Colors and Tier 5: What You Need to Know

There are few hard and fast rules about color in Tier 5, but there are project-by-project considerations you should take into account.

Tier 5 is best suited for Direct-to-PDF, but the purpose of your PDF has a bearing on the choices you make in determining your approach in WriteRAP. Will you send your PDF to a printer? Will you make it available only digitally? Do you expect it to be printed?

Our one rule (break at your own risk): A PDF file that is going to be professionally printed should not incorporate 4-color design. Word works in RGB, not CMYK and has no internal mechanism for good color separation to CMYK.

Spot colors might be manageable by your printer - at a cost, and only if the color application is uncomplicated and applies to distinct elements. When creating a Tier 5 2-color template that is intended to print, do ensure that your printer can work with the file.

A PDF file that will be made available digitally has no color restrictions, although you might consider the end user's role. If it is likely to be printed on an ink-jet printer somewhere, bear in mind that your colors will not be represented accurately.

If you prepare a template with color for digital-only delivery and later that design is selected for a print project, you will probably want to have your vendor convert the template to a one-color version.

WriteRAP files are flexible - your needs determine whether to use color and how. Contact the CMS team or superuser if you have questions about your file.

Archiving WriteRAP files

Do you need to archive WriteRAP files?

Probably.

There are three situations to consider:

• Tier 1 manuscript
• Tiers 2-4 WriteRAP production files
• Tier 5 composition files

1. For Tier 1, final WriteRAP files should be considered pre-production working files, which traditionally don't get archived in the Pearson repository. They can be archived on the WriteRAP server for later retrieval if needed.
2. In Tiers 2-4, these are production files and should be saved. They may represent the master content file, or they may be used for the next edition instead of a new extraction. We recommend that in addition to being archived on the WriteRAP server, that the entire WriteRAP project should be archived in the Pearson repository. The project administrator can go to the Edit Project page (WriteRAP Admin > Projects > ProjectName) and click on the Package button. A folder will be downloaded. Rename that folder "WriteRAP" and place in the Support folder in the completed archive.
3. In Tier 5, your final WriteRAP files are your composition files, and should be stored as such. In addition to archiving on the WriteRAP server, these should also be packaged and downloaded. Files should be correctly named and organized according to composition file standards. WriteRAP-specific files should remain in the Support folder in a folder specifically named "WriteRAP."

What Is the Difference Between the Template Manager and the Template Library?

This is a question that is often confusing for people – it may appear that we have two different places to store WriteRAP templates.


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In fact, the Template Library is the only place for storage. It is a separate site managed by our internal media group, where a Pearson user can search on a number of criteria to find a template. When you download the kit, you will get the template, boilerplates, stylemarked document, corresponding Quark or InDesign templates if they exist, authoring versions of the template if they exist, and so on. The Template Library is a searchable repository of WriteRAP templates and their associated files.

The Template Manager is the working part of WriteRAP that holds templates which are actively being used for titles.

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The Template Library is populated by the CMS QA department. On completion of a template, the business unit is emailed to sign off on the posting of a template, the relevant files are gathered, and new template kits are uploaded to the template library at two-week intervals. However, we don’t automatically update a template on the library with its modified version unless instructed by the Business Unit to consider the modified version as the master. We also don’t automatically post all modifications of a template. Please let CMS know if your modification is a new master or should be a new addition to the Library.

The Template Manager is populated by uploading a template, usually for a specific project, into the WriteRAP application itself. You can copy or download a template from there and use it for another project – for instance, modifications were made to a standard WriteRAP template, and those modifications are just what you need. However, boilerplates will have to be copied or created separately, a stylemarked document needs to be produced or copied, and if composition templates exist you won’t have them – you’ll probably end up paying your vendor for a new one (this is normal if your WriteRAP template is based on the previous edition and the composition will be in a new design). Still, sometimes it may be appropriate to go directly to the Template Manager – it may have the only instance of the specific modifications you need. Please note that at the time of this posting, the Tier 2 and Tier 3 Generic Manuscript templates are not available in the the Template Library and must be copied from the Template Manager. Their names are CD_T2_AUTH and CD_Tier3v2.

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The Template Library is not available outside the Pearson firewall. Please download the kit and provide it to your vendor.

The Template Manager is available to WriteRAP users with Administrator-level access, which does include all vendors. If you are asking the vendor to pick up a template from here, you must provide them with the name exactly as it appears in the Template Manager. One way to ensure you and the vendor have the right template is to provide a screenshot of the Template Manager screen to the vendor and CMS.



We strongly encourage you to use the Template Library, with its complete kits, whenever possible. And help us keep it up to date – let us know if you want your modified template added to the Library.

Thanks,
The CMS WriteRAP Team