Really Simple Publication (part one)
¶ by Rob FrieselWhen we last saw our hero, he was pondering the question: “How do I teach web publication to a scientist and/or university professor? Someone who is obviously smart but also technologically UN-savvy?”
It is a tough question.
As we previously discussed, the question is not just “how do I most easily make an HTML document?” but also: “How do I publish it so that it is accessible by my audience?”
Let’s use this “part one” of the series to make a couple of ground rules and assumptions:
- “Really Simple Publication” is aimed at answering the above question and assumes an audience that is NOT interested in become particularly web-savvy. Our audience is about as push-button as we can get.
- Given #1, we want to use as few applications to create, edit, and publish our content as possible. We’ll set 2 applications as our absolute maximum. In fact, if we can’t do complete this assignment with only one application, we only get partial credit.
- Given #3, web-based blogging/CMS utilities (e.g., our dear WordPress), while not out of the question, are given secondary status because:
- We must assume the most bare-bones of server environments (e.g., no server-side scripting, no database access, etc.), and
- For the sanity of our subject (i.e., consistency of user experience, etc.) we want to keep this on the desktop
- This solution should apply regardless of platform (assume our subject will be flipping back and forth between a Windows-based PC and a Mac)
CAVEAT: Linux will not be under consideration here because it is fair to assume that a Linux user is already out-classing our subject in the “tech savvy” realm.
- Our solution must be flexible and user-friendly enough to easily accommodate posting a variety of media (e.g., video content, images, PowerPoint presentations)
Alrighty… Let’s get out thinking caps on and … begin!
About Rob Friesel
Software engineer by day. Science fiction writer by night. Weekend homebrewer, beer educator at Black Flannel, and Certified Cicerone. Author of The PhantomJS Cookbook and a short story in Please Do Not Remove. View all posts by Rob Friesel →One Response to Really Simple Publication (part one)
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