EditorialPack Design. The print desk, without the desktop.
EditorialPack Design lays out newspaper and magazine pages in a web browser. An issue is a grid of pages. Open one, place stories from your CMS, set type, save. The page is locked while you work and versioned when you stop. When the issue is done, one button renders every page into a single press-ready PDF.
Built for the real workflow. Tested on real daily and weekly print pages, with their own templates, fonts and section folders.
What is EditorialPack Design?
A page layout application that runs in the browser, with the files, the people and the output managed for you. The layout engine is the same kind of software a desktop program would run, compiled to run inside the browser tab. Nothing is installed. Pages, fonts and exports live on the server, so every designer, editor and proofreader sees the same issue.
- Who it is for Newspapers and magazines that want their print desk in the browser: a few designers, a few editors, one or more titles.
- What you work on Issues made of pages, grouped by section the way your folders are: A1 to A24, then B, then C.
- What it reads IDML exports of your existing InDesign pages and templates. Your frame labels, styles, swatches and parent pages come across.
- What it writes PDF/X-4 per page or per issue, with trim and bleed boxes, embedded subsetted fonts and printer's marks. IDML back out when you need it.
- Where it runs On our hosting, at design.editorialpack.io. Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari on a desktop computer.
- What it needs from you Your fonts, uploaded once with a licence confirmation, and your page profile: size, margins, columns, bleed.
What it does
Everything a print desk needs between the story and the printer, in one place.
Issues and pages
One issue per date. Pages in order, grouped by section, each with a thumbnail. Drop a folder of IDML files on it and they sort themselves by the names you already use. Start next week from this week with one click.
A full layout editor
Frames, threading, paragraph and character styles, swatches, parent pages, guides, tables, placed images, text wrap, and the panels a designer expects. It reads IDML and keeps what InDesign put there.
Stories from the newsroom
Search the stories your newsroom wrote in EditorialPack, pick one, and the headline, deck, byline, body, image and caption drop into the labelled frames with the right styles. Overset is reported, not hidden.
Locks and versions
One person edits a page at a time; everyone else sees who has it. Every save is a version you can restore. Close the tab and the page is free in seconds. An owner can release a page someone left open.
Your fonts, your profile
Upload the publication's fonts once; family, style and weight are read from the files. Set the page size, margins, columns, bleed and export preset once, and every new page starts right.
One PDF per issue
Press "Export issue PDF" and every page is rendered from its latest saved version, in order, into one PDF/X-4 with trim and bleed boxes on every page. Kept on the server, downloadable any time.
How a day works
No installs, no shared drives, no "who has the file".
Create the issue
Pick the date. Duplicate yesterday's issue or drop the day's IDML pages onto it. Sections and page numbers come from the file names.
Lay out the pages
Open a page. It is yours until you close it. Place stories from the CMS, set type, fix the overset. Save, or let autosave do it.
Check the grid
Thumbnails show every page as it stands. Who is working on what is visible on the cards.
Send to press
Export the issue. One PDF, every page in order, the printer's boxes in place. Download it, or let the next person download it later.
Plans
EditorialPack Design is priced per publication, with seats for designers and editors and viewers always free. Pilot publications work with us at no cost while we learn together. Write to us for a quote for your titles.
Questions
Does it open our InDesign files?
It opens IDML, the exchange format InDesign writes with File → Export. A script converts a whole folder of .indd files at once. Templates, styles, swatches, parent pages and frame labels come across.
Where are our pages stored?
On our servers, in your publication's space, with every saved version kept. You can export any page as IDML or PDF at any time, so nothing is locked in.
Can two people edit the same page?
Not at the same time, on purpose. One person holds the page; the others see read-only and who has it. The moment it is closed, it is free. This is the model print desks already work in.
What about our fonts?
You upload the publication's licensed fonts once. They load into every page and embed into every PDF. Fonts a page asks for and you do not have are listed, with a substitution map for stand-ins.
Where do the stories in the story panel come from?
From your newsroom's EditorialPack hub, with the print headline and deck your editors wrote. Pages can also be built without it: paste or type text, place images from your computer.
How do we start?
Send the request below. We create your publication, you upload the fonts and a few pages, and your team gets invitations by email. Then sign in at design.editorialpack.io.
Where is our data, and who can see it?
On servers in the United States, in your publication's own space. Only the people you invite can open it, and every save is kept as a version. We back up the database and all files every night and keep backups for thirty days. You can export any page as IDML or PDF at any time. The details are in the terms of service.
What if something breaks on deadline?
Email support answers within one business day, and problems that stop an issue going to press come first.
Request a pilot
Tell us about your publication. We reply within one business day with a short call and a login for your team.