John Kirkwood reports on a DTP system to suit novice publishers and Web page creators alike.
Problem: What do you do when you wish to produce professional quality publicity material, and you have only a small marketing budget?
Solution: Use a desktop publishing system on a personal computer, linked to a high-quality colour printer.
Problem: Most desktop publishing packages require a high level of competence to obtain satisfactory results.
Solution: Employ a system that has been designed to automate most of the technical functions.
Problem: What if it is necessary to incorporate photographs within the publicity material?
Solution: Use a digital camera, and simply “drag and drop” the images into documents.
Problem: In addition to producing paper-based documents, it would be useful to transfer the same material onto a Web site on the Internet.
Solution: Use a program, like i publish, that enables Web pages to be created automatically from existing documents.
For those familiar with this scenario it is comforting to know that low-cost information systems are now available that permit high-quality documents and Web pages to be produced in-house relatively easily.
For example, a small-scale estate agency practice could produce its own property marketing brochures, using a system costing less than £1,300. This might consist of a personal computer (£800), an inkjet colour printer (£150), a digital camera (£250) and a desktop publishing (DTP) package (£60).
The use of digital cameras and colour printers was examined in a previous systems review (November 15, p146). This review explores how these elements could be combined with Design Intelligence’s i publish desktop publishing package to generate marketing material on paper, or on the World Wide Web, or as on-screen presentations.
Design Intelligence describe i publish as “desktop publishing software that makes it easier for people without design training to create compelling, professional-looking documents”. The product was launched in May 1997 and recently Version 2.0 was released, which incorporates a number of key enhancements.
Initially, i publish could be mistaken for just another DTP system. But Design Intelligence claims that it has “implemented a flexible, core technology that fully delivers on the promise of built-in design expertise for publishing software”.
A conventional DTP system suffers from two interrelated problems. First, although the user is presented with a wealth of functions, extensive training is required to exploit these fully. Second, even when the functions have been mastered, it does not mean that the user automatically becomes a good designer: giving someone a set of power tools does not make them a carpenter.
Documents by design
Design Intelligence recognised the need for a new approach, and set out to “intelligently re-invent publishing”. As Keith Brintzenhofe, president of the company, states: “We are building software smart enough to automatically recognise content, dynamically apply design expertise and instantly publish for print, intranet and Internet distribution – all from within the same application.”
The design philosophy behind i publish is that intelligence can be built into a DTP application. The company believes that DTP systems should be inherently knowledgeable about three inseparable aspects of document creation: content (what goes into a document); design (how the content is laid out); and media output (how the document is distributed).
The result is a system which allows users to pick a document group, such as report, letter or brochure, select a layout (number of columns, position of pictures, etc), pick alternative schemes for colour, graphic effects, fonts and paragraph styles, “drag and drop” text and pictures from other sources and then publish.
This approach to DTP is another example of how it takes time before new technology is used creatively. At first, information technology is used to replicate traditional processes, but more efficiently and effectively. Eventually, new methods are adopted which exploit the technology fully.
For example, computers have been used for some time to assist with the production of documents. Word processors and DTP systems have enabled documents to be created with relative ease. But this conventional approach fails to exploit the potential of computers to “think for us”.
This is accomplished within i publish by the use of Intelligent Objects, which Decision Graphics describes as “an innovative extension of object-based computer programming”. This means that it is possible to attach attributes and decision-making capabilities to every object on a page, be it an image, a headline or a caption.
To create a document with i publish the user first has to select an intelligent template and a scheme set.
The intelligent template controls the layout of the document and ensures that changing the design is not the tedious, manual process normally associated with desktop publishing.
The templates are made up of “intelligent components” containing the user’s text and pictures. Within any given template, each component knows its function and its relationship to other components. Hence, designing documents is semi-automatic. The scheme chosen controls the design characteristics of a document, including colours, fonts and borders.
Once a template and scheme set have been selected the document is ready to receive text and pictures.
Choice of formats
Five categories of document are provided in i publish: reports, correspondence, catalogues, newsletters and brochures.
The reports group is used for long text documents. Letters, memos and faxes may be created using the correspondence group. The catalogues option is ideal for company bulletins and documents. This category may be used as the basis for Web pages.
The newsletter group may be used to originate newsletters of any length or style. Finally, three-panel brochures (with printing on both sides of the page) or photo albums may be created using the brochures group.
A major feature of i publish is the use of “drag and drop”. This enables text or pictures to be transferred easily from other documents, such as a word processing file.
The user simply clicks on a picture or highlighted text and, while holding the mouse button down, moves the pointer over to the i publish document. When the mouse button is released, it automatically fits and formats the text or picture into the space available.
I used this method to create a brochure for the new postgraduate course in Property Information Management at Sheffield Hallam University. The resources I required were already stored on my computer. These consisted of the text from an earlier brochure in MS Word, a digital photograph of the university’s atrium (taken with the Nikon Coolpix 300) and the university’s logo (stored as a GIF image). All these were incorporated in the new brochure using “drag and drop”.
At first, I found i publish very irritating. Being used to conventional DTP systems, I was inclined to try to edit every detail. Then I decided to let the system do the work and accept whatever it generated. The result was a very impressive, high-quality colour brochure that was significantly better than my earlier word-processed document.
Having created the course brochure I converted it into a set of interlinked Web pages more or less at the touch of a button. The user simply clicks on “publish for Web” and enters a small selection of parameters in a dialogue box.
The program uses an alternative set of screens for Web pages, to reflect the different requirements of computer screen design compared with the printed page.
Each online screen set controls the colours, background texture and graphic effects, such as lines, bullets, symbols and navigation arrows. The Web pages are created automatically and the results are very impressive.
However, before transferring the pages on to the Internet, I found it necessary to edit the HTML code. For example, on the Web page menu the last item is automatically called “back panel”. This was changed to “address”, which then linked to the address information held on the back panel of the brochure. This illustrates that although the user can create Web pages without any HTML experience, it is necessary to accept what one is given.
The Web pages I created on i publish may be inspected via the Property Computer Systems Web page (http://www.demon.co.uk/property/).
As a final test I published my document as an on-screen presentation. I was able to create this from my original brochure with just four clicks of the mouse.
Not such an easy read
However, the result was less satisfactory than the Web pages. For example, each brochure panel appeared as a separate screen, but where there was a large amount of text this could be viewed only using a scroll bar. In my view, large lumps of text should be split between several, linked screens.
Overall, i publish is a package that could have been designed with estate agents in mind – particularly where relatively low volumes of output are required. For those who like their technology as simple and effective as possible, it provides an innovative approach to DTP.
- i publish is desktop publishing software that makes it easier for people without design training to create compelling, professional-looking documents. Users “drag and drop” their text and graphics into a pre-designed layout, and the software handles everything else – flowing text into columns, sizing pictures, applying colours and text styles, and much more.
- One-click revisions encourage experimentation, since users can make changes in a single step. In addition, print documents are easily converted to a Web format or on-screen presentations, complete with a home page, navigational aids, and electronic addresses converted to live links to the Web.
FUNCTIONS
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FORMAT FLEXIBILITY
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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
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TARGET AUDIENCE
i publish is aimed at busy professionals with little or no design training, whose business success depends on the ability to communicate effectivley. Such people need to produce professional quality documents without the help of an expert. They work in the SoHo (small offices and home offices) market. |
| Name | Design Intelligence Europe Ltd |
| Address | Kinetic House |
| Theobald Street | |
| Borehamwood | |
| Herts | |
| Post Code | WD6 4JP |
| Telephone | 0181 387 5533 |
| Fax | 0181 387 5531 |
| sales@designintelligence.co.uk | |
| WWW URL | www.designintelligence.co.uk |
| Founded | 1994 |
| UK Offices | 1 |
| Name | Function |
| i design | Intelligent publishing for graphics professionals |
| i publish-corporate | Personal publishing in a corporate setting |
| i publish-server | Production publishing for corporate needs |
| To establish the company as a key provider of products and technology to the business publishing, corporate publishing and commercial printing markets. |
| For | Provides a very simple way to create high-quality documents in-house |
| Against | A very irritating product for those who like to control every aspect of document creation |
| Verdict: (Out of 5) | |
| Features: | 4 |
| User Interface | 5 |
| Documentation | 5 |
| Value for money | 5 |
