For the company formerly known as Database Publications, see Europress.
Database publishing is an area of automated media production in which specialized techniques are used to generate paginated documents from source data residing in traditional databases. Common examples are mail order catalogues, direct marketing, report generation, price lists and telephone directories. The database content can be in the form of text and pictures but can also contain metadata related to formatting and special rules that may apply to the document generation process. Database publishing can be incorporated into larger workflows as a component, where documents are created, approved, revised and released.
BMUG Disk Catalog 1989, the first known example of direct database-to-negative publishing. Programmer Greg Dow and prepress expert Bill Woodcock published the annual catalog of BMUG's software archive using Nashoba FileMaker output display templates on Macintosh computers to image direct to film from which the plates were burned, on a Linotronic 300 imagesetter. Frontispieces were made in Adobe Illustrator 88 and interleaved in plate compositing. It was set in AdobeBookman, and printed in grayscale at a 60-line screen for an intentionally minimalist effect.
The basic idea is using database contents like article and price information to fill out pre-formatted template documents. Templates are typically created in a normal desktop layout application where certain boxes or text are designated as placeholders. These placeholders are then targeted with new content which flows in from the database. This allows for quick generation of final output and, in case of changes to the database, quickly perform updates, with limited or no manual intervention.
Another model of database publishing is found in many web-to-print sites where users browse templates from an online catalog (such as business cards or brochures), personalize the selected template by filling in a form and then view the rendered result. In this case the initial source of data is from user input, but it is captured in a database so that if the same user revisits the site later, they can resume editing where they left off. The form is then pre-filled from the database-stored variables the user entered before.
The main layout applications for this workflow are: Datalogics Pager, AdobeFrameMaker / InDesign, QuarkXPress, Xyvision, Arbortext Advanced Print Publisher (formerly 3B2) and priint:suite. Generally, these layout applications have a corresponding server version, which receives commands via web interfaces rather than desktop interaction. QuarkXPress Server and Adobe InDesign Server both take full advantage of the design features available in their respective desktop versions.
These applications make their broad spectrum of features available for extension and integration with vertical products, that can be developed either internally, through some form of scripting (e.g. JavaScript or AppleScript for InDesign), or externally, through some API and corresponding developer kits.
Other variants of database publishing are the rendering of content for direct PDF output. This approach prevents manual intervention on the final output, since PDF is not (comfortably) editable. This may not be perceived as a limitation in situations like report generation where manual editability is not needed or not desired.
A website is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Notable examples are wikipedia.org, google.com, and amazon.com.
Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online content. Desktop publishing software can generate layouts and produce typographic-quality text and images comparable to traditional typography and printing. Desktop publishing is also the main reference for digital typography. This technology allows individuals, businesses, and other organizations to self-publish a wide variety of content, from menus to magazines to books, without the expense of commercial printing.
QuarkXPress is a desktop publishing software for creating & editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG environment. It runs on macOS & Windows. It was first released by Quark, Inc. in 1987 & is still owned & published by them.
Adobe InDesign is a desktop publishing and page layout designing software application produced by Adobe Inc. It can be used to create works such as posters, flyers, brochures, magazines, newspapers, presentations, books and ebooks. InDesign can also publish content suitable for tablet devices in conjunction with Adobe Digital Publishing Suite. Graphic designers and production artists are the principal users, creating and laying out periodical publications, posters, and print media. It also supports export to EPUB and SWF formats to create e-books and digital publications, including digital magazines, and content suitable for consumption on tablet computers. In addition, InDesign supports XML, style sheets, and other coding markup, making it suitable for exporting tagged text content for use in other digital and online formats. The Adobe InCopy word processor uses the same formatting engine as InDesign.
Quark Software Inc. is a privately owned software company which specializes in enterprise publishing software for automating the production of customer communications. The company's original goal was to "create software that would be the platform for publishing", just as quarks are the basis for all matter. The company is best known for its desktop page layout and design software, QuarkXPress, although this has now become secondary to its other products and services.
Adobe PageMaker is a discontinued desktop publishing computer program introduced in 1985 by the Aldus Corporation on the Apple Macintosh. The combination of the Macintosh's graphical user interface, PageMaker publishing software, and the Apple LaserWriter laser printer marked the beginning of the desktop publishing revolution. Ported to PCs running Windows 1.0 in 1987, PageMaker helped to popularize both the Macintosh platform and the Windows environment.
Prepress is the term used in the printing and publishing industries for the processes and procedures that occur between the creation of a print layout and the final printing. The prepress procedure includes the manufacture of a printing plate, image carrier or form, ready for mounting on a printing press, as well as the adjustment of images and texts or the creation of a high-quality print file. In today's prepress shop, the form of delivery from the customer is usually electronic, either a PDF or application files created from programs such as Scribus, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator, or QuarkXPress.
The Quark Publishing System (QPS) was a collaborative workflow management system first released in 1991 by Quark, Inc. and now superseded by Quark Publishing Platform. It allowed the creators of large publications to manage the process by which the publications are created, and also track the flow of created materials through the various phases of creation, editing, review, combination, and printing. It was mostly used by the producers of periodical publications like magazines, newspapers and catalog but also occasionally used for producing complicated one-off publications like books and advertising materials.
In graphic design, page layout is the arrangement of visual elements on a page. It generally involves organizational principles of composition to achieve specific communication objectives.
Adobe InCopy is a professional word processor made by Adobe Inc. that integrates with Adobe InDesign. While InDesign is used to publish printed material, including newspapers and magazines, InCopy is used for general word processing. The software enables editors to write, edit, and design documents. The software includes standard word processing features such as spell check, track changes, and word count, and has various viewing modes that allow editors to visually inspect design elements — just as it looks to the designer working in Adobe InDesign.
Freeway is a WYSIWYG web design application for Mac OS X developed by the British company Softpress Systems.
In printing, Preflight is the process of confirming that the digital files required for the printing process are all present, valid, correctly formatted, and of the desired type. The basic idea is to prepare the files to make them feasible for the correct process such as offset printing and eliminate costly errors and facilitate a smooth production. It is a standard prepress procedure in the printing industry. The term originates from the preflight checklists used by pilots. The term was first used in a presentation at the Color Connections conference in 1990 by consultant Chuck Weger, and Professor Ron Bertolina was a pioneer for solutions to preflighting in the 1990s.
A web template system in web publishing lets web designers and developers work with web templates to automatically generate custom web pages, such as the results from a search. This reuses static web page elements while defining dynamic elements based on web request parameters. Web templates support static content, providing basic structure and appearance. Developers can implement templates from content management systems, web application frameworks, and HTML editors.
Web-to-print, also known as Web2Print, remote publishing or print e-commerce is commercial printing using web sites. Companies and software solutions that deal in web-to-print use standard e-commerce and online services like hosting, website design, and cross-media marketing.
Adobe LiveCycle Enterprise Suite (ES4) is a service-oriented architecture Java EE server software product from Adobe Systems used to build applications that automate a broad range of business processes for enterprises and government agencies. LiveCycle ES4 is an enterprise document and form platform that allows capturing and processing information, delivering personalized communications, and protecting and tracking sensitive information. It is used for purposes such as account opening, services and benefits enrollment, correspondence management, request for proposal processes, and other manual based workflows. LiveCycle ES4 incorporates new features with a particular focus on mobile devices. LiveCycle applications also function in both online or offline environments. These capabilities are enabled through the use of Adobe Reader, HTML/PhoneGap and the Flash Player clients to reach desktop computers and mobile devices.
ItsNat Natural AJAX, is an open-source Java component-based Ajax framework.
Arbortext Advanced Print Publisher is commercial typesetting software application sold by Parametric Technology Corporation.
Dynamic page publishing is a method of designing publications in which layout templates are created which can contain different content in different publications. Using this method, page designers do not work on finished pages, but rather on various layout templates and pieces of content, which can then be combined to create a number of finished pages. In cases where the same content is being used in multiple layouts, the same layout is being used for several different sets of content, or both, dynamic page publishing can offer significant advantages of efficiency over a traditional system of page-by-page design.
censhare is a commercial Digital Experience Platform in the form of an Enterprise Content Management System (ECMS) by the German software manufacturer censhare AG. It integrates all of the entered media information in a single system, organizes content and automates the respective processes. The platform integrates the applications Collaboration and Process Management, Digital Asset Management, Product Information Management, Omnichannel Content Management, Brand Management and Marketing Resource Management. censhare is an Editorial System as well as a Web Content Management System. It can be used for cross-media publishing of content in different media such as Multi Format Publishing, Cross-Media Publishing and Multi Channel Publishing. The system is used in media houses and other companies and institutions for the generation and output of content in conventional, standard communication media, as well as for corporate communication, marketing, brand management, multichannel marketing, the processing of sales publications and for collaboration. On a technical level the content, templates, layouts, structures and user accounts are stored and managed separately in a central graph database.
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