TYPOGRAPHY AND ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING

ELECTRONIC PUBLISHING (DESKTOP PUBLISHING)

• What is electronic publishing?
  • The use of computer technology to package, deliver and interact with the electronic information effectively.
    
• Issues that involve electronic publishing are:
  • Typography
    
  • Communication mediums
    
  • Legal issues
    
• Applications for electronic publishing include:
  • Portable documents
    
  • On-line documentation, books and databases
    
  • Hypertext, HTML, SGML,etc.
    

Typography

• Portability issue
  
• Are the fonts available on all computer systems ?
  
• Will the fonts style and size be appropriate for each unique computer system (i.e. monitor size, resolution and colour capability)
  

Communication Mediums

• Which mediums to use ?
  • Text
  • Graphics
  • Audio
  • Vidoe or animation
  • Hard copies ?

Legal Issues

• There are some laws for printed publishing that do not apply for electronic publishing and others are outdated to the technology revolution that has occured with the advent of electronic information.

Portable Documents

• Maintains a document's visual integrity despite:
  • different computer platforms
  • the original application is not present
  • the original fonts or graphics are not available
• Applications
  • On-line help
  • Infobases
  • Internet documents

On-line Documentation, Books and Databases

• What is it ?
  • Electronically stored information and a set of tools to effectively access this information.
  • It is NOT paper document displayed on screen.
• Benefits
  • Can be distrubuted faster and accessed more widely than paper documentation.
  • Integrates information about the product along with the product itself. Example. Windows help system

Hypertext, HTML and SGML

• What does Hypertext publishing offer?
  • Collect and structure free-form information from various sources.
• What is it used for ?
  • Used to create links between related subjects
  • Easily navigate topics and other related sources
• What does HTML and SGML offer ?
  • Offers a standard to describe the structure and manage the content of any digital document across multiple platforms.
• What is it used for ?
  • HTML is often used for Internet home pages.
  • SGML is used to create complex documents to be shared across a corporation or industry.
  • SGML documents can maintain their links dynamically for instanteous updates.