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Frequently Asked Questions

IGP:Digital Publisher is an XML composition and format generation system. It is designed to allow the authoring, editing and tagging of high value content, specifically to generate multiple format outputs instantly and simultaneously at any time from the one XML source maintained in the IGP:Digital Publisher database..

Technology FAQs

How is IGP:Digital Publisher different from other XML processing systems?

IGP:Digital Publisher is radically different from any other approach to digital content ownership. IGP:Digital Publisher is the only available XML production state machine. This means the content XML is always ready to instantly generate outputs. This is a very big thing. Authoring and editing can go on collaboratively, and any authorized user can generate any output at any time.

Nearly every other available process separates the creation and processing of content from the XML, or makes the user engage tightly with the XML in a technical interface separate from other processing. IGP:Digital Publisher is more like a word processor with extra features, and it is all in one package - from concept to completion.

Can I use IGP:Digital Publisher in any browser?

No. You can use any browser that fully supports advanced CSS, SVG and XHTML in the browser. This means Firefox 3.5 and above, Safari and Opera. We strongly recommend Firefox 3.5 or higher for its cross platform availability and very strict standards compliance.

We do not recommend Internet Explorer anything. IE8 and below will not work due to lack of standards conformance, and limited CSS features.

If you are a Firefox user you may have to turn some plugins off. For example:

  • The Firebug plugin can insert badly formed HTML and Javascript into a Writer page cause the XHTML to be non-well formed.
  • The Quartz PDF plugin for Apple Mac may cause the PDF to be rendered from the wrong environment resulting in a bad PDF.
  • An excessive number of Plugins may result in the application running slowly.

What is the XML?

IGP:Digital Publisher uses XHTML, specifically IGP:FoundationXHTML. This is a highly controlled and managed grammar based on the W3 XHTML specification. This means your content is as future-proof as it can get.

To empower print, e-books, packages and content objects means the XML has to be very, very good, and very, very consistent. That is what the IGP:Digital Publisher framework ensures; perfect and output ready XML while you author, edit and compose.

Can I access information about IGP:FoundationXHTML?

Yes. Every licensee can access the technical specification online from their portal. Use of this documentation is bound by the IGP:Portal Program Terms and Conditions of Usage.

Usability FAQs

How hard is it to learn?

There is a learning curve. If you are using IGP:Digital Publisher consistently it will take a few days to become familiar and comfortable with the interface and what the buttons do.

  • General authoring and editing users will be comfortable with the word-processor like interfaces.
  • If you have some experience with DTP programs it will probably only take an hour or two to be quite familiar with IGP:Document Designer and the flow and tracking tools.
  • The specialist digital production tools are as obvious and easy as they can be.
  • The steepest learning curve is using content blocks and the inbuilt tagging structures and patterns to ensure your content has the required future value. This will require some reading of support documentation and practice.

One of the key values of IGP:Digital Publisher is everything can be changed at any time. While you are going through your learning curves there is nothing that cannot be easily undone and/or redone at any time.

Remember IGP:Digital Publisher is a very serious digital content storage and production environment designed to support your future digital content strategies.

I want an XML strategy but don't have time to do everything?

Infogrid Pacific offers a range of support services for the SM publisher for just that reason. You can choose to do the tasks with which you are comfortable and request an Infogrid Pacific support editor to do anything from tagging your manuscripts for import, applying the XML structures, and doing final typography. Because it is a collaboration environment, this can happen from anywhere.

An Infogrid Pacific editor does not count in your user allowance.

Typography FAQs

Can it produce complex layouts?

This is most easily answered by addressing what it can't do. It cannot wrapped text around images. It cannot (easily) arbitrarily place items on a page without at least intermediate CSS skills. See the samples output page for a representative range of the deliverables from IGP:Digital Publisher.

Can IGP:Digital Publisher do tracking, widows and orphans, hyphenation lines, etc.?

Yes, but the process is different from a desktop platform because IGP:Digital Publisher supports what we call Design Profiles. Design Profiles is a very powerful option unavailable in any other application.

Design Profiles enables multiple PDF's with different layouts and fonts generated from one XML with just a single click. Each Design Profile independently supports its own tracking and other typographic properties. 

What are the Hyphenation rules?

The default renderer uses the Open Office Hyphenation engine and all the expected hyphenation options are available. You can set:

  • Hyphenation on or off.
  • Consecutive hyphenation line count. Eg. No more than two consecutive lines hyphenated.
  • Insert soft hyphen
  • Insert no-hyphenation style

I use a lot of two page images spreads. Can IGP:Digital Publisher handle this?

Yes. There are special content blocks just to handle this. You can do full or partial page plate spreads, to the galley margin or full page width. You will have to prepare images for print and Online using your favourite graphics package.