Category: Content technology news (Page 286 of 625)

Quadralay Corporation unveiled WebWorks OnTime, an online consulting service that converts Microsoft Word or Adobe FrameMaker documents into every major online format or professional online help system for implementation on a wide variety of electronic devices. WebWorks OnTime is on-demand ePublishing, reducing both the deadline pressure and the cost associated with deploying technical documentation, marketing copy, and other corporate communications. The only knowledge required for using WebWorks OnTime is proficiency in either Microsoft Word or Adobe FrameMaker. WebWorks OnTime will convert raw XML data as well, providing a service for publishing legacy database. WebWorks OnTime helps writers convert their Microsoft Word or Adobe FrameMaker content into one or more online formats without needing either the expertise to convert it themselves or the in-house hardware, software, and personnel that these tasks require. www.webworks.com

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announced its support for two newly issued publications that are critical to increasing the international reach of the World Wide Web. These publications, coordinated through both the IETF and W3C, are RFC 3986, STD 66 Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax and RFC 3987 Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRIs), respectively an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Internet Standard and Proposed Standard. The World Wide Web is defined as the universal, all-encompassing space containing all Internet – and other – resources referenced by Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs, sometimes commonly called “URLs”). In Tim Berners Lee’s original proposal, and in the initial Web implementation, the Web consisted of relatively few technologies, including the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and the HyperText Markup Language (HTML). Yet perhaps more fundamental than either HTTP or HTML are URIs, which are simple text strings that refer to Internet resources — documents, resources, people, and indirectly to anything. URIs are the glue that binds the Web together. IRIs extend and strengthen the glue, by allowing people to identify Web resources in their own language. Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax was written by Tim Berners-Lee (Director, W3C), Roy Fielding (Day Software) and Larry Masinter (Adobe Systems) with involvement of the W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG). The Standard describes the design, syntax, and resolution of URIs as well as security considerations and normalization and comparison (determining if two URIs are equivalent). This new Standard replaces the URI specification released in 1998. Among several technical changes, the host component of a URI is now enabled for internationalized domain names. Other technical changes include a rule for absolute URIs with optional fragments, a rewritten section 6 “Normalization and Comparison” by Tim Bray and the W3C TAG, simplified grammar, clarifications for ambiguities, and revisions to the reserved set of characters. The Internationalized Resource Identifiers (IRIs) Proposed Standard was developed in part by the W3C Internationalization Working Group, and was written by Martin Durst (W3C) and Michel Suignard (Microsoft Corporation). www.w3.org

Vignette Corp. and Access Distribution, a General Electric company and a value-added distributor of complex computing solutions announced a distribution relationship whereby Access Distribution will make a mutually agreed selection of Vignette solutions available to its reseller partners. With the agreement, Access Distribution will add Vignette portal and collaboration solutions to its portfolio of enterprise application software solutions. Access Distribution will also offer service, education and maintenance programs to its newly recruited authorized resellers throughout North America. Vignette solutions will augment existing products and services offered through Access Distribution’s Sun Business and Enterprise Solutions groups. Adding Vignette solutions to its portfolio helps Access Distribution as it furthers its move into the enterprise applications software market space, which was announced in December 2004. www.vignette.com, www.geaccess.com

Managing Editor Inc. (MEI) announced the availability of version 5.1 of the K4 Publishing System, a professional publishing solution for Adobe InDesign-based workflows. Featuring support for regional editions or multi-version publications, e-mail notifications of assignments, virtual layouts for issue planning integration, and object rules for connecting digital asset management systems, version 5.1 expands the range of workflow setups with K4 and provides better overall integration into publishing enterprise environments. In K4 version 5.1, each frame in an InDesign document can contain multiple variations of text, images, ads or multimedia content. For multi-language publications, each set of text frames can contain a different language variant. K4 version 5.1 allows data from ad layout and asset management systems to be sent to K4 directly via XML as object rules. K4 can read and interpret these rules to build layouts and/or place objects dynamically, then send back information about the placed files and page statusas well as JPG previews of InDesign pagesto the integrated system. Object rules for images or multimedia objects can be sent to K4 from asset management systems or image databases in the same way. K4 Publishing System 5.1 is available for Mac OS X and Windows XP/2000/2003. Its TCP/IP-based SQL database can run on OS X server, Windows XP/2000/2003 server, Linux and Sun Solaris. www.maned.com

Belus Technology announced Version 1.5 of XStandard, a WYSIWYG editor for Windows and browser-based content management systems (IE/Mozilla/Firefox/ActiveX). The new version of XStandard brings significant performance enhancements, including a loading time for the editor that is five times faster than previous versions, and under half a second on the average computer. Version 1.5 of XStandard also introduces a unique “Heartbeat” feature that ensures content is not lost when editing sessions are “timed out” and authors are forcibly logged off their content management system. By sending regular “pulses” to the server, the Heartbeat ensures that Session state remains open for as long as authors need to complete their work. Whatever the author’ skill level, XStandard always generates clean XHTML Strict or 1.1. http://xstandard.com

PaperThin, Inc. announced the availability of CommonSpot Content Server version 4.5, the company’s Web content management solution. This major release introduces expanded authoring features like rich text editing for Mac, collaborative authoring and email review, a Web Services-based content import facility, a taxonomy module, and several features that benefit organizations with a large-scale Web presence. Several new features have been added that directly benefit content authors. Full authoring and administrative functionality is now available under any Mozilla-based browser, including Mozilla 1.7, FireFox 1.0, and Netscape 7.2. Content can now be authored, published or approved on the Mac, Windows and Linux platforms. Additionally, CommonSpot 4.5 supports collaborative authoring, enabling content authors to view ‘Work in Progress’ by other authors, and if authorized, take ownership of the content for further editing. A new ‘Email Review’ feature has also been added. A Web Services-based content import facility now available enables developers to initially populate a CommonSpot site with content from external sites or systems, and allows for the ongoing consumption of syndicated content. Additional enterprise level functionality introduced in CommonSpot 4.5 includes a transaction/audit log which provides the ability to track all contributor actions and events to better comply with audit trail regulations. Full UTF-8 support enables organizations to publish content in any language including multi-byte UNICODE languages. www.paperthin.com

IBM has launched a broad array of software and technologies. The new technology and services are designed to give organizations the choice and flexibility to build the “front end” of their collaborative solutions – on a variety of client devices, from PCs to mobile devices. Along with new enhancements to Lotus Notes and Domino, IBM is introducing new WebSphere Portal and Workplace solutions. These three product families form the core of IBM’s collaboration portfolio. The new version of Lotus Notes and Domino, WebSphere Portal and the Workplace platform are designed to help organizations extend the reach and value of their back-end systems and all play a key role in increasing collaboration and productivity for employees, customers and partners. In addition to new software enhancements, IBM is also introducing new Workplace development tools, enhanced business partner programs and a new hosted solution that allows customers to leverage IBM collaborative software on demand. New products include: Notes and Domino 7, Workplace Collaborative Services, IBM Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP) Self-Service Validation Site, IBM Workplace for Business Controls and Reporting (WBCR), and more. www.software.ibm.com

McLaren Software and FileNet Corporation announced the general availability of McLaren Enterprise Engineer for the FileNet P8 Enterprise Content Management (ECM) platform. McLaren Enterprise Engineer is a suite of configurable, out-of-the-box applications for the management of all forms of engineering content. The suite of applications is designed to meet the business requirements of organizations in process manufacturing, oil and gas, utilities, government, and design & construction sectors, as well as other organizations operating large production facilities and similar assets. Enterprise Engineer is designed to accelerate the business processes associated with engineering content, such as drawings, correspondence, procedures, specifications and other related documents. www.mclarensoftware.com, www.FileNet.com