Electronic publishing system

The present invention has application in electronic and printed media such as newspapers, magazines and computer text systems. The present invention relates to a mechanism by which text and images for publishing can be prepared and/or edited. The invention has particular application in the layout of newsholes. The present application discloses an electronic media publishing system comprising a data base in which there is stored, inter alia, a layout style, a layout family, layout children and layout cousins. There is also disclosed a method of preparing a layout of information in which a newshole is selected and resized if necessary in accordance with user definable rules.

FIELD 
The present invention relates to electronic and printed publishing and 
provides a mechanism by which text and images for publishing can be 
prepared and/or edited. 
Particularly, but not exclusively, the present invention is directed at the 
layout of newsholes. 
The present invention has application in electronic and printed media, for 
example newspapers, magazines and computer text systems. 
BACKGROUND 
The design of a newspaper provides a particular style and flavour 
discernible by the reader. 
As used in this context, `design` refers to the graphical rules or 
guidelines that govern how elements (such as headlines, pictures and text) 
should be used to construct newsholes, including the number and type of 
elements which may or may not be used in certain circumstances, the size 
and position of those elements in each case, direction on suitable 
typography, and usage of other graphic devices such as borders and colour. 
The design style of a newspaper is often considered critical, for a number 
of reasons. For example, it has great bearing on the newspaper's "appeal" 
to different readers (such as, large heavy headlines in a tabloid, or 
smaller "dignified" headlines in a "quality" broadsheet). The readers are 
attracted to buy the paper and this obviously helps to determine that 
paper's market. Designs also serve the purpose of giving the newspaper a 
unique or distinct look so that they are distinguished from their 
competitors. For these reasons, very often newspapers spend considerable 
time, effort and money on determining their design "style". 
Currently, in many publishing environments, the design of a newspaper is 
controlled by only a few people and is communicated--often verbally--from 
one person to another. These people may or may not also be responsible for 
laying out the newspaper (that is, implementing their own design) but, 
typically, layout is performed by people who did not determine the design 
style but who must learn it and implement it as faithfully as possible. 
As a result, a number of problems and issues may and do arise with 
newspaper layout: 
1. It is possible for the design to be implemented incorrectly in some 
cases, due to a misunderstanding or ignorance of its requirements, or 
pressure of workload, or lack of skill by the layout operator. This may 
result in a glaring and undesirable deviation from "style". 
2. It is possible under the existing arrangements for the design and style 
of a newspaper to change over a period of time, due to changing 
interpretation of how it should be applied, and/or a build-up of a series 
of minor "styles" inaccuracies. Although this change may be subtle and may 
occur over a period of a number of years, any change is often noticed by 
readers of the newspaper, with possible negative effects on the readership 
of the newspaper. 
3. A layout, although it may be creatively faithful to the design 
guidelines, may be inefficient in its usage of space, resulting in 
expensive wastage of space and/or less news being put in the paper. 
4. Computer systems are available with electronic tools that facilitate the 
building of layouts. However, these systems will require the layout to be 
constructed manually using those tools, which is labour-intensive and 
time-consuming. In addition, these systems provide little or no guidance 
on the paper's style and do not assist the layout operator in determining 
how layouts should be designed. They merely permit the layout operator to 
build the layout, once the operator has personally determined what should 
be built. 
U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,354 and GB 2,246,102 disclose how newsholes can be 
arranged to fill a given area (such as a page). However, they could not be 
used to generate the newsholes themselves. 
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,829,470, 5,287,443, 5,113,488, 4,755,955 and 5,079,724 all 
relate to different aspects of manipulating type and/or images to fit a 
given shape. These disclosures do not reach the concept of publication 
design rules, and they would not assist in any way in actually helping to 
build or determine the newshole design. These inventions address 
mechanical problems that may arise once it becomes necessary to pour text 
and/or images into those shapes to fill them up. 
TERMINOLOGY 
The publishing industry suffers from a lack of standard terms to describe 
common features of the trade: jargon varies widely not just from country 
to country, but even between publishing houses. To clarify the present 
disclosure, this brief glossary notes what we have used certain key terms 
to mean. 
Page: This term is standard but may sometimes be confused with "newshole", 
described next. A page refers to the physical, printed page or some 
representation of it, such as a paper or electronic "dummy" page which is 
used for planning and preparing the printed version. 
Design: Refers to the graphical rules or guidelines that govern how 
elements (such as headlines, pictures and text) should be used to 
construct newsholes, including the number and type of elements which may 
or may not be used in certain circumstances, the size and position of 
those elements in each case, direction on suitable typography, and usage 
of other graphic devices such as borders and colour. 
Newshole: We have used this term to describe a component of a page, such as 
a story or advertisement (typically, we use it to mean "story" as in 
editorial reference, but conceptually, "advertisement" also fits). A 
newshole refers to a portion of a page, which portion has been used for a 
common purpose or means (such a presenting a story). A page may contain 
one or many newsholes which are usually discrete from each other. A 
newshole may itself be comprised of several elements: a story may contain 
headlines, pictures and text, which together make up the newshole for that 
story. 
Layout: Refers to the way these design guidelines are implemented and 
actually put into practice in any particular instance. 
Layout (or newshole) Element: This refers to the individual elements within 
a newshole, such as headlines, pictures, graphics, text, captions and so 
on. 
Thus, pages contain newsholes, newsholes contain elements, and Design is 
the rules and Layout is the implementation of the design. 
SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
The present invention seeks to alleviate, at least, one problem associated 
with the prior art. 
The present invention provides a system, apparatus and/or method of 
preparing or editing text for publishing in which: 
a newshole is filled in accordance with a design, and 
resizing of the newshole takes place if the fit is not in accordance with 
predetermined criteria. 
Advantageously, if the newshole is resized, any number of the layout 
element(s) may also be resized. 
In another form, the present invention enables the various elements of a 
newshole to be arranged (sized and positioned) and formatted (styles, 
using devices such as typography, colour and borders) in a manner that: 
I. suits or matches the particular newshole design (presentation) rules of 
a publication, and or 
II. allows the particular size and area of the newshole to be automatically 
fitted (or filled up) consistent with those design rules, by: 
A. allowing the user to predefine relationships between the various 
components of the newshole, which relationships determine each component's 
size and position relative to the others', and/or 
B. permits automatic recalculation of each component's size and position so 
that the newshole can be filled. 
The present invention determines the shapes that comprise a newshole and/or 
what those shapes are (what they represent), and/or how big each one is, 
and/or where each is placed within the newshole. 
For simplification purposes, the present invention is called NAILS, an 
acronym which stands for "Newspaper Automated Intelligent Layout System". 
(However, the present invention is not limited in application to 
newspapers, but can be used for any electronic or printed media where 
material is laid out or presented according to a certain style.) NAILS 
refers to the way the various elements of a newshole may be arranged 
(sized and positioned) and formatted (styled, using devices such as 
typography, colour and borders) in a manner that: 
I. Suits or matches the particular design (presentation) of a publication 
and/or 
II. Uses resizing to allow the particular size and area of the newshole to 
be automatically fitted (or filled up) consistent with those design rules. 
NAILS achieves these aims by providing any number of the following 
facilities: 
III. It allows the publication's design style to be defined by providing 
means whereby the publication can: 
A. Predefine suitable layouts and store these into a database and/or 
B. Determine and predefine the conditions or circumstances in which each of 
these layouts may be considered suitable for use and/or 
C. Define, for each of these layouts, rules governing the behaviour of each 
element of layout, as to its size, position and typographic style and so 
on. This facility allows the publication to predefine relationships 
between the various components of the newshole, which relationships 
determine each component's size and position relative to the others'. 
IV. It facilitates the selection and usage of layouts (from a database) in 
accordance with the predefined design style. To achieve this, it: 
A. Allows the user of the database to specify the general type and style of 
the layout desired for the current newshole, in a quick, easy and 
intuitive manner and/or 
B. Determines which layouts are or are not suitable or correct for usage in 
the current newshole, in accordance with the predefined rules and taking 
into account the specified desires of the database user and/or 
C. Graphically displays for the user the correct or suitable layouts and 
allows selection of one of them and/or 
D. Prevents the user of the database from selecting unsuitable or incorrect 
layouts and/or 
E. Automatically builds the final layout, including transparently resizing 
the selected layout and its elements to suit the new size specified by the 
user, in accordance with the rules that have been defined for that layout 
and/or 
F. Automatically monitors any further edits that the user may make to the 
layout after it is drawn, and measures these against the predefined design 
rules. Depending on the nature and circumstances of those changes and the 
dictates of the predefined design rules, the present invention may further 
assist the user by: automatically adjusting the layout (or its elements) 
to accommodate or suit the user's manual edits; and/or suggesting that an 
entirely different layout would be more appropriate according to the 
predefined design style; and/or allowing the user to accept that 
suggestion, at which point the software may automatically build the new 
layout and/or use it to replace the previous one.

The NAILS system provides a separate "working area" for each publication 
published by a newspaper (such as separate daily and Sunday newspapers). 
The present invention utilises a database for each of those publications. 
Within each publication, the database is programmed preferably in a 
hierarchical structure, which is: 
______________________________________ 
Publication 
Section 
Layout Style 
Layout Family 
Layout child 
Layout cousins 
______________________________________ 
Section refers to the various sections of the publication, such as News, 
Sport, Business and so on. (The publication defines these according to its 
needs). Section was chosen as decisive division in the database because it 
is between different Sections that a newspaper's design style is most 
likely to vary. In other words, the design style (layout and typography) 
is likely to be more consistent within a Section but different Sections 
may have slightly different styles or design needs. The present invention 
facilitates this, although the newspaper may also decide that each Section 
will be the same. 
Layout Styles exist within each Section and are defined by the publication. 
Each Section has its own set of Layout Styles, though these can be copied 
into multiple Sections if they have common usage. The number of Styles 
within a Section is not limited. Typically, Styles are set up to reflect 
generic layout uses, indicative of the Section's needs, for example: lead 
stories, picture stories, fillers, secondary leads and so on. 
The Layout Families exist within each Layout Style and are defined by the 
publication. Each Family represents a layout variation or option within 
that Style: for example, a Style called "Picture stories" might contain 
options which feature both horizontally and vertically oriented pictures, 
and options such as placing the picture at certain positions within the 
story layout. There is no restriction on what these variations or options 
can be. 
The Layout Children are contained with each Family and again are defined by 
the publication. Each child within a Family must have a unique size (width 
and depth) and the size of no two Children can overlap: within one Family, 
two or more Children may have the same width or depth, but no two can have 
the same width and depth. Typically, the Children in a Family will 
together form a contiguous range of sizes, so that the maximum limit of 
one Child will be defined by the minimum size of the next Child. Although 
the software will by default enforce this, it is preferred as it is not 
mandatory. The publication may specify a different maximum size (width or 
depth or both) for any Child (if only one dimension has a specified 
maximum, the software will use the default for the other dimension) so 
long as the resulting combination of width and depth is smaller than the 
next Child's minimum size. 
The Layout Cousins represent "alternative Children". Although they are not 
part of the primary selection process, they are used to provide greater 
options to layout operators. Their use is described later. A Layout Cousin 
is related to a Layout Child: they both have the same size. A Layout Child 
may have more than one Cousin. 
It should be pointed out that while many newspapers would be familiar with 
the concept of "Sections", the concepts of Layout Styles (as used here), 
Layout Families, Layout Children and Layout Cousins are unique to the 
present invention. To our knowledge, newspapers do not currently use such 
devices or concepts to organise their design style. 
Description of populating the database 
The present invention, in one form, provides tools for configuring, 
managing and populating the database. These tools are preferably but not 
essentially provided through menu bars and other computer functions within 
the application. They allow the publication to store/remove Sections, 
Styles, Families, Children and Cousins to/from the database. 
The publication may draw (graphically) each Child in the base layout 
application being used with the present invention. Since one form of the 
present invention depends on the theory that layouts will always be 
selected and sized upwards (made larger than their original size, not 
smaller), the Child will be drawn at its smallest intended size. 
The publication would then define, for each Child or Cousin, relationships 
between its various elements (such as headlines, pictures, captions, body 
text and so on). This is done using the Resizing Expressions noted below. 
When a Child or Cousin is stored into the database, the publication 
nominates which Section/Style/Family it belongs to (and can create new 
Sections/Styles/Families as needed). The present invention then checks for 
any existing Children within that Family that may have a conflicting size 
range and automatically resolves that conflict by resetting the existing 
Child's maximum size (width, depth or both, as the case may be) to the 
minimum dimension/s of the new Child. 
It is also expected that all the Children within a Family will exhibit what 
may be called "genetic consistency", in that they should all appear 
similar. That is, if one Child features a Picture above the main Heading, 
they all should. This is because a Family represents a particular 
variation or type of layout within a Layout Style; its Children then 
represent embodiments of that layout at various distinctive sizes. 
For example, the configuration of the Headline may and usually will change 
as the layout's size increases: a small story of one column wide by 10 cm 
deep (4 inches) might feature two lines of headline at a pointsize of 14 
pt with the only other element being one column of body text; but this 
headline configuration would not be used if the same layout were required 
to be used at six columns wide by 30 cm (12 inches) deep; instead, the 
publication might choose to use one line of headline at a pointsize of 42 
pt and might also change the body text from one column to six separate 
columns. Although the specifics of the headline and body text are 
different in each case, the layout can still be said to be "genetically 
consistent" in that both represent the same approach of headline-over-body 
text. FIGS. 1-3 show how a certain style of layout presentation may be 
implemented differently at various sizes, according to the general sort of 
design rules that newspapers typically follow. 
This illustrates the concept of Families and Children. It would be 
thoroughly confusing if, in the case described above, one Child contained 
a Subheading, Picture and Caption which were not present in other Children 
within the Family. Instead of implementing these entirely different 
layouts as different Children within the same Family, the concept 
underlying the present invention would suggest that the publication should 
set up two different Families, one featuring head-over-body, the other 
featuring the use of Headline, Subheading, Picture, Caption and Body. 
Additionally, when Children are stored into the database, one Child within 
each Family will be identified as the "Head of Family", for purposes 
described later. 
Description of Resizing Expressions 
The Resizing Expressions allow relationships to be defined between the 
various elements of a layout (Child or Cousin), such as the headline, 
subheading pictures, captions, bylines, body text and so on. 
These relationships are defined using a "dialog box" within the application 
(a small on-screen "window", opened via a menu bar or other command, that 
presents various options to the user). 
The options available allow the publication to define, for any element, one 
of four different types of relationship: 
A proportional relationship. In this case, the proportion is deduced from 
that which currently exists. For example, a picture may already occupy 60% 
of the depth of the total layout; specifying its depth to remain 
proportional would maintain the picture at 60% of the total layout depth, 
even if the layout is subsequently resized. 
A fixed-difference relationship. In this case, the software measures the 
actual difference between two values, and maintains that. For example, a 
picture may be 5 cm (2 inches) shorter than the total layout; specifying 
its depth to remain a "fixed difference" from the layout's depth would 
maintain the picture at 5 cm less than the layout's depth, even if the 
layout is resized. 
No relationship. The specified value does not change. 
A specified expression or algorithm which the user enters. In this case, 
the user may enter a mathematical and/or logical expression, which will be 
used to calculate a new value when the layout is resized. For example, the 
user might specify a picture's depth to be 50% of the newshole depth, plus 
2 cm. 
Each of these expressions may be applied, completely independently, to an 
element's width, depth, horizontal position or vertical position. In each 
case (with the exception of the manually entered expressions), the 
specific values used for proportional or fixed-difference calculation are 
deduced from those values present in the layout as currently drawn. 
In each case, the relationship may be specified as being relative to any 
other element in the layout, or to the dimensions of the layout itself. 
For example, the publication may define the vertical position of a picture 
(in a certain Child) as being a "fixed difference" relative to the 
position of a headline. 
The width or depth of an element may be specified relative to any other 
element's (or the layout's) width or depth, using "proportional" or 
"fixed-difference" calculations, or using a specified expression, or none. 
A Maximum limit may also be placed on an element's width or depth, which 
will not be exceeded. 
The horizontal or vertical position value of an element has additional 
options. First, the reference point of the position may be specified as 
being the element's top, middle or bottom point (for vertical positions) 
or its left, centre or right point (for horizontal positions). Secondly, 
this may be specified as being relative to the top/middle/bottom (or 
left/centre/right, as the case may be) position of the nominated reference 
element (or layout). 
Thus, the vertical position of the picture (described above) would be 
specified not just as being relative to the position of the headline. It 
would additionally be defined as: the top, middle or bottom point of the 
picture is relative to the top, middle or bottom of the headline. 
Using these Resizing Expressions, the inventors have found that virtually 
any desired relationship can be easily and quickly defined, and that as a 
result, virtually any resizing effect can be achieved. 
As an example, a layout may contain a headline at the top (over three 
columns, say) with three individual columns of body text underneath. At 
the top of the second column of body text, but still underneath the 
headline, may sit a small picture (see FIG. 2). 
Using these Resizing Expressions, it would be possible to specify that: 
The headline will continue to stretch the full width of the layout (its 
vertical size and vertical and horizontal position do not need to change, 
but its width could be specified as either proportional to the layout's 
width, or a fixed-difference from the layout's width since in this case, 
both expressions would have the same result). Thus, if the layout was made 
wider, the headline would continue to stretch across its full width. 
The first column of body text might be defined as: width, proportional to 
the width of the layout; depth, a fixed-difference from the layout's 
depth; h-position, none; v-position, top of body a fixed-difference from 
the bottom of the headline. 
The second column of body text might be defined as: width, proportional to 
the width of the layout; depth, a fixed-difference from the layout's 
depth; h-position, left point is a fixed-difference from the right point 
of the first leg of the first leg of body text; v-position, top of body a 
fixed-difference from the bottom of the picture. 
The third column of body text might be defined as: width, proportional to 
the width of the layout; depth, a fixed-difference from the layout's 
depth; h-position, left point is a fixed difference from the right point 
of the second leg of body text; v-position, top of body a fixed-difference 
from the bottom of the headline. 
The picture might be defined as: width, proportional to the width of the 
second column of body text; depth, a fixed-difference from the layout's 
depth; h-position, left point is a fixed-difference from the left point of 
the second leg of body text; v-position, top of picture is a 
fixed-difference from the bottom of the headline. 
In this case, as the layout was made wider, the headline would continue to 
stretch the full width of the layout; the individual columns of body text 
would continue to each occupy roughly one-third of the layout's width (we 
say roughly, because there is a space between each column of text, so each 
column is slightly less than 33% of the total layout width); the second 
and third columns of body text would move to the right, so that they 
continue to be correctly offset from the first column and from each other, 
evenly spaced across the width of the newshole; and the picture would 
continue to be the same width as the second column of body text, would 
continue to be positioned in line with that column, and would continue to 
sit under the headline and on top of the second column of body text. 
We note also that, in the above example, that the width and the horizontal 
position of the picture could have been specified using different 
variations of the Resizing Expressions to achieve the same result. 
Description of using the present invention to automatically build layouts 
The layout editor uses the present invention, once the database has been 
set up containing layouts (Children) that have Resizing Expressions 
defined for them. 
The present embodiment of the present invention permits different methods 
of usage. Only one is described here. 
The layout editor may define, on the electronic version of the page to be 
laid out, an overall size for the particular story layout. The method for 
achieving this may vary depending on which application is being used as 
the base layout application (the present invention may work with many 
different layout applications), but typically this would involve 
graphically drawing a box to indicate the desired width and depth of the 
total layout. The specified size of the layout is known as the "target" 
size. 
The layout editor may then invoke the present invention, as it is embodied 
in a computer application, using a menu bar or other computer command. 
This will open a separate computer window. If the layout application system 
being used in conjunction with the present invention is able to tell the 
present invention which Section the current page belongs to, the present 
invention will by default select that Section. If not, or if the current 
Section's layouts are not actually desired, the user may select a Section 
manually. 
With the desired Section specified, the user selects a Layout Style. The 
possibilities, as defined in the database, are listed in the present 
invention's window. 
When this is done, the present invention reads the size of the target 
layout, notes the Section and the Layout Style requested, and searches for 
Families within the Section/Style which contain Children whose minimum 
size is smaller than or equal to the target's and whose maximum size is 
equal to or greater than the target's. 
Because of the restriction that each Child within a Family must have a 
unique size (width/depth combination), only one Child can be selected from 
within each Family. It is possible that some Families may have no Children 
suitable for the target's size. 
Once the possible Children are known, the present invention displays them 
within its window as a series of "thumbnails"--small, representative 
pictures of what each layout would look like. 
At the same time, it resizes each Child to fit the target, using the 
Resizing Expressions defined for, and embedded within, each Child. 
Thus, the layout editor is shown a number of layouts, each of which fits 
the target size, and each of which also suits the publication's particular 
design style for that Section (since the database is set up and 
subsequently searched in such a manner as to preclude "unsuitable" layouts 
being displayed). 
To complete the operation, the layout editor simply selects the layout 
which appears most desirable. The present invention then "instructs" or 
"directs" the underlying layout application to build the selected layout 
according to the rules defined for it. 
Thus, instead of having to build the layout manually in each case, the 
layout editor is simply able to work by selecting from a set of 
possibilities, and the computer is able to do all of the "leg work" 
required to actually build the layout. 
This offers tremendous gains in the following areas: speed, faithful 
(consistent and accurate) implementation of design style, avoidance of 
design style errors, and simplicity of operation. It should be noted that 
the same series of actions are used to build any layout, regardless of its 
complexity, whereas when using manual layout applications, the amount of 
labour increases with the complexity of the layout. 
Description of additional functions and points 
The present invention provides a number of additional features, functions 
and methods of usage, including (but not limited to): 
The invention is not limited or restricted to requiring a "target" layout 
size to be defined prior to requesting a selection of possible layouts. In 
this case, the procedure is the same except that a target is not 
specified, and the present invention does not search for a specific size 
of layout within the nominated Section/Layout Style. Instead, it retrieves 
those Children within the Families of the selection Section/Layout Style 
which have been marked as being "Head of Family". The layout editor may 
select one of these and it will be placed on the page at its default size. 
It can subsequently be resized. 
If a layout, which has been selected and placed on the page, is resized so 
that either or both of its maximum dimensions are exceeded, the present 
invention monitors this and offers the layout editor a number of choices, 
one of which (the default) is to replace the Child with the Child which 
has been specified for use at the new size. 
The present invention, may operate with any known layout application 
available commercially. 
Furthermore, its database of stored layouts provides a convenient means of 
"translating" layouts between one application and another, so that a 
database of layouts designed for use with one layout application can 
easily be converted to work with any other layout application. 
A function is provided whereby a particular Section/Layout Style/Family can 
be assigned (or "mapped") to a "hot-key", a key on a keyboard designated 
to carry out a particular computer command. This functions as a sort of 
computer "shorthand". It allows a certain style or type of layout to be 
assigned and then employed by a single command. In this case, it might not 
be necessary for the user to open the present invention's window and make 
any selections: the user could simply define a target and press the key 
assigned to a Section/Style/Family; the present invention would then 
automatically search that Family for the correct Child and fill in the 
layout effectively with a one-shot command (or, of no target was defined, 
it would place the"Head of Family" Child for that Section/Style/Family 
onto the page). 
A function is provided whereby a user may select, on the page, a layout 
which was already created using the present invention, and then "cycle 
through" alternative layouts. In this case, the alternative layouts are 
selected from with the Section/Style as the current layout. Each of the 
alternative layouts is chosen form the other Families within that 
Section/Style. This presents a convenient means of revising or changing a 
layout which has already been drawn, in light of further developments 
concerning the page's overall design. 
When the completed layout has been drawn into the target on the page, the 
layout is built as a series or set of objects which are in the "native" 
format used by the underlying application. That means the nature of the 
objects may vary depending on the needs of the underlying application, but 
that in any case, the objects will be editable within that application. 
The Layout Cousins referred to throughout this document allow the layout 
editor to select variations on a particular Child, where the variation may 
not be substantial enough to warrant inclusion of the Cousin as a Child 
within its own right, in a separate Family. For example, the layouts in 
FIGS. 1-3 could conceivably also include Bylines for the reporter or 
contributing agency. Although some publications have a policy of always 
(or mostly) including Bylines, others allow the Bylines to be included or 
excluded according to certain criteria (even, sometimes, the whim of the 
layout editor). And even on those publications that do regularly include 
Bylines, there may need to be alternative Byline styles to accommodate, 
for example, the differences between a credit for a staff reporter and a 
credit for an agency reporter. In all of these cases, separate alternative 
Families could be set up to supply layouts with different Byline 
configurations (including no Bylines), but this would hardly seem worth 
the effort. It may also cause some confusion by presenting to the layout 
editor too many choices for selection, especially since the distinguishing 
features between the different Families would be so minor. In these cases, 
the publication would set up Layout Cousins which would mirror the layout 
in the primary Child, but would offer the different Byline configurations. 
The layout editor can then select the particular layout that is desired, 
but modify using it a simple command to include various Byline styles. The 
Byline could, of course, be added manually, but automating its inclusion 
again simplifies the operation and allows the publication to ensure that 
when it is included into the layout, it too follows the desired design 
style. FIGS. 5-7 illustrate the same layouts as FIGS. 1-3, but after 
Bylines have been added using Layout Cousins related (or assigned) to 
those Children. Another example of Layout Cousins might be to allow easy 
implementation of changes that do not affect the layout at all, only its 
typography. The layouts in FIGS. 1-3 all have bold-face headlines and, 
although it is not illustrated, might have roman-face body text. An 
alternative presentation could be roman-face headlines with bold-face 
text, and this too could be achieved neatly through the use of Layout 
Cousins. 
In FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 it can be seen that the three layouts have different 
overall sizes and shapes and that the detailed particulars of each layout 
also vary to a certain extent: 
The specific headline configuration is different in each layout, FIG. 1 has 
three lines of headline, FIGS. 2 and 3 each have two lines. Furthermore, 
the pointsize of each of the headlines is different in each layout. 
Each layout contains a small picture and caption, but the specific position 
and relative position of this varies. In FIG. 1, its relative position is 
in column 1. In FIGS. 2 and 3 its relative position is column two, 
however, its specific position is different since the columns in FIG. 3 
are wider than those in FIG. 2. 
The number of body text columns varies between the layouts and the columns 
in FIG. 3 are wider. 
However, it may also be seen from these illustrations that from a design 
perspective, the publication might actually consider all of these layouts 
to be variations of single style or type of layout. This is because the 
general "look and feel" of the layouts is consistent with each other; the 
only reason the specifics vary between them is because they are different 
sizes. 
For example, if this layout were indeed required to be four columns wide, 
it would not usually be considered satisfactory simply to enlarge the 
layout in FIGS. 1 to fit, producing a layout that looks like FIG. 4. 
Even if the layout were adjusted so that it had three columns of text, 
instead of one extremely wide column, it can be seen that headline 
configuration is all wrong. Instead, it would be understandable that the 
newspaper might prefer a layout similar to the one shown in FIG. 3. This 
is what the present invention allows. 
Using conventional methods of drawing layouts manually (using a computer 
application), the layout editor would need to be familiar with this style 
as it is used by the publication, and would further need to understand how 
the style is to be implemented at these various size. Finally, the layout 
editor would need to build the desired layout manually, ensuring also that 
the style is adapted accurately to the particular size required. This 
would require the layout editor to manually draw each box for each element 
of the layout, to size and position each box correctly and then apply 
correct typographical styling to each box. 
According to the present invention, these three layouts (and probably 
other, also similar layouts) would be stored as different Children within 
the same Family. 
The layout editor would then define the target size (requiring the simple 
drawing of a single box on the page) and would invoke the present 
invention's window. If the default Section (for the current page) was 
suitable, and it nearly always will be, the layout editor would proceed by 
selecting a Layout Style, for example, "News stories with small pictures". 
(If the default Section, was not correct, the layout editor would select 
the correct one from a list). 
The application would then display layouts appropriate to the size of the 
drawn target, one layout (Child) from each Family within the selected 
Layout Style (excepting any Families that do not have suitably sized 
Children). The layout editor would expect to see a series of graphical 
thumbnails each showing a layout. If the layouts in FIGS. 1-3 had been 
stored as Children in a Family within the "News stories with small 
pictures" style, and the target was of sufficient size, the layout in FIG. 
3 would be shown in one of the thumbnails. 
The layout editor would then simply select that layout and the present 
invention would instruct or direct the underlying application to draw the 
completed layout into the target on the page. 
This would complete the layout operation. Notice, the layout was completed 
in only a few simple steps, that throughout the process the layout editor 
was guided as to what the suitable layouts might be, and that the final 
construction was fully automated. 
EXAMPLE BENEFITS 
1. Much faster to produce layouts. Initial tests on existing newspapers 
show the present invention would be useable for about 80% or more of 
newsholes, on average, and that in each of these, the use of the present 
invention would eliminate or alleviate between 70% and 95% of the existing 
manual work necessary with existing software programs. This provides 
newspapers with the potential to make significant productivity gains, in 
an area (layout) that currently requires a large number of specialist and 
highly-paid staff. 
2. System training is a major overhead for newspapers. On average, we find 
that a layout editor requires two weeks of full-time computer training 
before they can start producing pages: most of this (7 out of 10 days) is 
devoted to learning how to produce typical layouts on the layout software. 
We estimate that with the present invention the average layout editor 
would be fully conversant, practised and able to start real work in under 
four hours, and that several days of additional training (which might not 
be required, in many cases) could then be carried out "on the job". 
3. Layout training: A layout editor new to layout requires substantial 
training purely in terms of layout design ability. This time is typically 
measured in months, sometimes years. Even an experienced layout 
sub-editor, on joining a new and unfamiliar newspaper (or even a new 
section within his current newspaper), may have to spend weeks learning 
the "house style" before he can run without any "hand holding". Since the 
present invention "knows" the house style", can illustrate this 
(graphically) to the layout editor and manages and controls the 
implementation of that style, this time would virtually be eliminated. 
4. When a newspaper embarks on a "re-design", this is costly and lengthy 
process where an entirely new design is invented and then brought into 
practice. The nature of this typically requires the change to be "all or 
nothing". There are extreme difficulties in re-training existing staff in 
preparation for this. The present invention removes the hassle since the 
design team can simply set up a new, alternative database. During the 
design stage, this also allows them to carry out considerable "real life" 
testing experimentation. Then, when it is ready for use, the newspaper 
simply switches (over night) to the new database. All that is required is 
a brief (under 1 hour) familiarisation briefing for the layout editors, or 
perhaps a short written overview of the changes. 
5. Provides consistency of style and flavour of publication to readers. 
6. In many cases, more efficient filling of newsholes.