New vjoon K4 release optimizes enterprise and publisher digital workflows
August 6, 2015
Version 6.10 R1 includes integration with new Adobe Digital Publishing Solution and simplified editing processes.
vjoon GmbH has released version 6.10 R1 of its vjoon K4® cross-media publishing platform. One of the highlights of this release is that it comes fully integrated with the new Adobe Digital Publishing Solution (DPS). vjoon K4 will extend the features of the latest version of DPS. What’s more, interactive content for a variety of mobile devices can be created right along with HTML-based DPS articles. With this capability, vjoon K4 streamlines the workflow effort to save a great deal of time, especially for professional, process-driven digital publishing efforts. In addition, the new version simplifies processes within corporates and editorial workflows. If a task is assigned to a user as part of the workflow, he will receive an email notification containing a description of the task and an URL. All the user has to do is to click this link and the assigned asset will open in the right client, be it a browser-based web editor, Adobe InDesign®, InCopy®, or another program. Teams consisting of in-house staff and outside contributors who work less frequently in vjoon K4 also enjoy the support of a simplified user interface in K4 Web Portal. More complex features used by other contributors in the workflow are suppressed to strip K4 Web Portal down to a lightweight editor.
The new Adobe Digital Publishing Solution: Taking digital publishing to the next level
The latest version of DPS provides more flexible design options to corporations and publishers for their apps. vjoon has worked closely with Adobe for years, and as such is able to incorporate and extend the new concepts and capabilities of DPS for use in professional workflows. In addition to a host of new capabilities, users still have all the familiar proven features at their disposal when working with the latest DPS, for example, parallel and automated uploading from vjoon K4. Customers are thus assured a smooth transition. Adobe and vjoon demonstrated the many advantages of this integration live to an appreciative audience in mid-June during the vjoonity in New York.
“vjoon has been working with Adobe on powerful DPS integrations ever since 2010. The combination of its publishing system and DPS is enhancing the opportunities for our joint customers,” said Nick Bogaty, Head of Digital Publishing, Adobe. “We are delighted that vjoon is at the forefront again with support for the new Adobe Digital Publishing Solution from day one. Customers with professional, process-driven workflows will clearly benefit from DPS and vjoon K4. These tools enable marketers, corporates, and publishers to create and publish compelling app experiences.”
Structures from different collections can be created in more flexible ways in the latest DPS version, and vjoon K4 is able to generate these new, more complex structures in their entirety. If the customer uses multiple systems, vjoon K4 can also populate predefined data structures, thereby freeing the user to focus on creating content. Easily configurable automated routines determine how the new structures are prepared and delivered. vjoon K4 embraces and extends the idea behind DPS, for example, by enabling content to be delivered to multiple independent projects for publication.
A DPS project can also be populated with content sourced from several vjoon K4 publications and even from different servers. And with that, vjoon K4 affords users the opportunity to create publishing kiosks with any type of structure. What’s more, an issue comprised of a mix of the ICML and HTML publishing formats frequently used to create content can be uploaded to DPS. This enables customers to combine painstakingly designed, pixel-perfect layouts with automatically generated, template-based HTML articles and hand the entire package over to DPS. vjoon K4’s automated routines source all the information needed for DPS-driven projects from the usual metadata and transmit it to DPS.
HTML and responsive design
A comprehensive toolset for creating HTML-based DPS articles is provided to make the most of vjoon K4’s integration with DPS. With these extensively automated tools, content can be adapted to fit and delivered to digital devices. To this end, vjoon K4 contains various styles and effects so users can get started with it practically out of the box. These preconfigured sets readily adapt to personal needs, for example, to support responsive designs. Depending on the configuration, the user has many options to choose from. Work can commence from any starting point, for example, by adopting existing articles from a print edition, or editors can work digital-first by capturing content directly via the K4 Web Portal. This empowers corporates and publishers to craft sophisticated content for various devices and treat their users to a compelling reading experience.
Simplified user interface and anchored objects
Corporates, especially, need their workflows to be simple and fast. Corporate publishing projects may involve top executives, general and divisional managers, employees at remote offices, and freelancers. Many of these people seldom have the opportunity to work with the system and often do not have time to undergo extensive training. The new version of vjoon K4 makes editing and sharing content so much easier for these groups of users. When a new task is assigned to a user in a vjoon K4 workflow, he will receive a notification as usual via email. What’s new is that the mail contains a link that takes the user directly to the given article. If the article is then opened in the K4 Web Portal, the user will be presented with a self-explanatory, streamlined user interface. All functions required for editing are available and can be used intuitively. This vastly simplifies and accelerates editing, fine-tuning, and approvals for financial reports, product sheets, price lists, and the like.
Anchored images and artworks are essential to publishing business reports and books. These elements are managed and versioned by vjoon K4 and can now be anchored within or alongside text columns. The new version also allows workflows to be fine-tuned with even greater precision; for example, workflow-independent tasks can be made available to certain users only in designated situations.
“With vjoon K4 version 6.10, we are the first to offer a professional workflow solution that is fully integrated with the new DPS,” says vjoon CEO Andreas Schrader. “We have also taken the concepts of DPS further to now offer additional digital publishing benefits to enterprises and publishers.”
New features at a glance:
- Integration with the new Adobe Digital Publishing Solution (DPS)
- Simplified access to articles via URL in emails
- Simplified user interface for working in a browser
- Anchored images and artworks for business reports and books
The new release of vjoon K4 Version 6.10 R1 is available from vjoon’s integration and distribution partners.