Most people expect textbooks produced today to fill multiple roles. The printed product is the obvious main purpose for textbooks, but in the Internet world there are Web sites to be designed and interactive CDs to be produced. The developers of QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign are listening to the users of their desktop publishing programs who are clamoring for features beyond the creation of a book; there are also developers continually extending the capabilities of these programs.

All of these approaches require an existing XML strategy, including a document type definition (DTD). You must carefully examine how you intend to work with XML, including how detailed the results should be. (This is called granularity.) Working with XML is not for the faint of heart, but it is becoming an increasingly important way to add value to your published products.

Adobe InDesign CS2

InDesign CS2 has some real options right out of the box. With some forethought, it is possible to automatically map the style names of your InDesign template to the elements of your DTD. This requires that the XML elements have the same names you use for the style names. Because many DTDs have literally hundreds of elements, this can be a time saver. Even if this mapping needs to be done manually, the map can be saved for repeated use.

InDesign does not just blindly work with XML as if it were plain text. One of the important characteristics of XML is its structure; one of the goals of working with XML is consistency. After you import an XML file into InDesign, the software can parse the file to determine whether your document is valid when compared to your DTD. Once the document is validated, you know that it adheres to the structural rules you have established in the DTD.

Validation also helps to ensure that your document will function as designed in other environments (such as production of an ancillary electronic product). When paging is finished, the XML, including images, can be exported once again.

QuarkXPress 6.5

QuarkXPress 6.5 has a new free extension called XML Plus XT. This extension replaces the oft-maligned extension called avenue.quark that was introduced with Quark 4.11 but virtually never used.

XML Plus is much more robust than the older avenue.quark. It allows you to establish mappings between Quark style names and DTD elements. Mapping rules take some time to set up. Unlike InDesign, with Quark and XML this must be done manually, but the parameters can be saved and reused.

After setup you can import XML into the template and proceed with automatic pagination. (Well, semi-automatic pagination—book publishers tend to have a higher standard than others for what constitutes pagination!) At the end of the page-creation process the XML can then be exported for reuse.

Adobe’s and Quark’s approaches share many similarities. Both allow for a front-end XML production process (i.e., allow you to flow an XML document into a properly prepared template), and thereby export XML files at any stage. This capability opens up opportunities for producing multiple products with the same content, at the same time.

A few caveats should be mentioned. In an XML-first process, content should be in nearly final form. Because you are producing more than one product at a time (an XML product and a print product at the very least), extensive revisions cause more rework than in a non-XML environment. In the end, this is probably a good thing, since it encourages book producers to have materials prepared properly at the beginning of production. Also, publishers should perform a thorough evaluation of potential uses for their content, and design their DTD accordingly. By utilizing an efficiently designed DTD, you will avoid unnecessary cost while maximizing the value of the content.

How do you prefer to edit: on hardcopy or electronically? Many of today’s authors and proofreaders are experts at proofreading electronic pages using Adobe Acrobat (see related article below), but—believe it or not—some reviewers still work on actual paper!

Once the author and proofreader send their changes to the project manager (PM), that person will check the corrections and prepare the pages to be sent to ICC Macmillan’s compositors in India. If the edits exist on PDFs, files are sent via FTP. However, if revisions are on paper, pages will be scanned to create an electronic copy, similar to a fax or photocopy. If the pages are not tidy, the PM will prepare the manuscript for scanning, and make sure edits are clear and legible. To ensure that your hardcopy pages will be shipshape, here are a few suggestions:

1. When indicating pages that contain minor or moderate corrections, send a cover letter instead of placing flags on the masters. Sticky notes can fall off pages during shipping, and those alterations could end up being missed. There is no need to send a cover letter if there are numerous revisions; the PM will check every page.

2. Place lengthy or complex changes onto new sheets of paper, rather than taping them to the backs of the hardcopies or writing them on sticky notes that dangle off the pages. This will help avoid having PMs remove sticky notes and rewrite extensive changes. If your edits are on page 29, for example, write “See page 29a,” label the new page “29a, ” and insert in pages accordingly.

3. Corrections written on sticky notes should never obscure text. It may be easier to write the edits on separate pieces of paper, as noted in #2.

4. Please use a dark-colored pen to mark changes on pages, and absolutely do not use non-repro blue. The non-repro blue will not show up at all when pages are scanned and forwarded to our typesetters. If your author or proofreaders are using pencil or light-colored ink, the PM will likely need to rewrite every single correction to ensure that the typesetter will be able to see the revisions, which can mean spending unforseen time on the project.

5. Make sure that the edits are not too close to the edges of the pages, as they may get cut off when scanned. For example, corrections such as “See page 165” could end up set as “See page 16.” If there isn’t enough room in the margin to write, it may be better to follow suggestion #2.

ICC Macmillan hopes these suggestions will be useful. Our goal is to create quality pages while adhering to your schedule. If the hardcopy is not in order, the schedule could be jeopardized. If you have any questions about the process, please contact your project manager for more advice.

Proofreader Maggie Casper displays the art of QA.

Quality Assurance (QA): the final step before each round in the book production process. Without it, how many pesky errors could sneak in? Perhaps a stray orphan? A snarky little subscript crashing into an equation? The infamous homeoteleuton (a series of words with the same or similar endings causing reader confusion)? The possibilities are endless. In order to retain the integrity of a book, a good QA is vital.

Listed below are examples of items that are checked as part of our QA process to ensure excellence in paging. Remember, this is not a proofread. Proofreads are done before the QA. The QA is the last step after the pages have been composed and proofed.

• The QA team closely reviews the job folder that contains emails, cover letters, and page makeup instructions.
• The team conducts a general check of chapters against the specs. If any discrepancies occur, they are fixed or queried.
• The following are checked:
• All headings including titles, subtitles, author names and affiliations, and so on
• Running heads
• Math coding
• Figure and table captions
• Space below headings
• Butting edges and corners
• Alignment of spreads
• If the book has been keyed-in and a single typo is found, the entire file must be reread.
• If the files were provided, copyedits are spot-checked.
• Placement of figures, tables, exhibits, and boxes are checked according to their citations in the text.
• Publishers‛ preferences for positioning stack/stagger are checked.
• Good paging and publishers‛ preferences should be followed for word breaks, hyphenation, page breaks, and orphans/widows.
• Color is spot-checked in pages.
• Turnover indentation of headings, listings, table entries, algorithms, and references are checked.
• Abbreviations for words such as “Figure” and “Equation” are checked.
• Clearing for double and triple digits in numbered lists are checked.
• Spacing between environments is checked.
• Any outstanding queries are transferred to pages.
• Finally, all chapters are scanned in sequence to ensure all pages are present.