Authoring Systems: An
Overview
Presented by
Dave Murphy
Senior Managing Editor
Lippincott Williams and Wilkins
530 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215 521 8747
Authoring Systems Objective
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A tool that is flexible enough to allow rigidly and
loosely enforced structural rules
A tool that includes content management
features
Check-in / check-out
Workflow processing
Collaborative authoring for an environment that
is not media neutral, but targeted for all media
Authoring Tool Process Goals
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Help writers and editors concentrate on writing
Achieve gains in production by passing well
structured content or XML to the production
processes
Eliminate the problems associated with managing
unstructured files
Provide the publisher with some workflow
management and reporting tools
What is an Authoring tool?

A Word template?
– YES! Sometimes the solutions can
be simple.
– You need to balance the cost of
technology against the needs to
the project.
– A template can help guide your
authors in writing to a preestablished pattern.
The Five Minute Series
Needed to
distribute hundreds
of topics to
hundreds of
authors
No XML but some
level of structural
control and some
page count
management.
What is an Authoring tool ? (continued)

A slightly more sophisticated version is a Word
template with some scripted features.
– Sample that follows set up with Univers Condensed for box
text, set to 7.5/9 as in specs
Includes Font check during validation also now checks and
resets leading
– Includes a "Paste" macro on the toolbar--if the author uses
this instead of the regular paste function, it will clean the
text automatically for them and prevent a possible error if
they are trying to paste line/page breaks into text boxes,
which Word will not allow.
– This template designed to help control the content depth
during the authoring stage.
– Not 100 % accurate but effective at limiting the author to
the space allocated for an individual topic.
LAUNCH TEMPLATE
Templates the up-side
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Low cost
Easy to create
Nominal learning curve
Aids in guiding author to write to a
predetermined structure
Templates the down-side
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Distribution issues, especially when an update is
needed. Getting authors to change templates
Macro and Macro virus paranoia - alerts go up, IT
managers don't want to allow the functions
Compatibility across various versions of Word
Word files have many issues. If the template
doesn't kill off word features like text boxes, the
author can still break all rules
Conforming and control issues - dealing with
hundreds of files
Real virus problems - template may actually get
infected, and can spread viruses.
Authoring and Composition tools
 Adobe
InCopy® and InDesign®
– Plus Side
 Well
integrated system
 WYSIWYG environment for copyfitting
– Negative Side
 Cost
to license
 Learning curve
The Next Step Power X Editor
Authoring System
Developed by Techbooks
 Developed
to support compositor
internal editorial processes
 Has been modified to include
additional editorial features needed
for a collaborative work flow
 Is being reviewed for potential to
work with an internal content
management system (Documentum)
Production Advantages
Can Provide XML at Any Time for
Marketing, Publish-Before-Print
 Author Productivity Enhanced as Focus is
on Content, Not Presentation
 Development Team Can Provide Specific
Customization to the Interface
 Preview Mode Provides a “Galley View”
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Real Life
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Real people are finicky
Need to be able to break out of system for special
cases
The system must be supported by competent
help
Summary
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There are no one size fits all solutions. For some
titles none of these are necessary, for some task
a template or a scripted template is the way to
go.
For multi-authored complex books, for annuals
and for titles where structural integrity is
required to facilitate repurposing the data a full
blown authoring system is worth investigating.
It is a system that is evolving as our
understanding of its strengths and weaknesses
grow.