The Cole Papers, Classified systems, August 1994

Enterprising interface: The Atex classified system, Enterprise, has a logical and appealing face.

Some classy new features
for advertising entry systems

LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Classified systems are more able than ever.

As one supplier noted, classified is one newspaper-specific application devoid of shrink-wrap solutions. But graphical user interfaces give views into adaptations of off-the-shelf software, or supplier-created proprietary products.

Legacy-system suppliers strive to serve old big iron customers while wooing new, open-systems clients. Exemplifying this is Atex Publishing Systems Corp., which has remolded itself to serve four markets: existing J11 sites that want add-ons, clients seeking to migrate to new platforms, new buyers of Atex products -- and newspapers seeking integration services.

Farther down the food chain, young start-ups such as Advanced Publishing Technology are taking full advantage of the power of shrink-wrap software -- from Excel (for costing) to Word (text entry) to Quark XPress (pagination) -- to create powerful but low-cost systems.

The result: Buyers can get an enormous range of features far exceeding those of legacy systems. With more than a dozen suppliers offering classified solutions, buyers must decide what they cannot live without, and whether the desired product will mesh well into the newspaper's environment.

Features widely available on classified front-ends include:

Multiple-window screens, displaying ad text, a WYSIWYG view of the ad, a calendar for scheduling insertions and prompts for upselling.

Dynamic costing.

Multiple pricing schemes, essential for zoning.

Rapid access to logos.

Fax delivery of a proof.

Links to other newspaper business systems.

Report generators for tracking revenue and customer traffic.

On-line credit checks.

Pagination products now come equipped with:

Speed. CText says its Pentium-based program will lay out a 120-page classified section in 55 seconds.

Elective flowing of liners -- front-to-back or back-to-front, selectively by section.

Quark XTensions for quickly flowing text and display ads from other systems into XPress pages.

Production tracking programs.

Automated folios that display classifications found on each page.

Platform choices abound. Suppliers of Windows-based front-ends include Atex, Advanced Publishing Technology and CompuText. In the OS/2 realm are System Integrators and CText, while Mac-based suppliers include Baseview, Digital Technology International and Freedom System Integrators.

Still available in plain vanilla DOS are products from CompuText and Synaptic Micro Solutions.

In short, buying a classified system now requires considerable touching and feeling. Some sensations from the floor:

Advanced Publishing Technology: This small Los Angeles company is wedded to Windows and is using it for all it's worth. Its calendar for scheduling insertions is classy and easy to use.

Atex: Enterprise, the PC-based heavy-lifting breed of Atex classified, is ready for prime time. It primes its operator to use time better, with prompts and reminders in its comprehensive contacts manager, upselling prompts for all occasions and multiple-window displays that, well, see the list above. It's one complete package with an interface that's logical and, yes, appealing to anyone who'd have to stare it for an entire day.

Baseview: For smaller papers, Mac-based Baseview of Ann Arbor, Mich., continues to be a real price-performance leader.

CompuText: CompuClass has some pretty flexible features for a low-end system running in DOS. Coupled with the Houston-based company's Raima Database Manager, CompuClass makes data access and entry fast, with merging and sorting of new data done automatically -- no down time.

Cybergraphic: While still fighting old bugs, Cybergraphic of Burlington, Mass., is weighing alliances with cable TV companies for "new wave" advertising opportunities, and is looking into a new multimedia ad selling system -- and for a newspaper partner to advance the project.

Digital Technology International: Orem, Utah's DT ClassSpeed and ClassSpeed Pagination are in the process of being rewritten to go "native" for the PowerMac, which will make them speedier.

Edgil Associates Inc.: AdCentral, which pulls classifieds from Atex systems to take over report building chores, now has AdParse, an option that can extract the contents of ads and build a searchable database. Newsday bought AdCentral from Chelmsford, Mass.-based Edgil to provide access to classifieds through Newsday Direct, its Prodigy on-line service.

Freedom System Integrators: The old Mycro-Tek folks from Wichita, Kan., have Q-Class Act, a product from sister company QED Ltd. While it works with a Quark XTension to provide classified pagination, all the elements are Epsf parts ... a mistake means you have to correct the error, then replace the EPS file.

Graph-X Inc.: Canadian pal Informatel brought AdPlacer, a speedy PC-based ad dummying package that tells the order entry system the page placement for each ad, facilitating invoice printing and finding ads to fulfill tear sheet requests.

Harris Publishing Systems Corp.: The Melbourne, Fla.-based supplier plans to link Cash, its appropriately named classified system, to Brite Voice Systems' Electronic Classified Select Series to allow clerks to enter ads once for use in both audiotext and print.