NAPS — North Atlantic Publishing Systems, Inc. NAPS PRODUCT INFORMATION

NAPS Product Information Overview NAPS Publishing System provides centralized storage management, access management, workflow tracking, and editorial / layout integration. It supports Windows, Macintosh, or a combination of both platforms, and it provides full functionality to all users with appropriate permissions, whether they are on LAN, WAN, or dialing in from a remote location. NPS for Workflow NPS provides document management and workflow, as well as automated schedule management, for the publishing production cycle. HNJ Engine for Editorial/Layout Integration HNJ Engine provides tight integration between editorial production in Microsoft Word and page layout in QuarkXPress. It allows Word users to get precise feedback about how their copy will be formatted in the final Quark layout, including line breaks, column breaks, fit information, and picture preview. Technologies Employed in NAPS Solution NPS embraces standard core technology including a Java-enhanced, browser-based user interface, an SQL-compliant database, and TCP/IP communications. NAPS's philosophy is to build custom publishing solutions from standard technology. The result is an open system, with as little proprietary technology as possible. At the database level, this means that the database is accessible and extendable for customer-specific uses. At the user interface level, this means a standard access mechanism that people are familiar with, and easy integration with other web-based applications. NAPS has been using this approach — standard technology for custom solutions — for the past ten years with a variety of products and technologies. NPS and HNJ Engine represent the latest step in the evolution of NAPS software that enhances the editorial process, while integrating off-the-shelf products, such as QuarkXPress and Word, with the latest in standard core technologies. NPS Software Features Application-independence NPS manages documents of any file type, including QuarkXPress, Word, PhotoShop, and FrameMaker. Cross-platform support NPS clients run on both Windows and Macintosh workstations. Currently, Windows clients run within the Internet Explorer browser and Macintosh clients within the Netscape browser. Standard technology means fewer new things for users to learn and makes it easy to link into other web-based applications. Prevention of multiple users from working on an object simultaneously, with identification of the "owning" user To access a file within NPS, a user must check it out. While the file is checked out, no other user can access it, except in read-only mode. The Last User header field indicates the name of the user who checked out the file. A user can check the Last User field by clicking on the Header button to view header data for the selected file, or can include the Last User field in query results. Queries can even be set up to locate all checked out files and who has them. NPS provides thumbnails for all major art file types Any query can be set up to include thumbnails in the query result. Thumbnails are automatically generated for all major types of art files, in addition to QuarkXPress documents. NPS creates abstracts for text files For text files, query results can include a field showing the first "n" characters from the text file. This enables a user looking for a particular file to see a portion of the file’s contents without actually opening the file. Text abstract length is configurable. Integrated publication preview — a book view PubViews offers a display of all pages of a Quark document, or multiple Quark documents, in book position. The pages are sequenced based on their Quark page numbers. The thumbnail size for this display is specified by the user as a percentage of original size. To get a quick overview, a user might specify a small thumbnail size so more pages can be seen on the screen at a glance. For a comprehensive review of the content, a user would specify a large percentage so the details of the pages are clearly visible and text can be easily read. To use this feature, the user does not need to check out the documents, nor does Quark need to be running on the local machine. Integrated, sophisticated scheduling Schedules can be generated based on standard time allowances for stages of production, and status can be tracked with customizable queries. Full functionality for remote users Remote users, not on the LAN or WAN, connect to NPS in the same way as local users, using their choice of Internet browser. Only communication for file transfer is different (HTTP instead of TCP/IP). Smooth operation over WAN links operating as low as 56 kpbs Both NPS and HNJ Engine have been proven to run smoothly over WAN links of various speeds. Remote links will operate smoothly, but more slowly, especially for display of graphic-intensive query results in NPS and transfer (check-in and check-out) of large files such as hi-res graphics. Functionality over WAN links, for both NPS and HNJ Engine, matches LAN functionality in every respect. In fact, because it uses standard Web technology for its interface and standard file transfer protocols, NPS functionality for dial-in users (users not on WAN or LAN) also matches LAN functionality in every respect. File storage in native file format NPS stores files with their real names in their original application formats. It also stores them outside the relational database, which contains pointers to files and information about files (header data), but not the actual files themselves. Although file locations and direct access are protected from users during NPS operation, in the case of a disaster-recovery situation, system administrators can access files by searching on their names, without needing to convert file formats once the files are located. The ability to access objects residing on external file servers Any volume that is mountable and viewable by the NPS Server can be used for the physical file storage location of NPS files. This includes Novell, Apple, and Unix servers. Scalability NPS is fully scalable, allowing the user to centralize server processing on one server unit initially, and to add servers to the configuration as more processing power or redundancy is required. Comprehensive storage management features, such as: Reports of disk storage consumed and item count by publication. The Storage Management function in NPS provides an on-line interface for system administrators. For each volume mounted for use by NPS, it shows the jobs stored there, the size of each job, the total amount of disk space used for NPS files, and the amount of unused, available disk space. It also allows the user to manage disk space by moving jobs from volume to volume. Moving jobs using this interface also enables NPS to retain an accurate pointer to the correct location of each file. Monitoring and reporting on items that have been registered but unused in the system longer than a "stale" period varying by publication. NPS tracks the Last Used day and time for each file as part of its header data. This means that the user can build a query that searches for files where Last Used is greater than x, and publication equals y. The user can also include other criteria in the query to refine the search. For example, a user could add Application Type equals QuarkXPress to see only QuarkXPress files in the query result. With saved queries, the user can build queries to suit the site's needs, then distribute them to as many users as appropriate to be run as often as necessary. The ability to "purge" the system of all elements for an issue. Using the Purge and Archive function the user can select the jobs to be purged, then click the Immediate Archive and Purge button to remove all the files from the system. This option automatically creates an archive of the selected files before removing them from NPS. The user can always access database records (header data) for purged files, and can even retrieve those files for reprocessing. Easy submission of material from external sources (i.e., non-users of NPS), such as newswires, word processors, classified systems, spreadsheet or other graphics programs, QuarkXPress, pre-press and in-house scanning operations, photo archive systems, etc. NPS hot folders can be set up to accept newswire feeds, QuarkXPress dummy documents, word processing documents, art files, or any other type of file to be imported into the NPS structure. Each hot folder can be defined to load incoming data to a particular location in the NPS "logical" file structure. How hot folders process files into NPS is configurable, but one possible scenario is to have one hot folder set up for each issue of each publication. Any file, whether it is an art file, word processing file, spreadsheet, or other type of file, dropped into one of these hot folders is automatically loaded into NPS and categorized with the appropriate publication and issue. Another possible scenario is to have a structure area for a given source, such as newswire files, and have one hot folder that loads all such files into NPS in this one area. In this scenario, a user responsible for reviewing such input can query NPS for all files in the special structure area (i.e., incoming newswire files), then reject and delete files or accept them and move them along the workflow. As it processes files from hot capture folders, NPS pre-fills header fields for "job ticket" information that translates into job name or job path data. If a user has other "job ticket" data fields that he wants to automatically feed into NPS from another system, he can do this by setting up a simple Visual Basic application to parse job ticket data from another system into NPS standard or custom database fields. NAPS can show users how to do this as part of the system administration training. Alternatively, NAPS can quote a price to perform this work. A simple and effective inter-user messaging system, with logging of message sending and receiving (reading) NPS messaging allows the sender to see who is currently on-line with NPS and who is not, and allows the sender to direct messages to all users (on-line or not) or a set of selected users. Receiving users get a notification that a message has arrived for them. After going to the message center window, the receiving users can read the message, then save or delete as desired. SQL interface to database NPS database queries are written in SQL. There is no proprietary format for the database. Availability of internal database structural information NAPS will provide technical personnel with information about the internal structure of the database; expansion of the database for custom purposes is permitted as long as the user doesn’t remove or alter existing structures. HNJ Engine Software Features HNJ Engine enhances the use of QuarkXPress as a pagination tool NAPS is a Quark certified developer with 14 years of experience developing editorial automation tools through QuarkXTensions. We continue to actively support QuarkXTensions in both Macintosh and Windows environments. The evolution of our efforts has produced HNJ Engine, a product that makes Quark a stronger pagination tool with the addition of two-way communication with Word. It also provides efficient batch import of art and text and export of text. HNJ Engine enhances the use of Microsoft Word as an editorial tool and provides for a two-way flow of editorial text between editor/writer staff and art/layout staff NAPS has added a single menu bar to the industry standard MS Word which allows editors and writers to copyfit their stories. HNJ Engine enhances composition capabilities in an environment where Word is being used for writing and editing, and Quark is being used for page layout. Write-to-fit functions for Word users With one click on the HNJ Engine toolbar in Word, a Word user gets copy-fit feedback including line endings, hyphenation breaks, column breaks, line counts, and overset/underset values. Picture Preview for Word users Using the HNJ Engine toolbar, a Word user can get a bitmap picture preview of how copy will look in the formatted QuarkXPress document. Sticky HNJ option leaves text in Quark document after HNJ The last text "HNJ’d" by a Word user may be left in the Quark document so there is no need for a batch import by the layout person. This means writers with the right permissions can place their text into the pages directly. Batch export from Quark for document de-construction Quark users can batch export text to keep original Word files in synch with any last-minute changes made directly in the final Quark layout. Batch export can also be used in de-constructing final Quark documents for re-purposing. Font and style compatibility between the editor/writer staff and the art/layout staff When editors and writers using Word run HNJ against the Quark templates on the HNJ Engine server, they are getting exact copy-fit feedback based on the geometry of the QuarkXPress template (or document), the fonts on the art/layout platform, and the style sheets defined in Quark. The appearance of text in Word is based on the style sheets set up in Word. When text styled with a Word style sheet is imported into QuarkXPress, it is re-styled based on the QuarkXPress style sheet with the corresponding name. If the writers are on PCs and the layout people are on Macs, font compatibility between the Windows platform used by the editor/writer staff and the Macintosh platform used by the art/layout staff is achieved by having a Macintosh-based HNJ Engine server. This assures that any HNJ copyfit information fed back to editors and writers takes into account the fact that the final layout will be done with Macintosh-based fonts. Application Platform Choices From an NPS and HNJ Engine point-of-view, the platform choice for client stations is up to the user. Client stations can be Windows, Macintosh, or a mixture of both platforms. The impact of platform choice for client stations must be considered, however, when choosing a platform for the HNJ Engine server. The HNJ Engine server can run on either a Windows or a Macintosh machine, but the platform it runs on should match the platform being used for QuarkXPress pagination. Matching the HNJ Engine server platform to the QuarkXPress pagination platform ensures exact, accurate copy-fit feedback to Word users, taking into account the differences between Macintosh fonts and PC fonts. The platform choice for Word users is unaffected by other platform choices. However, the NPS server platform must be Windows 2000. Hardware Specifications and System Prerequisites NPS Server Pentium processor (recommend 800 MHz or greater) 1 GB of memory 56 Kb modem or better (needed for NAPS software support) Windows 2000 Server Software (5 CAL version is sufficient) Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) version 5 Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (5 CAL version is sufficient) MS Word (for text abstracts) Adobe Acrobat (for PDF abstracts) PC Anywhere version 9.0 or 10.0 for Windows 2000 (needed for NAPS software support) Infomentum ActiveBundle (purchasing information available from NAPS) HNJ Engine Server (if Macintosh) G3, G4, or iMac 128 Mb of memory MacOS 8.6 or 9.x QuarkXPress (whichever version has been chosen for page layout stations) HNJ Engine Server (if Windows) Windows 2000 or NT 4.0 with Pentium processor (recommend 800 MHz or greater) 128 Mb of memory QuarkXPress (whichever version has been chosen for page layout stations) Macintosh Clients G3 or G4 96 Mb minimum memory (recommend 128 Mb or more for machines with Quark or other graphic-intensive programs) MacOS 8.6 or 9.x Browser: Netscape 4.7x or 4.8x Word 98 or 2001 (for clients using Word in a configuration including HNJ Engine) Windows Clients Pentium III or higher 64 Mb minimum memory (recommend more, as needed, for machines with Quark or other graphic-intensive programs) Windows 2000, XP, NT, 98, or 95 Browser: Internet Explorer 5.x or 6.x Word 97, 2000, or XP (for clients using Word in a configuration including HNJ Engine)