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About ezine Composer - why should you use it and how to use it
e-z Composer is online tool from e-z Tools online automated publishing system. This is multi-user, multi-publication, automated online tool for creating, editing and publishing online publications. Author and owner of e-z Tools is SB NET, Slavonski Brod, Croatia.

       e-zine Tools service Home Page: http://www.sbnet.hr/ezc
       Usage of e-zine Tools is FREE service for first 50 projects (zines).

Throughout this text, we'll use term "ezine" (electronic magazine visible via Internet). This tool and its specialized modification (called e-X Composer) can be used to produce not only ezines but also other types of online publications (visible over network) or electronic publications (visible on local computer from CD), for example: newspapers (eNews), books (eBooks), catalogs (eCatalog) and other.

Final output, automatically generated ezine, is stored as a set of web pages (HTML code) on the Intranet or Internet server. (In future releases of e-X Composer, there will be a possibility of formatting output as plain text, PDF, etc).

e-z Composer software can be installed on server in Intranet (private,local) network or Internet (global, public) network. This software enables multi-user (multi-authors) acces to multi-zine online content databases and can produce ezines located on the same or some other server. Resulting ezine will be visible from consumer (reader) side through network via any Internet browser.

EZC uses databases on a network server to store articles and enables remote editing and publishing of ezine articles through network.

Users of e-z Composer tools are divided in two main categories: Authors and Editors. One project (one ezine) may have a several Editors and many Authors. Each of them can be located anywhere in the world and do his/hers "job" at any time accessing online ezine databases via Internet, using only Internet browser and e-z Composer located software on network server.

e-z Composer software and content database can be even installed on a local computer (not connected to a network) to produce local electronic publication. After that, the new publication, saved to local hard disk, is ready to be stored on a CD or uploaded to the Internet/Intranet server after connecting that local computer to a network.

How e-z Composer Works?

To access online e-z Compser tools and open ezine content database, user connects to the Internet and, using the Internet browser, opens EZC Login page. Because e-z Composer is multiuser and multi-zine production tool, user's authorisation data (username and password) are being checked in the registration database, so the system can be aware as to which ezine belongs the particular user and what are his rights.

After successful identification of the remote user, e-z Composer opens the MAIN PAGE offering tool set according to the user's rights (whether he is an Author or Editor). User with Editor status will see the full set of tools, but Author will only see a limited set of tools.

Whenever an Author starts a new article, he has to write a new summary. This action opens a new database entry with the status "new", "not locked" and marked with Author's ID. In the future, only the original Author or Editor will be enabled to edit or delete this article. After adding the new article summary to the ezine content, follows the edit article operation: selecting page layout model, writing the full text and uploading of picture file(s).

During editing session it is possible to make full preview of new article, change some detail, use the preview again, and so on. Old articles can be deleted or edited (edit summary, selection of another model, editing text, replacing or deleting pictures and editing picture descriptions).

Editing or changing of previously publshed articles is allowed only to the Author (owner) and to the Editor(s). Author can not change or delete articles of other authors or articles locked by the Editor(s). Editor can change, delete or lock/unlock any article. Article locking enables publishing of article and disables further changing of previously published articles.

Only a user with Editor status can activate generating of public visible HTML pages using "Publish" operation. HTML genenerator takes pages templates and data from online database, produces HTML code and stores it in public accessible directory of Intranet/Internet server. After Publish operation, new version of ezine becomes public visible trought network.

MAIN OPERATIONS:

ADD New Article
Starting a new article and writing summary (article date, title and summary). This operation makes new entry in online database. Each article entry has Author ID to identify Article Owner. After the creation, autor will use 'edit article operations' to complete article preparation. New article is ready-to-publish after Editor previews and locks the article.

Article and ezine preview
Any time during article preparation process Author can activate full preview of any article or complete ezine. Preview is generated from online database and after Publish operation ezine will look exactly the same as it was shown in the preview. To ensure this feature, e-z Composer uses the same software module for making previews (dynamic web pages sended to author's screen only) and for producing public visible HTML pages (generating static web pages files stored on server).

PUBLISH
When finished with the editing session, Editor put lock(s) to mark ready-to-publish article(s) and activates Publish operation. Automatic generator inside e-z Composer uses page templates and data from zine content database, deletes old e-zine web pages from server and produces fresh ezine web pages. After the Publish operation, the new version of ezine becomes imediately visible to the public.

EDIT ARTICLE OPERATIONS:
Edit summary
This operation can be applied to the previously published article. Author/Owner or Editor can change date, title and summary of article.

Model
Article is shown on "white paper" in printable width (500 - 620 px), centered on screen with colored background outside "paper". Article page generator uses the same template, but layout of text and pictures inside "paper" and colour outside "paper" can be changed any time for each article.
Preformated page layouts models:
  1. Only text over full paper width
  2. One picture on top-left corner of paper and text filling rest of paper space.
  3. Text in left column and up to 3 pictures in right column.
Text
Full text of article can be typed directly into input form or inserted into form using edit-copy-paste from standard text editor (NotePad, WordPad, Word...) opened at the same time in other window. The text can be later changed.
Inside text, some of standard and simple HTML tags for shaping of paragraphs can be used:
<b> (bold text), <i> (italic text), <br> (line break), <p> (new paragraph)

Delete
With this operation makes it possible to delete (remove) complete article(s) from content database.

PICTURES OPERATIONS:
Using Picture tools Author can add (upload from disk of local computer to the server) pictures and edit captions (descriptions) below pictures.

Upload picture
With Browse operation picture file is first selected from the local hard disk and then uploaded to server. Picture file can be of *.JPG or *.GIF file type.

Edit description
Descriptions can later be edited.

Delete picture
Can be used to delete picture file from server.


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