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How to Create a
Cross-Media
Variable-Data-Publishing
System
Cynthia L. Leslie
President, Citation Software Inc.
[email protected]
www.CitationSoftware.com
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Who we are and what we do
• Involved with variable-data publishing since 1986
• Software developer and software reseller
• Provide services and products for on-demandpublishing and variable-data-publishing
• Help people to create variable-data publishing
systems
www.CitationSoftware.com
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Definition of
variable-data publishing
A form of on-demand publishing
in which all the documents in a
production run are similar but
not identical.
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Example of variable-data publishing:
Portfolio Summaries
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Dates are the same on many
documents, but they’ll
probably change each time
a new batch of documents
is printed
Name and address
are different on
each document
Account number is
different on each
document
Dollar figures are different
on each document
Pie chart looks different
on each document
Dollar breakdown
for pie chart is
different on each
document
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These are the
only things
that are the
same on all
the documents
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When you use your wordprocessing software to do a
mail merge, you are doing a
simple form of variable-data
publishing.
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Examples of variable-data publishing
• customized newsletters
• insurance policies
• customized marketing
brochures
• employee-benefit
statements
• invoices
• checks
• portfolio summaries
• bank statements
• license plates
• real-estate ads
• graduation diplomas
• tickets
• itineraries
• luggage tags
• coupons
• merchandise labels
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Variable-data publishing
is also known as
• personalization
• customized publishing
• variable-information publishing
• one-to-one (1:1) communication
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Probably, most people think of paper
documents when discussing variable-data
publishing.
However, sometimes it makes sense to
publish variable-data documents in electronic
format in addition to printing them on paper. A
system that can do this is known as a crossmedia variable-data-publishing system.
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Today, for most people who are doing variabledata publishing, the term
“cross-media publishing”
probably means:
• printing on paper, and
• making documents available on the Web
in PDF format or HTML format
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Example of cross-media
variable-data publishing
• Corporation prints personalized employeebenefit booklets once a year and mails
them to employees via U.S. Mail.
• An employee can use company Intranet
anytime throughout the year to obtain his
personalized booklet in PDF format.
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How does a variable-data-publishing
system work?
Doc
Database
Composition
Engine
Template
Doc
Doc
Doc
Doc
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You don’t have to be
a programmer to
create variable-data
documents.
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Terminology
variable-data-publishing system: a collection of software and hardware
that you will use to create particular kinds of variable-data documents. For
example, your variable-data-publishing system might create coupons.
variable-data-publishing software: “off-the-shelf” software that you will
use to create your variable-data-publishing system. It has two main
components:
1 — design tool: lets you create a template
2 — composition engine: produces variable-data documents by
marrying data with a template
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Setting up a variable-data-publishing system
STEP 1: Design basic layout (pencil or electronic).
STEP 2: Obtain data.
STEP 3: Use design tool to create template.
STEP 4: Use composition engine to do test runs. (Do
extensive testing to ensure quality!)
STEP 5: Go to production.
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Ideal cross-media
variable-data-publishing system
• easy to use
• easy to maintain
• works well with your equipment
• exploits employees’ current skill sets
• meets future needs as well as current needs
• not too expensive
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• Don’t
write your own variabledata-publishing software!
• Don’t create one system for
paper documents and another
system for Web documents!
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What’s wrong with having two separate systems?
• Increases up-front costs
• Increases maintenance costs
• Employees must have two different skill sets
• It’s always an effort to achieve cosmetic fidelity
• Error prone (what if you change something in the
paper-production system but forget to make the
corresponding change in the Web-production
system)?
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Criteria for selecting
variable-data-publishing
software for
cross-media publishing
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Can the software be integrated
into your environment?
Your variable-data-publishing
software must be designed in a
way that allows you to integrate it
programmatically with your
production environment.
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Is the software easy to use?
• Most vendors provide free demo software. Get
your hands on it and experiment extensively.
• Some variable-data-publishing software lets
you use virtually any application to create
boilerplate documents (layouts)
• Some variable-data-publishing software is
designed as a plug-in or Xtension to an
application that you might already use
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Can the software generate the
output formats that you need?
Ideally, your variable-data-publishing
software will be able to output PDF or
PostScript or PCL or Metacode or AFP, etc.
for paper docs and will also be able to
output HTML or PDF for Web docs.
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How to decide what format
to use for Web documents
• PDF format gives you precise control over
fonts, placement of text & graphics, and page
breaks — but not all Web browsers can
display PDF without additional software
• HTML can be displayed by all Web browsers —
but you can’t control a document’s layout
very well
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What about converting
output to another format?
• Converting PostScript to PDF is sometimes
feasible, but it must be planned carefully.
(Using Acrobat Distiller on server violates license.)
• Converting PDF to HTML can work well.
• Using HTML to print paper documents is a
bad idea — even if you convert the HTML to
PDF or PostScript first.
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Does the software generate
optimized output for printing?
• Optimized output allows your printer to print at or near
rated speed.
• Variable-data-publishing software must generate output
that’s designed to work well with your particular printer.
• When evaluating demo software, test extensively
with large documents and/or large production runs.
Go here to learn about optimization:
www.CitationSoftware.com/faqppml.htm
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Does the software generate
linearized PDF output for Web?
• Large
PDF files that are not linearized will
take a long time to display in Web browser
Go here to learn about linearization:
http://partners.adobe.com/asn/developer/
acrosdk/docs/filefmtspecs/PDFReference.pdf
(See Appendix F)
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Will the software work well for
future projects?
Buy variable-data-publishing software that meets
potential future needs as well as current needs.
Why? Because buying different software later
will cost you additional money for the purchase
itself — and your employees will need two skill
sets instead of just one skill set.
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Is the software a good value?
• Costs for variable-data-
publishing software vary a lot.
Shop around!
• Don’t make a decision in a hurry.
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XML output & Structured PDF output
If you buy variable-data-publishing
software that can create XML output or
structured PDF output, you’ll be in good
shape if you ever want to generate
documents for eBooks or
handheld/wireless devices (e.g., Palm).
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Thank you
for
listening!
[email protected]
www.CitationSoftware.com
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