Frequently Asked Questions

What sort of content and data can go online?: Typical content can be journal issues or articles, reference works, entire monographs or chapters, textbooks and supporting materials, primary source material, conference reports, directories or multimedia content. Non-textual content can include sound files, statistical datasets, and external links databases.
Does the content have to be specially formatted?: No, the extensible design directly supports data coded to any DTD (and indeed non-XML input types). PDF content is fully supported in combination with appropriate header or metadata supplied in XML. Usual data types include the widely-used DTD standards such as TEI P4 or DocBook, but any structured data is supported.
How are projects costed?: Project costs include a combination of development costs (for example, creating a functional specification, data development, graphic design, testing and hosting deployment, technical planning and project management), software license fees and server hardware, ongoing software support and maintenance, and hosting.
How long will my project take?: From initial concept to live deployment can take as little as four months, depending upon the scope of the project.
What is a content platform? How does it differ from an ordinary web site?: The Semantico Information Publishing Platform (SIPP) is a suite of web services applications supporting online content delivery by the construction, management and delivery of multiple product websites. This component-based architecture allows parts of the system to be modified and extended independently. It also allows the platform to be deployed across different servers or locations.
How difficult is it to add or repackage new content?: The SIPP Control Panel allows the publisher to load, test, and trial new or changed content to non-public copies of the platform, and to control related public sites to allow then to serve new or changed content as required.
Do I need a separate access management package?: As internet offerings and online publishing solutions become more complex they may become more difficult to manage. Information duplicated in too many places may not be maintained, leading to inefficiencies and lost opportunities. The Semantico Access Management System (SAMS) addresses these issues by centralising the access and subscription management in one place for all of a publisher's product sites irrespective of the product site developer.
Can I adopt new business models without needing to re-engineer all my content?: SAMS enables the publisher to create and modify online products using a variety of different commercial business models without having to re-engineer the websites that deliver the online product.
Can I integrate subscription management with my organisation's existing CRM and financial back-office?: SAMS supports, via its web services API, the ability to link to other systems to enable key information to be shared in real time. For example, it can be used to pass information to and from financial systems, customer relationship and subscription management and fulfilment systems.
Where do I go for reassurance that I am meeting accessibility requirements?: Semantico has adopted a standards-based approach to the creation of online publishing platforms for its customers. With the growing body of international legislation (for example, the UK's Disability Discrimination Act and the United States Section 508) a requirement to ensure a site's accessibility is a key part of any large online project. Semantico's approach to accessibility provision ensures appropriate standards compliance.
Will new browser releases affect the deliverability of my content?: Semantico's standards-based approach to web page design using XHTML and CSS (cascading style sheets) ensures that all pages within a product web site will be usable with any web browser software, regardless of the media device used.
Can I plan for new hand-held technology ahead of time?: SIPP can deliver publishers' content not just to websites but also to PDAs and other mobile devices.