Inclusive publishing, or making print books more accessible for readers with disabilities, is becoming easier with the development of ereaders, smartphones, and even braille displays for ebooks. When it comes to producing ebooks at Ooligan, we should be making sure our designs are accessible and following industry guidelines so that we can bring our books to as many readers as possible. So how can we accomplish this?
coding
XML Coding: Where Digital, Editorial, and Design Collide
By Kaitlin Barnes
During my time at Ooligan, I have been told by multiple people that XML coding is the portion of the Ooligan workflow that they are most unfamiliar with and therefore most anxious about volunteering for. It’s not hard to see why XML seems daunting or confusing: the work is done by the editorial department, but it requires coding tags one would expect to see in the digital department, and the product is used exclusively by the design department. It’s easy to get lost in all of that. If the work requires coding, why isn’t it done in the digital department? If the product is only used by the design department, why don’t they do the work? To help clarify, here’s a crash course in XML.
Escaping the Need to Know Everything
By Kaitlin Barnes
It’s no secret that the publishing world has a fear of digital technology. Ebooks especially are still often treated as the red-headed stepchild of the publishing world—a wild, untamed format that only those with high-level, specialized skills can attempt to conquer. The fact of the matter is, however, this simply isn’t true. Anyone who sets their mind to it can master the art of creating ebooks, yet most remain afraid to try. Specifically, people seem to be afraid they don’t know enough to even make an attempt.
XML Coding: Bridging the Gap Between Editing and Design
By Amylia Ryan @amylia_ryan
What is XML, anyway? Is it some fancy new coding language I have to learn? Why do we use it? Why is it part of the editing department?
Fear of eBooks in Publishing
By Emily Einolander emilyeino
Over the last year of taking classes in the publishing program, I’ve developed a drinking game to gauge technophobia. It’s best to play this game on the first day of the term, when we’re all introducing ourselves and stating why we’re here. Drink every time: Someone zealously praises a book as an “artifact” or an […]
Why Not Code?
By Emily Einolander emilyeino
If you had told me last summer that by this summer I would be the Ooligan digital manager, I would have been like . . . Bock-bock-ba-what? Like many other word-lovers who have been forever entrenched in the humanities and social sciences, the idea of anything computery seems out of line. My identity revolved around […]