PDF Stylesheet Development

Deliverable: Custom PDF stylesheets that support content re-use and profiling. Stylesheets are written in the XSL or CSS standard and are not proprietary.

Single-sourcing greatly reduces the time needed to output content to specific formats. Whether undertaking multi-lingual translations or basic corporate publishing design, it essential to have expertise in order to avoid delaying time-to-market, production problems, and content format conflicts. Dakota’s developers build stylesheets that automatically push technical documentation to a variety of formats, including PDF, HTML, ePub, Webhelp, iOS apps, Android and more.

Automated Content Publishing

Both large and small businesses face the same problem: how to manage content publishing across an enterprise while retaining quality and consistency of the output. Our solution is to write XSL-FOs to publish documents across any format. Dakota has published documents in a wide array of cosmetic layouts – customized to fit corporate standards, retaining both brand value and consistency.

Our consultants can find the optimal publishing methods to streamline output of any content format or digital media. Whether undertaking multi-lingual translations or basic corporate publishing design, it essential to have expertise in order to avoid delaying time-to-market, production problems, and content format conflicts.

Our services include:

  • Industry Best Practice Analysis

  • Vendor Evaluations

  • Stylesheet Development

  • XSL-FO Document Formatting

  • Multi-format Publishing for PDF, HTML, ePub, and mobile

  • Java/XSLT Optimization

  • Design and Layout

Benefits of Multi-Channel Publishing

Publishing documents from a single source greatly reduces the time needed to output content to specific formats. A stylesheet separates the XML content from the presentation of the data, which is styled in languages such as XSLT and CSS. By publishing from a single source, content is automatically formatted for multiple platforms, including PDF, HTML, ePub, and mobile.

A well-designed stylesheet has many benefits:

  • Visually appealing documentation, regardless of the content delivery mechanism

  • Centralized document formatting and publishing

  • Reduction in production time and costs

  • Compliance with corporate documentation style guides

  • Configuration for multi-lingual translations

PDF Design and Layout

Dakota Systems has been a leader in integrating and customizing content management systems, so it made sense to approach the publishing process with a step-wise method by helping companies find solutions at every stage of publishing. Centralized document formatting and publishing is a challenging endeavour to implement enterprise-wide due to the countless formats being used across different business divisions. Both large and small businesses face the same problem: how to manage content publishing across an enterprise while retaining quality and consistency of the output. Writing XSL-FOs to help publish documents across almost any format has been our goal. Dakota has published documents in a wide array of cosmetic layouts - almost always customized to fit an enterprise standard, retaining both brand value and consistency.

Companies have struggled with the challenges of PDF production from layout with desktops publishing tools to embedding fonts. As an implementation specialist, Dakota consultants can provide solutions across the PDF publishing spectrum – everything from customized XSL-FO layouts to embedding and subsetting special fonts.

Based on end-user and company requirements, our consultants can find the optimal PDF publishing methods to streamline output of any content format or digital media.

Stylesheets for Multi-lingual Content

As a global engine manufacturer, Briggs and Stratton is faced with the challenge to localize their content for the many regions around the world where they are located.

Not only does the company need to produce aesthetically pleasing PDF output, it also must recreate these documents in a variety of languages. The layout of each document must be designed specifically for each language, including German, French, and Arabic. Dakota worked with the Briggs team to ensure that each document was visually appealing and complied with the style guidelines of the Briggs marketing department. To optimize the manuals for printing, Dakota designed each PDF to utilize page space in the most efficient way possible.

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