The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group has published a Last Call Working Draft of “CSS Styling Attributes Level 1.” Markup languages such as HTML and SVG provide a styling attribute on most elements, to hold a fragment of a style sheet that applies to those elements. One of the possible style sheet languages is CSS. This draft describes the syntax and interpretation of the CSS fragment that can be used in such styling attributes. Comments are welcome through 09 February. http://www.w3.org/Style/
Month: January 2010 (Page 3 of 7)
Amazon.com has announced details of a new program that will enable authors and publishers who use the Kindle Digital Text Platform (DTP) to earn a larger share of revenue from each Kindle book they sell. For each Kindle book sold, authors and publishers who choose the new 70 percent royalty option will receive 70 percent of list price, net of delivery costs. This new option will be in addition to and will not replace the existing DTP standard royalty option. This new 70 percent royalty option will become available on June 30, 2010. Delivery costs will be based on file size and pricing will be $0.15/MB. At today’s median DTP file size of 368KB, delivery costs would be less than $0.06 per unit sold. For example, on an $8.99 book an author would make $3.15 with the standard option, and $6.25 with the new 70 percent option. DTP authors and publishers will be able to select the royalty option that best meets their needs. Books from authors and publishers who choose the 70 percent royalty option will have access to all the same features and be subject to all the same requirements as books receiving the standard royalty rate. In addition, to qualify for the 70 percent royalty option, books must satisfy the following set of requirements: The author or publisher-supplied list price must be between $2.99 and $9.99; This list price must be at least 20 percent below the lowest physical list price for the physical book; The title is made available for sale in all geographies for which the author or publisher has rights; The title will be included in a broad set of features in the Kindle Store, such as text-to-speech; This list of features will grow over time as Amazon continues to add more functionality to Kindle and the Kindle Store. Under this royalty option, books must be offered at or below price parity with competition, including physical book prices. Amazon will provide tools to automate that process, and the 70 percent royalty will be calculated off the sales price. The 70 percent royalty option is for in-copyright works and is unavailable for works published before 1923 (public domain books). At launch, the 70 percent royalty option will only be available for books sold in the United States. http://dtp.amazon.com/
DocZone by Really Strategies, Inc., a software as a service (SaaS) XML content management system, delivers multi-channel output from single-source content. DocZone Publisher offers publishers a web-based editorial and production system that supports the creation, management, translation, and single-source publishing of content. DocZone Publisher offers CMS functionality in one system and provides support for high-end XML-based composition to PDF, HTML, EPUB, online help, and MS-Word formats. www.doczone.com.
Inmedius, Inc. announced the distribution of S1000Dimpact v4, to provide support for the S1000D Issue 4.0 Schema, including Descriptive, Illustrated Parts Data (IPD), and Procedural document types or Data Modules (DMs). The change management software links S1000D technical documentation and Logistic Support Analysis Record (LSAR) data, so that modifications in engineering data are tracked and implemented by publication departments. The efficiency of creating initial S1000D Data Modules and managing changes from the logistics source can be enhanced with Impact. Users map technical publishing structures to the logistics source, track changes and create Data Module Requirements Lists (DMRLs) for S1000D projects. Impact also provide workflow capabilities, audit trails and reporting functions to maintain controls and manage changes. Impact is one of seven modules in the Inmedius S1000D Publishing Suite, an integrated solution set, supporting the entire S1000D technical documentation lifecycle. The software modules work together, integrating authoring through publishing. Browser-based Impact works with S1000Dmanager, facilitating a direct link between LSAR data and the S1000D Common Source Database (CSDB) to review and manage engineering changes. www.inmediusS1000D.com
Open Text Corporation announced the release of Vignette Content Management 8. Vignette Content Management 8 introduces a new design aimed to let business users to create websites, microsites and landing pages on-demand, while staying within branding and technical guidelines. The design caters to specific personas in marketing or other departments, providing tools, designs and other resources based on their roles. Vignette Content Management 8 offers a way to create and manage Web experiences by streamlining the management of Web layouts and structures. This includes page management, site and navigation management, content production, taxonomy and task management. Vignette Content Management 8 has been designed to help users move to the new interface at their own pace. Marketers can assign search engine compatible vanity URLs to specific pages, or navigation channels; leverage site templating capabilities to quickly generate microsites for promotions or events; establish seasonal or event-specific designs when and where applicable in a consistent manner; add content contextually within the website; and work with rich media and social media assets. www.vignette.com/v8
Calgary’s Kryos Systems has updated its TitanWEB Content Management System. TitanWEB 4.2 is built around the IBM Lotus Domino technology architecture and allows non-technical trained staff the ability to keep websites current with features like embedded video clips, cross-functional compatibility with social media sites like Twitter, RSS feeds, Google map integration, and other traditionally ‘professional only’ features. The software allows any user to schedule pages to publish at specific time intervals, restrict content to specific audiences, and perform other management tasks faster than was possible previously. The updated software allows staff to perform these tasks remotely. With a built-in approval system, Kryos ensures no content goes live until it’s authorized to. Kryos developed TitanWEB to enable organizations to communicate, collaborate, and conduct commerce on a broad range of platforms – from desktop to web to BlackBerry. http://www.kryos.com/
Mark Logic Corporation announced MarkLogic Cloud Services, a new line of services that will make Mark Logic software available on Amazon Web Services. The first such offering in this line is MarkLogic Server for EC2, which enables customers to use MarkLogic on a pay-by-the-hour basis on Amazon EC2, the popular elastic computing cloud platform. MarkLogic Server for EC2 consists of an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) with MarkLogic Server pre-installed. For faster and easier deployment, users can subscribe to the MarkLogic Server AMI directly from Amazon Web Services. This service also allows users to pay for only the resources they need. MarkLogic Server is also now certified on two cloud infrastructures. The first is Amazon EC2, where customers can deploy MarkLogic Server on an infrastructure offered by Amazon Web Services. The second is the VMware virtualization platform, which enables customers to implement clouds on self-managed hardware. http://www.marklogic.com/
Ephox announced it has acquired the WebRadar product line from Web Presence Architects, a web strategy consulting firm. With WebRadar, Ephox has a web content intelligence system that provides content administrators and project managers with a way to proactively monitor and manage their existing WCM solutions. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. WebRadar helps web content administrators and project managers identify, fix, and monitor problems with WCM content and processes. For example, WebRadar can determine where the bottlenecks are in a particular process, which pages are expiring within a set timeframe, which content authors are actively using the system, and which pages are assigned to specific team members. Reports can be easily produced to analyze workflow processes, content items, and content author adoption of the WCM. Charts provide at-a-glance insights into WCM processes. The WebRadar product line will be integrated into Ephox’s suite of solutions over the course of Q1, 2010. http://www.webradarwcm.com, http://www.ephox.com
