Publishing with XML

Training Program for IGP:FLIP

The new introductory training program for IGP:FLIP is now ready. It can be requested as a custom package at any time. IGP:FLIP Portal users will be advised shortly of the schedules for each training module. These will be interactive Online sessions with regular breaks for questions and repeats.

The program will be run over 10 consecutive days in two time zone sessions. Europe/America's and Europe/Africa/West Asia. A special schedule for Oceania and East Asia will be announced separately.

Training environment. It is recommended that two computers are available at the learning end of the lessons. One for display of the instruction, the other for emulating the instructions given for learning reinforcement.

The structure of the course largely follows the sequence of document preparation from input to output, with suitable diversions to introduce the supporting modules.

Digital Content Publishing - Getting Started

Publishers need to move to all digital production methods with some urgency. Really!

Digital publishing requires a different Production perspective – Each title must start in digital form, be edited in digital form, stored in digital form, and output in a variety of digital market channel ready forms.

Digital Publishing requires a different Archiving perspective – Your content must be prepared for permanence with plans for updating as technology progresses.  No more sticking a CD in some drawer.

Your digital content strategy cannot rely on outsourced conversion partners, PDF to ePub things, or as an after-thought to print. It's all changing too fast. Publishers must control their own digital content and have it ready for anything. It's not about creating an ePub. Its about being ready for the inevitable. 

I am not saying that print publishing is going away, only that digital publishing is "upon us", is an fast evolving and changing business, needs a mindset change and the tools to match the mindset.

This post describes in relative detail the business advantages of moving to an all digital environment, in this case IGP:FLIP for a lot of content.

Digital Content Production. Change Management Challenges

I have been requested to describe the change management challenges of moving to digital production. That was made from the ePub blog, but the topic is clearly XML production. This is a first post answering those questions. Starting with the high, ethereal ground of change management to digital content strategies. 

So what are the considerations for publishers when deploying a potentially business-changing application such as IGP:FLIP?

This post is a summary of some change issues that may have to be addressed within any organization. Depending on how formal you want to be change can be analysed as follows, using the ADKAR method:

Awareness– of why the change is needed.

Desire – to support and participate in the change.

Knowledge – of how to change.

Ability – to implement new skills and behaviours.

Reinforcement – to sustain the change.

This post is an introduction to some of the considerations.

IGP:FoundationXHTML goes HTML5

It's time to get ready for a bigger than ePub digital content future. So IGP:FoundationXHTML is now officially HTML5 ready to go. Stand-by your interactive, video, canvas, local storage, everything in a browser content experience (or not).

Nothing changes the XHTML that is delivered to ePub, or Mobi. They get their correct XHTML 1.1 strict headers processed in by Formats on Demand at compile time. What we have done is upgraded the archive files for IGP:FoundationXHTML to XHTML 5. (that just means well formed HTML5, so XML processors can do their stuff on the content, and browsers instantly know they are looking at HTML5. It really is fantastic stuff.

That means the page declarations have changed.