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Truth or consequences: Managing
Editor's TruEdit provides a link
between Adobe InCopy and
InDesign. |
New products, upgrades keep
Managing Editor at forefront
LAS VEGAS -- NEXPO usually serves as an open-air market for new product demonstrations and announcements. Managing Editor took the opportunity to announce the implementation of some new technology in its ever-growing product line.
Managing Editor has adopted QuickSilver as "a new database solution." The QuickSilver database stores all the components for publishing. It can handle the import or export of XML (eXtensible Markup Language) files. The design of the database also allows for multiple users to work on separate elements on a single page with dynamic updates.
Also making a splashy debut is Managing Editor's Advertising Layout System 4.2 for Macintosh OS X; applications converted from the traditional Mac operating system to OS X are called Carbon.
"ALS for Carbon was just released," said Mark Leister, vice president of business development at Managing Editor Inc. "The Classified Layout System (CLS) for Carbon will be available later in the year."
Well known for ALS in the industry, Managing Editor has been trying to keep up with advances by Apple and Microsoft. Among its products now available on the Mac OS X platform are Page Director Ad Layout System, Page Director Classified Layout System and Roundhouse Ad Tracking System.
"Roundhouse 3.0 works on both Windows and OS X," Leister said.
Leaning on its base of ALS installed customers; Managing Editor has been working with a German company called SoftCare to deliver an editorial system called K4 Publishing System. Managing Editor is the United States system integrator offering K4 to customers since early 2002.
"It includes InDesign and InCopy and SQL (Structured Query Language)," Leister said. "It's not in newspapers, but a few magazines."
Indeed, numerous European magazines are using K4 with Adobe InDesign and Adobe InCopy. It also works on any of today's OS platforms -- Linux, UNIX, Apple or Windows for server and Apple and Windows for clients.
K4 is one of the first editorial systems to be built solidly using Adobe InDesign for pagination and Adobe InCopy for handling the textual components. K4 uses an "open SQL interface" for hosting and serving the information pulled onto the pages. Managing Editor can scale the database to fit small to large newspapers. Offering an editorial system designed around InDesign and InCopy demonstrates Managing Editor's desire to provide leading publishing technology to its customers.
Managing Editor also integrates its ad dummying applications into the K4 Publishing System making it all that much easier to track news hole. In addition, K4 uses one hyphenation and justification engine for both InDesign and InCopy. And with K4, workflow is built in so that tracking the news/production cycle becomes much easier to manage.
The combination between InDesign, InCopy and an open SQL database promises to be a winning, workable system for newspapers no matter what the size. In fact, smaller papers more than likely have most of these components already installed and simply need the system integration to make a sturdy editorial system work.
The Jenkintown, Pa.-based company also showed off its Web-based ad building system called PublishNow!, which Leister said, is "an individual product out of the group."
PublishNow! allows agencies to submit ads via the Internet. The agency, or customer, can input text and ad images and proof the final version by viewing a PDF. Templates can be supplied to the advertiser so that ad creation goes smoothly for the client. And no software or training is needed on the advertiser's end -- they simply log on to the PublishNow! web site and go to work.
This web-to-print system makes it easier for the newspaper to satisfy existing customers and spend time on quality rather than data entry. The system supports XML for easy transfer between disparate systems and integrates Adobe PDF for easy PDF creation and review options.
The company released an update to its TruEdit mini-editorial system earlier this month (curiously, a few weeks after the end of the show); the application -- which binds Adobe's InCopy to InDesign -- provides users with a palette-like user interface allowing for items such as text and art to be moved between directories (which are illustrated as folders). In addition, it provides drag-and-drop capability between the two applications. The new version now supports updating links upon saves as well as multilanguage support, templates for workflow, export complete with links, palette sorting and text column gutter.
Managing Editor seems to be gradually expanding its product line to encompass the full needs of publishing. Leister said they are constantly looking to add and improve.
"Expect to see more page tracking from us," Leister said.
-- Jason Zappe, e-mail: jz@colepapers.net
Managing Editor Inc.,
(215) 886-5662,
e-mail: info@maned.com.
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