MarkStein Web-Layout

Modular web application for page design

MarkStein Web-Layout is a browser based application for creating, editing and outputting page layouts. The module works frame-oriented in the manner of classic DTP programs and is compatible with MarkStein Publisher. Page elements such as frames, texts and images can be modified on the desktop by mouse actions or keyboard entries. MarkStein Web-Layout can be used in conjunction with MarkStein Publishing Server as a web frontend for interactive layout editing.

User Interface

The user interface essentially resembles the familiar interfaces of DTP programs. The appearance and symbols are oriented to common apps, so that the software can also be used on tablets with a touch screen. In addition to the standard tools and layout palette, the grouped inspectors in particular simplify the work, as all important functions of the software can be accessed via them. Less common functions can be found in context menus.

Inspectors

The right pane displays the inspectors for editing the frame properties, the tool palettes, and the list of layout templates.

Frames & Shadows

  • Like Inspector Text, shadow & gradient
  • Wider than frame
  • Higher than frame
  • Shadow knocks out frame

Text Shadows & Gradient

  • Predefined shadow gradient
  • Shadow width
  • Color, tonal value, opacity
  • Offset
  • Soft edge type
  • Angle

Properties

  • X, Y, Hight, Width
  • Angle
  • Text alignment
  • Color, tonal value, opacity
  • Text content, image content
  • Text block

Text

  • Number of columns, gutter, fixed column width
  • Column width (Read-Only)
  • Inner Text spacing (left, right, top, bottom)
  • First baseline
  • Minimal / fixed value
  • Baseline grid

Text wrap

  • Text spacing left, top, right, bottom
  • Position first baseline mode
  • Number of columns, gutter
  • Fixed column size (Inspector Text)
  • None / bounding box / object shape
  • Ignore others

Stroke & Lines

  • Style, weight
  • Color, tonal value, opacity
  • Miter / -type
  • Position of Line (centric, inside, outside)
  • Feathered edge type
  • Radius feathered edge

Rand

  • Rand links, oben, rechts, unten
  • Randfarbe, Tonwert, Deckkraft

Ecken

  • Eckenradius, einzeln
  • Ecken-Typ, einzeln

Tool Palettes

  • Palette Bildinhalt
  • Palette Ausrichten
  • Palette Objekt

Layout Templates

Drag & drop layout templates to position them on the workspace or assign them to an existing layout.

Technical Information

The MarkStein Web-Layout module is a browser-based user interface for loading, manipulating, visualizing, outputting and saving a server-side loaded page layout document. The user interface is implemented in JavaScript on the client side and is bidirectionally connected to the MarkStein Publishing Server via a web server using WebSocket technology. JSON is used as the data format for the exchange between the layout server and the browser.

WYSIWYG-Layout-Prview, Fonts

A WYSIWYG layout view is displayed in the browser. To do this, the server renders the frames or frame groups on the page in SVG format and sends them with their coordinates to the client for display. This means that the view can be scaled within a certain range without loss of quality.

The basis for text rendering in SVG format are the original fonts. These must be available in OTF or TTF format on the layout servers for rendering and on the web server for displaying the SVG data.

MarkStein Publishing-Server

Multi-Instance-Betrieb, Dispatching, Load Balancing

The layout server runs in multi-instance mode. The layout server dispatcher module is responsible for administration. The layout server dispatcher runs as a service. It starts an instance of the layout server when a user logs on; it ends the instance when the user logs off again.

Any number of servers with layout server dispatcher modules can be used for load balancing. The load balancing function of the Apache Web server distributes the requests.

User, Session, Process Management

An authentication instance (MarkStein database or own instance) is required, against which the user must authenticate when logging on.

A persistent session ID is generated for the user, which is used to assign the user to his or her respective user process.

This assignment enables the user to be reconnected to his session after a connection termination.

When the user logs off, the user process is terminated and the session ID expires. The logoff can be performed explicitly by the user or automatically by the system if the user is inactive (period configurable).

Integrated Components

Adobe PDF Library and PDF Converter (PDF Creation), Duden Proof Factory (Spell Checking), Dieckmann Hyphenation (German / English), Duden Hyphenation (French / Spanish / Italian)

Support of other languages on request.

Technology

Browser-Client: JavaScript, AngularJS, AJAX, TypeScript
Web-Server: Apache, PHP
Layout-Server: C++ with Qt 5,5
MarkStein SOAP-Server: C++ with gSOAP
MarkStein REST-Server

Supported File Formats

Document

MarkStein Publisher Document, tango XML, InDesign IDML, Connection to tango database

Text

MarkStein Publisher, tango, InDesign-Tagged-Text, XPress Tags, Word, Excel, RTF, HTML, XML

Image

EPS, PDF, AI, PSD, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, BMP

Output

PostScript, PDF, IDML, EPS, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, EPUB.

System Requirements

Layout-Server

  • Server with current processor and at least 4 cores or corresponding virtual server
  • Microsoft Windows-Server 2012 R2 (64-bit) or higher
  • 16 GB RAM, approx. 2 GB per instance
  • 4 GB hard disk space for software
  • TrueColor graphics card

Web-Server

  • Server with current processor and at least 4 cores or corresponding virtual server
  • Current Ubuntu Linux Server with Apache and PHP
  • 8 GB RAM
  • 20 GB hard disk space for software and data

Supported Browsers

  • Firefox 45 or higher
Back To Top