PageTrack frees up print edition management
News editors manage print editions in real time from any location using Eidosmedia’s mobile app.
“Monitoring a digital news operation from outside the newsroom is relatively easy,” said Jörg Drees, Eidosmedia Director of Marketing and Business Development in Germany. “But keeping track of the print edition of a newspaper or magazine is more of a challenge. PageTrack was developed to do just that, giving editors a real-time view of print pages and editions as they are being built back in the newsroom.“
The PageTrack app works on iOS and Android devices. Pages are displayed in thumbnail view and users can zoom in to see details of page layout, headlines and titles, exactly as they will appear when published. “Editors on the move can use PageTrack to get a constantly updated view of one or more print editions, allowing them to carry out their supervisory role without being tied to the local newsroom,” said Jörg.
PageTrack can also be used to feed a high-resolution ‘video wall’ display over a network connection. “This kind of high-resolution display is an excellent support for planning and progress meetings that can be held at any location with a network connection,” said Jörg. “It also eliminates the waste of producing the hard-copy page proofs that are usually printed to track the progress of a print edition.”
PageTrack was developed to meet the needs of Eidosmedia customers in Germany and is currently being used by a variety of European publishers, including Nordwest-Zeitung, the Funke publishing group and Mediahuis in Belgium. The latest release incorporates a number of new features and enhancements based on extensive user feedback. They include the possibility of setting filters to display sub-sets of pages or sections, allowing the user to quickly zoom in to examine areas of specific interest.
“Distributed teamwork has brought flexibility and productivity benefits to many digital media operations in recent years,“ said Jörg. “PageTrack now enables print-media workflows to enjoy similar advantages by allowing print editions to be managed and monitored from any physical location.”