s sorry state and the organization underwent an overhaul in 2008-2009. But instead of diversifying or exploring the online scope further, Newsweek played safe and decided instead to limit its reader base. Readership retrogressively progressed with Newsweek’s attempt to aim only a select ‘elite’ few. Meacham, editor of Newsweek explained this strategy as “counterintuitive”. It discouraged renewals and creative endeavours in an age where businesses thrive on ‘innovation’.