iCMS: a true alternative to InDesign Server
Netrix has recognized what a common struggle it can be for publishers to synchronize their online and offline content, and to streamline their workflow. Netrix iCMS, as an InDesign Server alternative, offers a solution to this problem, among other things.
InDesign automatization, in a cost-efficient way
A publisher with an offline publication definitely needs a desktop publishing and typesetting system to put the paper together in: the industry standard for this is InDesign. Giants may leave InDesign out of the process: they use enterprise-class, automated editing systems, e.g. Woodwing, for which an InDesign Server License is purchased (not to be confused with InDesign itself), thus they do not need a layout editor, the paper is generated on a web interface, based on templates.
Automated layout systems may be the perfect solution for large companies with a big budget, but small and medium-sized publishers may not be able and willing to spend large sums to implement a project of this size. On the other hand, there are other challenges they often have to face: they want their content to be automatically posted on their website, or vice versa: they create the newspaper based on the material published on the web.
What solutions do publishers or institutions have today, if instead of investing thousands of dollars and having to redesign their workflow entirely, they want an immediate, cost-effective solution to sync their print and online content? Well, they opt for a single source publishing system supporting InDesign, such as Netrix iCMS.
It’s not only cost-effective, but also saves you time - mechanical work is minimized by iCMS
With Netrix iCMS running in the background, the layout designer still sits right in front of InDesign, however, they do not receive the article in Word or mail, but there is a module built into InDesign that automatically edits the content already created in the CMS database into the InDesign document. The designer knows exactly which logical element is in which position in their document, so it’s enough to label each element once. Instead of a time-consuming copy-paste, they have a new task now: they get to create the cleverest templates and find the best-looking, most suitable layout patterns for each page. The good news is that they don’t need to be a slave to templatization, they get to correct and fine-tune existing frames any time they wish to. This way, layout designers do not have to get lost in the mechanical part of the work, but can focus on the more creative aspects of layout-design.
An additional benefit of the InDesign Server alternative is that instead of frequently modified documents, your newspaper or magazine will have an easy-to-search, design-independent content database that will be available for your team any time in the future - even if you later opt for a new, different frontend or page design. The solutions offered by Netrix iCMS to make working with InDesign easier appeal to several small and medium-sized publishers, but of course there are the publishers without offline publications who just need a reliable CMS connecting even two dozens of websites, syncing their content.
