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Dispatch Publisher is the tool you will use to organize and prepare your publication to be placed on the web. The Publisher interface allows you to
Before logging in to Dispatch, you will need to prepare your content and images so they are in a format which can be read and understood by the Dispatch database.
Content must be in one or more of the following formats. The characters within the parenthesis are the identifying file extension for that format. For example, if you are uploading a file in the QuarkXPress tag format, the file name must end with .xtg (ie: film.xtg or music.xtg).
Images must be in the standard web formats of GIF (.gif) or JPEG (.jpg or .jpeg). If you are currently working with TIFF or another rich image format, we recommend using Adobe Photoshop to convert your images to one of these supported formats. NOTE: Make sure that your images will fit within the design of your site. You will probably need to set a maximum pixel width for all story-related images.
After preparing your files (stories and images) for importing, transfer (FTP) those files to the Dispatch server:
NOTE: Make sure your FTP client is configured to transfer files in the appropriate binary or ASCII format. See Configuring FTP Clients for more information.
If you are returning to Publisher to continue an open session, you will see a message similar to the one to the right, with a notation of when you last left Publisher, the current time, and your user name (circled in red in the illustration). Publisher will always return you to the screen you were on when you left the session.
Click the "Next" icon to continue.
Dates must be in the mm-dd-yyyy format (04-01-2000). Using Dispatch tags, you will be able to re-format these values in your templates, choosing to use long date, short date, Roman numeral, decimal and other formats. Click the "Next" icon to continue.
Interstitial Section At the top of the Files Found screen you have an opportunity to select which interstitial pages will run in the issue being built. By default, the pages which were selected during the last build are automatically pre-selected. If you want an Interstitial to run in this issue, make sure it is checked. If you do not want it to run, make sure it is unchecked.
The next section of the Files Found screen lists the files Dispatch has found in your upload folder, separating them by stories and images. TIP: If you realize you have forgotten to upload some of the files you need at this point, you may FTP them to the uploads directory now and press "reload" in your browser. They will be added to the list of Files Found. You may also delete or rename files using your FTP client. If files are listed in red and you receive an error message about your files, this means that Dispatch has detected corrupt files. Corrupt files usually fall into two categories:
Dispatch will not delete or import any corrupted files it detects. Instead it will leave them in your uploads file for you to fix.
The bottom portion of the Files Found screen lists unknown or ignored files. These are files Dispatch will ignore, but still pass on to your web server. If you do not want these files passed on to your web server, you must delete them with your FTP client before continuing.
To create an interstitial page for your document, click on the hyperlinked "You may add a new interstitial here" on the Files Found page. On the resulting screen, you will define to define a Column ID and a Column Name for the interstitial page as well as assign it to a specific section. The Column ID will define how the interstitial file is named. For example, if the column ID is "index", the resulting interstitial filename will be "index.html". The name can be entirely descriptive. For example, if you create an interstitial as your home page ("index.html"), you would probably name the interstitial "Home Page".
Once all styles, fonts and characters have been identified, Dispatch converts your documents to HTML and completes the file analysis by displaying any material it has determined belongs in the database fields, such as headlines, subheadlines, authors, etc.
Dispatch analyzes QuarkXPress Tag Files (.xtg files) in three stages: Dispatch first locates extended or high-ASCII characters and asks for HTML equivalents. Then, Dispatch identifies each Quark Style for proper HTML treatment. Finally, Dispatch asks for HTML replacements for specific fonts. This process only happens the first time Dispatch encounters a new character, style or font.
Within Quark, many publications use characters (usually some kind of punctuation) that haven't been standardized. Examples include "smart" quotes or letters with accents. Because these characters can vary from font to font, there's no way for Dispatch to translate them, so it asks you what they are. You're only asked about each unusual character within a font once. For each unknown character, you will be given information to help identify what it should be:
TIP: Dispatch can't just use a character's ASCII value for translation, but when you become familiar with font families, this value can help you identify characters.
IMPORTANT: Do not enter characters that require other keystrokes to compose, such as the 'Control,' 'Command', 'Alt' or 'Apple' keys. Use the choose menu or escape them according to the HTML standard. You may use either the ASCII (é) or name code (é). TIP: You can place more than one character into the "HTML Substitute" text box. You can enter image pathnames, for instance, to replace art font characters (like a dingbat), or blocks of text/HTML, too. If you do replace a character with an image, we recommend using an absolute URL.
Dispatch analyzes QuarkXPress Tag Files (.xtg files) in three stages: Dispatch first locates extended or high-ASCII characters and asks for HTML equivalents. Then, Dispatch identifies each Quark Style for proper HTML treatment. Finally, Dispatch asks for HTML replacements for specific fonts. This process only happens the first time Dispatch encounters a new character, style or font.
Using styles in Quark offers two advantages for converting files in Dispatch. First, the style information can be used to automate data entry. If every time a headline appears in your publication, you use a Quark Style, Dispatch can pull the headlines out of your stories and put them into your database. This saves time and helps prevent typing errors. Second, using Quark styles with Dispatch improves HTML conversion and layout by allowing you to designate specific HTML treatment for each Quark style that is used in your publication. UNDER THE HOOD: When Dispatch converts .xtg files to HTML, it handles each piece of text marked by a Quark style in the order encountered. If a Quark style has HTML assigned to it, that HTML is placed before and/or after the text marked by the Quark style. If a style is assigned to a database Field, Dispatch copies the text to the database or adds this text to the story field if it's also part of the story body (Add to story). Now Dispatch is ready to move on to the next Quark style in your .xtg file. When Dispatch encounters a Quark style it's never seen before, it will need to know a few things:
 Dispatch gives you three pieces of information to help you decide what should be done with a particular Quark style: the name of the style, what file it was first seen in, and some sample content marked by the style.
Sometimes, the body of an article is made up of several Quark styles. These styles don't mark headlines or bylines, so they're not important to the database, but they can have specialized HTML treatment. For these kinds of styles, select
QUESTION: Not important to the database? Isn't the story a database field? Anything placed in Beginning text will be inserted before each occurrence of the Quark style in question, and, likewise, anything placed in Ending text will be inserted after each occurrence. If you leave these text areas blank, the content will be translated normally. The last dropdown, marked ignore, is only used with Quark styles that have database fields assigned to them, so for story styles, keep it set on ignore.
These Quark styles mark pieces of data, i.e., database fields such as Headline, Byline, Summary, Subheadline, UDFs and others. You'll probably want to leave the Beginning and Ending text boxes empty, since the publication templates you use will most likely handle any HTML formatting for these items, and it's better to import fielded data with little or no HTML. The Add to story checkbox determines whether or not content marked by this type of Quark style will be considered part of the story body (in other words added to the story). Most often, database styles are not added to the story and are best removed from the story. The last dropdown, which defaults to Ignore, is used only if the Quark style is a database style (i.e., the Field dropdown is set to something other than -Not a field-). It tells Dispatch how to insert data into the database when there are multiple occurrences of the same Quark style in a single document. The value of the dropdown is applied to the content of each Quark style following the first one. If it's set to Ignore, Dispatch ignores every occurrence after the first.
Dispatch analyzes QuarkXPress Tag Files (.xtg files) in three stages: Dispatch first locates extended or high-ASCII characters and asks for HTML equivalents. Then, Dispatch identifies each Quark Style for proper HTML treatment. Finally, Dispatch asks for HTML replacements for specific fonts. This process only happens the first time Dispatch encounters a new character, style or font.
 F O N T D E F I N I T I O N When Dispatch detects a font that it has never encountered before, it allows you to define what HTML to associate with it. Is it a bold font? An italic font? Serif, Sans-Serif? Using the Beginning text and Ending text boxes, you can have Dispatch handle every piece of text associated with a particular font. In the example above, you would define the font Folio-Bold Condensed by putting the opening and closing bold HTML tags (<b></b>) into the appropriate text boxes. This would ensure that whenever the Folio-Bold Condensed font was used, the resulting HTML text would be bold.
NOTE: You can click on a file name to view the HTML conversion of the story for reference.
Certain kinds of images -- such as those associated with interstitial pages -- should be "ignored". These images will be passed along by Dispatch into the issue folders, but no information about them will be stored in the database and you won't be prompted for any cataloging information. NOTE: You can click on a file name to view the image. You may also click view story to view any story in the dropdown list for reference.
NOTE: You can change these settings at any time by accessing "edit column defaults" from various areas within Dispatch.
Give your new section both a name and an ID. The ID is usually similar to the name, but without spaces or upper case letters. The ID becomes a permanent part of the database once an issue has been published, but the section name may be edited at any time. At the same time you create your new section, place it in sequence with the other sections in your publication. Use the dropdowns on the left to order the sections before you click on the "Update" icon at the bottom of the page.
NOTE: A Section and a Column may share the same name and ID.
TIP: After reordering the stories in a section, you may click the "Apply" icon located beneath each section and Dispatch will redraw the current page with the new order in place.
Depending on your preferences, you may see just the story data in a text box, or you may see all fields related to the story, including headline, subheadline, author, and summary, as well as any associated images and the fields connected to them. Any of the content present can be edited. TIP: If extensive editing of the story data is necessary, it may be easier to first copy the entire story and paste it into another text or HTML editor.
Most of this information is automatically filled in by Dispatch based on column defaults and information derived through the file analysis of uploaded stories. Additional information may be manually entered. Story cataloging has some additional features, such as referential pop-up windows of stories and images, and links to change a column's default settings. Default settings are most commonly used for reoccurring columnists or columns with static headlines or summaries. If a User Defined Field (UDF) is listed in red, that means the UDF is no longer linked to this column, although the data is still in the database. You can change what UDFs are linked to a column by choosing "Edit Column Defaults". To enter multiple values for an author or UDF, use the pipe character "|" to separate the values. For example: "Calvin|Hobbes" Do not use a comma or space on either side of the pipe character! If the value you want to enter actually contains a pipe within it, like "C|Net", you can escape the pipe by typing \| to escape the pipe. For example: "C\|Net".
The required fields were defined at the time the column was created. You can change the column name at any time, but it must always have a name. You can not change the column ID as it is a locked value that is used in templates and file naming.
The publisher fields are all optional, but we recommend minimally setting a section and pagination value. Values can also be entered for default headline, subheadline, author credit type, author name, summary, and meta tag information. Information obtained during file analysis, such as a headline style in a QuarkXPress document, will override a default value. You may also manually change these values from Story Cataloging or Super Edit. Why would you set a default value? For example, if a column always runs in the same section, or always has the same headline, author or summary, you can save yourself some time by setting default values.
The user defined fields (UDFs) are fully customizable by column. Click "Add a Field" to link UDFs to the column. Use the position drop-down to sequence the order of the UDFs for that column or to unlink a UDF from the column. In addition to linking UDFs to a column, you can set a unique default value per column. This is particularly useful for sub-sections or story types. For example, if a particular column always runs in the sub-section "Reviews" in your film section, you could set it's sub-section UDF to Reviews.
To link a UDF to a column, simply check the requested fields. To unlink a UDF from a column, uncheck the check box.
You may also view the associated story and a full-sized version of the image itself, both of which are presented in pop-up windows.
Cataloging images and their related information will allow you to build archive pages for artists, photographers, illustrators, etc. Readers will then be able to browse other works by a particular photographer or bookmark their favorite artist's archive pages.
When an author or artist is added to your publication database for the first time, Dispatch allows you to further define this individual.
 The first screen allows you to enter or correct the author or artist's first, middle and last names. Spell all names as they should appear in print, with capital letters where appropriate, and periods after initials. Place "Jr." or "Sr." or other suffixes in the box with the last name. If a similar author or artist name already exists in the database, the title "Similar Names" will appear, and the Action dropdown will contain one or more names, in addition to the "New" and "Delete" options. If none of the names presented if the same person, set the dropdown to "New".
Dispatch will automatically delete certain kinds of information which may be contained within the Quark style that identifies the author or artist, i.e., the word "by" or the em dash. Occasionally, however, Dispatch may recognize an author style within a Quark document that contains other textual material. If such unusual strings show up, simply set the dropdown to Del. Tracking the author or artist information gives you the ability to:
When you are finished with the Review, click the "Next" icon to move to Build.
You may choose to have Dispatch show you debugging information during the build. This is generally only necessary when there is a problem with the process. You may also choose to skip the build of your issue and simply commit all the information to the database. When you click the "Next" icon, Dispatch will begin building your issue.
Dispatch will show the files being built, including any related spawns. Warnings or errors will be shown in red. The page will scroll down automatically, tracking the progress of the build. IMPORTANT: While the issue is building, do NOT press stop in your browser, do not logout, and do not go to another page within this browser window. Doing so will cancel the build.
If there are additional edits to make, you can go back and make them now. If you are satisfied with the issue you have built, click on the "Next" icon to continue.
The Publishing screen shows the directories and files being written during the process. When the process is complete, you will be prompted to log out. You may do so with the "Logout" icon at the very top of the page.
Dispatch allows you to set various preferences. This is done by editing the .dispatch_preferences file found in your home directory. If you don't have a .dispatch_preferences file yet, simply create a text file with any preferences you want, name it .dispatch_preferences and upload it in ASCII format to your account. If you need any assistance with this, please contact Dispatch support. A common .dispatch_preferences file might contain this:
auto_url_target = _blank
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Connect to the Dispatch server with your preferred web browser. The access URL will be provided when your account is set up. You will be prompted for your username and password to connect. Once connected, choose "New Session" to begin your session.
Enter the date of the issue you wish to create or edit. The date must be in the mm-dd-yyyy format (03-07-2000). You may click on the date presented in red in the instructions, and it will be entered in the text box in the appropriate format. If this is not the date of the issue, you may edit the date.
The next screen allows you to
Set the volume number, issue number and end date for this issue. Dispatch will, by default, set these values based on your previous usage.
Files Found is divided into three primary sections: interstitials, files found, and unknown and ignored files. They are all independent and will only show up if they are relevant to the issue you are building.
An interstitial page in Dispatch is one not associated with any story content. For example, a table of contents page is an interstitial page, since it is only a listing of links to other stories, and not a story itself.
When Dispatch imports your Xtg files, it begins by identifying the embedded QuarkXPress styles, fonts and characters. Any of those which are not currently in the Dispatch database are shown in the first file analysis screen in green. These items will be presented on subsequent screens for identification.
Once you know the character you want to use, type it in the "HTML Substitute" text box. The link titled "choose" will open a small browser window containing a character map. If you click on the appropriate substitute in this window, it will be automatically entered into the text box. This feature is useful for hard to find characters such as the copyright or trademark symbols.
If Dispatch can't associate a file with a known column, or if you choose not to use the Dispatch file naming conventions, you'll be presented with an identification screen. Simply choose the column with which each file is associated with, or mark the file as "-New-" to create a new "column definition." You may also choose to delete a story at this time.
If Dispatch can't associate an image with a known column, or if you choose not to use the Dispatch file naming conventions, you'll be presented with an identification screen. From the dropdown list, choose the story with which each image is associated.
To define a new column, select a column ID, column name, the default section a column should belong to, and if a column should be paginated or not (it usually should be). The column ID is used to associate imported files with this column and will become a permanent setting when you publish the issue within which it is created.
If you need to create a new section for your publication, click on the "New" icon next to the Section dropdown list on either the New Column Definition or Column Defaults screens.
Pagination provides control over how your online publication will take shape. By default, Dispatch remembers your previous and historic pagination, so you won't need to adjust a thing. However, should you chose to do so, the following are a few of the options available:
From the Pagination, Story Cataloging, or Review pages, you may choose to edit the contents of the story by clicking on the "edit" hyperlink.
Story Cataloging is where most of the database input occurs. General fields include headline, subheadline, author credit type, author name, and story summary. User-defined fields will also be displayed during Story Cataloging.
Column defaults can be edited from the New Column Definition screen or any place where you see "Edit Column Defaults."
The User Defined Fields (UDFs) listed are the current UDFs available to your publication. If you would like to add a new UDF field, please write 
Image Cataloging allows you to enter captions, assign artist credit type and name, provide "alt" information for an image, and, if necessary, re-order the image within the story or assign it to a different story.
If you click on the hyperlinked more defaults, you will be taken to a second screen, from which you can also supply an e-mail address and homepage URL. Only the name elements are required.
Review provides a final opportunity for access to each story and image within an issue, allowing for last-minute changes before publishing. It is identical to Pagination in function.
The initial Build Issue screen prompts you to select the appropriate template set for building the current issue. Generally this will be the Default Template Set, but you may create special template sets for special issues.
The building screen provides a visual report of what happens during the actual creation of an issue.
After your issue has been built and you are satisfied with its appearance, the initial Ready to Publish screen appears. When you click on the "Publish" icon at the bottom right of this screen, the current issue and all other associated files, will be published to the Internet.
You will be asked to confirm that you wish to complete the log out process. You have three choices:
If you try to log out of Dispatch while it contains information that has not been committed to the database, you will receive a warning. If you do not wish to lose information, choose "Cancel" or "Leave" at this point so you can continue your work.
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