Publishing systems/software

Forum|Forum|2 years ago
January 12, 2024
4 replies
1990 views

Hi, I don't know if this is the right place to ask the question.

Can you describe what systems you use to produce content?

I'm looking for some solution/CMS that works great with InDesign.

It's about a system for authors to enter content.

This topic has been closed for replies.

Correct answer Steve Werner

Are you looking for software in which a writer/author/editor could produce InDesign content that could be used in an InDesign layout by designers.

If that's true., the Adobe InCopy is an excellent solution:

https://helpx.adobe.com/incopy/using/using-incopy-workflow.html

Robert at ID-Tasker

Legend

@cezarym99335960

You need to describe in more detail what exactly are you looking for - just text or full layout redesign capabilities?

Then, size of your organisation - number of authors and other people who would need to have access.

Office use and / or remotely? Work on desktops or tablets / phones?

Then platform - PC or Mac or mix?

N

Nick Passmore

Participating Frequently

InCopy used with InDesign allows writers to write to length and to see exactly how their words are being displayed on a page. It is as scriptable as InDesign and has the same plugin architecture meaning significant functionality can be added if you have the resources. InCopy is a cheap addition to Creative Cloud if you don't already pay for it.

With a degree of vigilance over InDesign lock files, something like Dropbox can be made to work very well for smaller workgroups and not-too-demanding deadlines. (Dropbox's peer-to-peer LAN sync worked very well last time I used it in this way.)

If you need to manage a larger group of users and/or have very tight deadlines then something like Vjoon's K4 or WoodWing Studio offer some real workflow tools as well as versioning and file locking. I've used both and both work well. They both offer hosted systems. Setting them up takes significant effort and the costs are not trivial though.

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

IME, there is alway a high-end solution for these sorts of integration and collaboration needs, for all apps and all platforms, with a customized installation and integration and live help/server support... for a price. A high and generally ongoing price. And for the right shops, it's the necessary/useful option, no matter what the penny-pinchers up in Accounting say.

IME again, though, users who ask vaguely about solutions in a general user forum are looking for something that can be implemented in-house, with a cost between zero and something their supervisor won't choke at. 🙂

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

QPS was brilliant!

I wonder if there is a market for such a system, for InDesign. Maybe the InDesign / InCopy duo are waiting for some smart integragtion.

P.

A truly integrated collaboration/authoring system would be very useful and a great advance from what we have, but as is implicit here, such systems have existed... and faded away. Even many newspapers don't have the fully integrated reporter-to-press content management system that used to be standard.

I'll compress a long historical observation/rant into the simple observation that "real writing" seems to be an all but lost art, in the face of "content generation" on iPhones. The market for a comprehensive, long-form, author-to-portal publication system is shrinking in much the same way forums are almost obsolete in the face of the Twitterverse. There's steadily diminishing need for the full chain of author/editor/senior editor/publisher/publication step any more, when "reporters" file stories directly to the blogpaper from their smartphones. (Copy that, with appropriate terminology change, to any organization that writes and publishes stuff, even for internal libraries/archives.)

Leaving only some small core of organizations that have, use and intend to maintain something like a traditional publication model. You know, the one with editors in it, and no expectation that authors in Dubuque will be able to change the front page layout.

So I don't really expect Adobe or anyone else to develop and market anything like what's being talked about. But putting the Word import and content management feature on steroids would be a useful start, even relative to the above.

James Gifford—NitroPress

Legend

If you can provide your authors with InCopy and some training/guidelines, it would be hard to find a better author/input solution specifically for InDesign production. Steve's link should tell you quite a bit about the process.

If you have less control over authors and providing them with software isn't an option, Word can be an excellent authoring tool as long as the authors either follow good practices (mainly, consistent and thorough application of styles) or you have a pre-processing/cleanup workflow between a raw Word manuscript and a managed import into InDesign. The hardest part of this option, by far, is getting a general spectrum of Word users to abandon sloppy habits and poor document construction, which Word doesn't just allow, but seems to encourage. 😛