K4 Publishing System 5.1

Managing Editor Inc. (MEI) today released version 5.1 of the starting February 1, 2005, in New York.

Version 5.1 of K4 can contain multiple variations of text, images, ads or multimedia content, increasing the flexibility of K4 and its adaptability to different types of publications to accommodate multiple-language editions, regional-based newspapers (for different content/ads), or differences in textbooks for various states. All variants share the same layout geometry, and each text variant can be checked out and edited by a separate user in Adobe InCopy.



K4 can also use layers to allow for different versions of the overall design for the same content. Depending on site preference, K4 determines whether editors working in InCopy can see all layers contained in the InDesign file, or just the layers visible when the layout file was saved to the database.



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 status—as well as JPG previews of InDesign pages—to the integrated system. Object rules can be used to automate an almost unlimited number of layout tasks in K4, such as controlling page counts in multi-chapter publications and auto-populating layouts with specific text and image objects from other databases.

by MacNN Staff