Digital Publishing and Database Publishing with PDFreactor

In the scope of digitalization, a lot of enterprises have to face challenges to match their printing needs. The range of media applications are ever evolving and cannot be longer reduced to print. That is where digital publishing comes into action – also referred to as cross media publishing or multi-channel publishing. With the integration of PDFreactor you have multiple possibilities to streamline your publication process across multiple media formats both in the print and electronic field.

What is digital publishing? A digital publishing definition

The essential digital publishing meaning signifies supplying all content – text, images, web and other multimedia formats – in a media-neutral manner to achieve different publications. There are many digital publishing terms that can be found when discussing the possibilities these techniques have to offer. In spite of the different connotations the terms are often used as synonyms.

Dynamic Publishing

The term dynamic publishing shows that the process is highly flexible: In traditional publishing every element needs to be adapted specifically for the media format whereas digital publishing uses “raw” data which will be adapted by the digital publishing software.

Cross Media Publishing and Multi-Channel Publishing

Cross Media publishing is one of the digital publishing terms because it highlights the main difference towards traditional publishing: The possibility to include different media formats or respectively data from different storages without having to collect and curate them individually. When using the term multi-channel publishing the adaptations across a variety of media or channels is highlighted.

Database Publishing

Closely related is the term database publishing which refers to the source where the media-neutral data is stored. This can be achieved using a PIM system or other database system or web applications such as DMS, MDM or DAM.

How does Digital Publishing work?

When using a digital publishing software such as PDFreactor you can present data in multiple formats which originate from different sources in one go. During this process the digital printing systems organise all media needed with several templates which correspond to the different results you want to achieve. In these templates all elements are integrated as placeholders which makes the process faster and easier to manage. That way all elements will be formatted and comprised by the software whereas the database contains all media neutral data.

PDFreactor will provide you with the freedom to customize any individual adaptations you want to make for specific formats such as landscape or portait, different margins, page breaks and further style adaptations. With our print publishing software, you will get excellent print results from all your cross-media publishing sources and functions both as an e-publishing software as well as a directory publishing software and effectively manages traditional printing just as well. Even large HTML data quantities can be managed in a streamlined way. Explore it yourself: You can try PDFreactor in a fully featured 30-day trial period while benefitting from our support team.

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The Advantages of a Digital Publishing Strategy

The main goal by implementing a digital publishing process is to present a consistent picture of all elements you want to include in your print result throughout different media formats. When comparing digital publishing vs traditional publishing there are several aspects in which you will benefit from a digital printing strategy:

Streamlined Workflow

The digital publishing workflow saves you a lot of time to individually adapt all printable materials for the different formats you need to cover. In addition, you can rely on one centralized location of all data needed during the digital publishing process.

Save Time and Resources

The most striking advantages of digital publishing is the amount of time and resources that are saved during the printing process. By initially investing in a digital publishing software such as the printing component PDFreactor, the benefits comprise all further printing projects.

Reducing Errors

By implementing a digital publishing workflow there will not only be time saved in the process to prepare all printable material but step also eliminates the room for errors which often occur while manually or semi-automatically adapting images or product data before printing.

Easy, flexible and reproducible

While reducing the amount of manual work and adaptation, digital publishing with PDFreactor will provide you with full control of all publication steps. All adaptations can be made in a central place and can be applied throughout all elements needed. Digital publishing offers you multiple options to organise your workflow.

Digital Publishing Examples

Digital publishing can be applied in various different fields. Digital publishing is suitable for electronic publishing as well as traditional publishing areas. In addition, the two fields are easy to be combined, which is where the future of digital publishing will develop even further.

Large companies with a wide product range can benefit in the same way as smaller businesses that want to professionalize their printing process. So far, more than 2500 corporate customers are using PDFreactor for print and digital publishing. Also, non-profit and government organizations, as well as educational institutions are among our users. Browse our case studies and find out how different businesses benefit from our digital publishing solution.

The fields for digital publishing vary from digital book publishing to magazines and newspapers but also digital publishing blueprints and various other . Catalogue printing and digital publishing of websites is another broad field of application for digital publishing softwares.

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How the right digital publishing technology improves your printing results

Essential for the digital publishing process is a setup that ensures complete compatibility between your different tools. For that reason, PDFreactor is the ideal component for your print publishing software. With PDFreactor you profit from seamless compatibility towards several product content management systems such as Product Information Management system (PIM). Using Pimcore PIM and PDFreactor you are ready to go to get great printing results in all digital publishing formats you desire.

Also, Document Management System (DMS), Mobile Device Management (MDM), Digital Asset Management (DAM), WCMS, VDP and many more web applications used in dynamic publishing are compatible with PDFreactor. If you approach digital publishing using HTML5 and CSS3 PDFreactor is the perfect printing component for you. In addition, the Java-based PDFreactor provides APIs for a variety of programming languages such as Java, PHP, .NET, Python, Ruby, Node.JS, SOAP, REST and is also available as a Docker Image

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