InDesign for newspaper layout

[marco-a16964487]

Hi there,

I need some help to figure out if InDesign is suitable for my company needs.

Scenario:

We release an issue of our newspaper every day. We have an Editorial Application responsible to control the receiving of contents and when each content should be released. Currently the Editorial Application produces a fixed layout for each issue. It was great for the early issues of our newspaper, but nowadays it is a huge problem. Currently it is very common to adjust the layout according the content of the day.

We need a tool that:

- provides an API for integration to our Editorial Application (we have a development team here)

- allows the layout adjustments based on a template.

- does not allow the content changing by the layout team.

- the final version of "layout adjustment" could be exported to a PDF file.

Any help would be very appreciated !

Thanks
Marco.

[JonathanArias · Accepted solution]

maybe instead of indesign you should work with something like pugpig? here: Pugpig

if the content grows or shrinks you will have to adjust the layout. that is just the nature of the beast. if you are looking for auto flows indesign is not the right tool. You want to be all HTML and responsive. at least that is my opinion. others will have different advice.

I work in publishing and i have an editorial team that work all in indesign. we do books, journal and magazines. and its a none stop adjusting and moving things. that is just the nature of the beast.

[marco-a16964487]

Hi Jonathan,

Thank you so much for the prompt reply !

I have some questions: Does your team allowed to change the content ? I mean... is it possible to configure InDesign to allow adjust layout, move things but not change the content of things ?

PS: Thanks for present me Pugpig! I have never heard about it. I will check that.

[JonathanArias]

our editorial team all got trained on indesign. so they do basic things but pretty much ask me to add pages, move layouts ( text frames and linked files). Plus editing linked files like .ai, .psd

We researched on many ways to allow for the designer (me) and editorial to work together on the same projects to keep up with demand of speed. we still work in indesign. we all just have our parts and having editorial learn indesign helped reduce drastically the number of edits i get.

[JonathanArias]

pug pig was more than we wanted to spend. but that is a true all HTML platform that responds, comes with templates, and you can make more if you have access to developers, which sounds like you do.

From the editorial side it will be like wordpress as far as what they can do. and the frames that hold copy will expand and contract with the rest of the template.

[JonathanArias]

To add to the editorial workflow we have. the only issue some with fonts, they will want them. so you have to get them all on a font manager and set up fonts.

OR

you are really really good about applying styles and let them come to you when they need a .pdf generated. which that is happening more and more with me since we are using ADOBE TYPEKIT and the team does not have access to it. I do.

[marco-a16964487]

Many many thanks, Jonathan. You help me a lot with useful information.

I will learn about Pugpig and try to construct a "prototype" with our development team.

I see we have a very peculiar thing here, the articles are in a database. People send them during a day before the issue via a web application. The content of the articles are protected by law in our case. I am in charge to research a way to do the layout adjustment without taking some risk to change the content.

[JonathanArias]

that is interesting. i work with sensitive medical information that only gets distributed to specific groups.  Please feel free to reach out privately if you want/ need somebody to help you adjust layouts in indesign quickly. I may be able to help you.

[marco-a16964487]

Hi Jonathan. It is me, Marco, again!

First of all thank you for being able to help me. I have visited your personal website. I am impressed with your strong experience in this area.

I was wondering about the following situation:

Let's say I am a journalist using InDesign as my tool to write for some newspaper or magazine. After finishing my job I am supposed to send my work to the Newspaper's Designer to merge my article with other articles from my workmates journalists and finish the Newspaper issue, for example.

Is it possible configuring InDesign to avoid the designer to change the words of my article ? I would like to allow the designer to change font name, font size, colors, format, etc. but not change any word.

Does my question make sense ? I am not confident if that concern is a real world concern.

[JonathanArias]

i don't change the copy itself. He/she should not be doing that. Is the designer also an editor? they might be editing your writting as they incorporate the layout.

and the answer is no. you can't  "lock" the copy, you can lock a layer, but it can be unlock

Sounds like your work is been edit by an editor to me.

[marco-a16964487]

Yes it is. However it is been edit accidentally. It is a fault of the person in charge to layout designing, in our case. Actually our work could have the layout formatted but not the words, you get it ? I am responsible to learn a solution to avoid that kind of fault.

You are totally right. InDesign might not be the perfect tool for my needs.

Thank you again for your time, Jonathan !

[JonathanArias]

You can do this:

Link your documents to that document the designer has:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rybQHeKQHPw

and this works in many formats, you can have an indesign document that will live in the links folder and its link to the indesign document the designer has. It does not have to be an indesign document, it can be a .txt or a word document too.

I think with that workflow you would guarantee your document live somewhere else. but you still can't stop them from opening it and doing copy edits.

[JonathanArias]

here is another video:

Linking to Word Documents for Automatic Updates - InDesign Tip of the Week - YouTube