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Quark, the company behind desktop publishing program QuarkXPress, debuted a cloud-based mobile app creation product called App Studio this week.
Here's how it works: After designing an app in QuarkXPress or Adobe InDesign, the designer layers on enriching elements such as video, audio, or scrollable text, for example. Then, he or she uploads the content to the App Studio cloud, where it can be previewed online as well as on the iPad, iPhone, Kindle Fire and Android devices before publishing. Built on HTML5, the app will allow users to easily search and select text. According to Quark’s VP of Marketing, Gavin Drake, the ability to use either QuarkXPress or InDesign sets App Studio apart from other app publishing tools.
“This is next generation digital publishing technology based on HTML5 that produces rich interactivity, real searchable and selectable text and more efficient file sizes,” Drake says. “It’s also cloud based to encourage collaboration between designers, editors, publishers, and advertising managers.”
App Studio is not just for mobile developers. Content creators of all kinds have the ability to use their design program of choice and build structured content using XML or HTML5. In fact, App Studio automates the process of converting content to HTML5, meaning those without web or app development skills can use it too.
As a cloud-based product, App Studio streamlines a process that would be much clunkier on a desktop system.
“The accessibility, security, and synchronized workflow shorten design and production times, which is critical when delivering digital content,” Drake says. “It also enables us to take some of the complexity out of the process, for example App Studio can automatically build your app for you in the cloud for you to submit to the app stores.”
Drake expects the flexibility of the system to attract a wide variety of creators who can use their favorite tools to design apps. “We expect App Studio to be used from everyone from independent designers to Fortune 500 companies where App Studio integrates with Quark Enterprise Solutions,” he says.
Visit App Studio’s website and follow them on Twitter at @publishhtml5.