IGP:Digital Publisher 5.0 Released

IGP:Digital Publisher 5.0 has been released. You can read the full feature upgrade and bugfix release notes on LEARN@IGP here.

This is a major new feature release with a number of bug-fixes.

The big feature improvements reflect the dynamic and changing nature of digital content production as business requirements for publishers of all types converge in this digital content age.

Powerful publisher content authoring, editing, management and format packaging solutions like IGP:Digital Publisher deliver new levels of productivity as publishing volumes increase in all formal publishing sectors.

The major new features in this release are:

1. Document Version snap-offs. This feature has been specifically added to address the content management requirements of institutional and business publishers. In the business and institutional world reports of all types need to be updated and version controlled over time. It is necessary to view and review history changes in a document. Document Version control allows that.
2. CSS Version control. This feature is for standard book publishers. With more complex books CSS management can become challenging. This tool allows multiple CSS presentation options to be created and rolled back at any time. This is a feature that can be used mechanically or creatively. The CSS Version control is separate for print, reader and writer CSS.
3. Language Attribute. The HTML5 lang attribute is now a first-class interactive citizen in IGP:FoundationXHTML and within the IGP:Digital Publisher content block tagging tools. This makes it easy to create parallel language texts for all purposes.
4. Archive Package Management. Archive packaging options have been introduced to match the new Document and CSS version tools. The DP Archive Package option can now include both document and individual section history as options.
5. Manuscript Importer. Customization flexibility of manuscript importing has been improved and made easier to use. It is now possible to easily configure and convert house-tagged manuscript documents for import into IGP:FoundationXHTML with custom selectors. For business documents this includes row and column semantics for various tabular structures as well.
6. Javascript Support in PDF (Experimental). This is targeted at using Javascript as a presentation formatting tool for PDF using the PrinceXML PDF rendering tool.
7. Remote Resources for e-Books. The demand for linking to external video from ePub3 and other e-book packages has risen considerably over the last few months. This is especially required for training and education content where bloating a package with video is impractical.

Custom Javascript Tools

In education publishing one of the greatest challenges in producing all formats from one source document is the wildly different format requirements. Some examples:

• The print book layout needs presentation and layout for the choosen paper size.
• The digital books need to be able to address presentation requirements on all screen sizes and aspect ratios, especially important in this increasingly BYOD world.
• The digital books need to be contain tagging semantics and Javascript packages that do not appear in the print edition.
• Online interactive learning resources need printable doubles for when the Internet is just not available.
• This as textbooks, learning resources, workbooks, exercise books and more.

Until this edition of IGP:Digital Publisher the inclusion of custom Javascript tools in an ePub3 package was an additional and manual editing task as IGP:Digital Publisher only supported the interactive tools available in the AZARDI Interactive Engine (AIE) and AZARDI Learning Library components.

Now publishers can create or commission their own Javascript AND have it included into the ePub3 or an online learning site. This custom packaging is done using the elasticity of the HTML5 data- attribute with a bit of back-end Python and Javascript processing in the editing interface. The Javascript is then packaged automatically at appropriate format generation time (ePub3, Static Site, LMS transfer, etc.).

The lang Attribute

The lang attribute requires a special mention. We are now producing multiple parallel language textbooks where the text is parallel paragraph by paragraph and not separated into different sections. This means manipulating the content based on the lang attribute. This is probably not the first time this has been done, but the ability to deliver education content into multi-language environments is exciting.

The interesting thing is that this is relatively easy to create and use. This approach flys in the face of the (expensive) packaging convolutions in the IDPF multi-rendition packaging requirements which are to all intents impractical at both the production and reading system development levels.

An interesting challenge with these books is metadata where all language content is exactly equal and parallel. This is not a significant issue with textbooks delivered to controlled reading systems like the AZARDI:Content Fulfilment system, but is problematic into the general commerical e-bookstore system.

Summary

IGP:Digital Publisher continues to march forward incorporation more tools and methods to do everything possible with a click or two. Of course that power comes at a learning-curve cost. IGP:Digital Publisher has tools for all types of publishers: trade, academic, STEM, education and institutional with various tools that need to be used in sequence (Eg: TOC and List of generators, various packaging processors and a lot more). 

The tools required by different publishers are very different. We are now working on a publishing mode interface that simplifies and optimizes the tools and workflow for different types of book genres.

A major objective for IGP:Digital Publisher in 2015 is automation of everything that can and should be automated for every package and format while ensuring the future value of the content is preserved.

 

Posted by: Richard Pipe

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IGP:Digital Publisher 4.6 is Released

Multi-language Interactive Textbooks

IGP:Digital Publisher 5.0 Release Notes