Adapting to the Digital World: A Walk Through the Noughties.

Welcome back to the "Noughties," a decade that witnessed noteworthy transformations in the newspaper publishing industry and PCS. The 2000s, often referred to as the "Noughties" marked a period of both challenges and opportunities for newspapers. As technology rapidly advanced and the digital age gained momentum, traditional print publications found themselves navigating a complex landscape of change. This era was defined by the struggle to adapt to the digital revolution, the rise of online journalism, and a shift in how readers consumed news. Join us on a journey through the Noughties, exploring the evolution of PCS’ software in the newspaper publishing industry during this transformative decade.

The Adapt Suite:

During this decade, PCS was hard at work crafting our very own content management suite – Adapt. This suite comprised four applications: Adapt Editorial, CMS, Production, and Planning, all designed with newspaper publishers in mind. The goal was simple: offer newspaper publishers a unified and efficient editorial workflow, all under one roof.

Editorial:

The Adapt Editorial system was created to bring significant improvements for publishers, hoping to simplify editorial, planning, and production tasks. It improved efficiency in managing digital assets, alongside providing essential tools for content creation, editing, page layout, and image handling. Collaboration was made easier with real-time editing and tracking. Adapts compatibility across different platforms and web-based asset management ensured consistency in content and effective search capabilities. It also offered templates and channels for smoother processes and integrated well with Adobe Graphics Server for image handling.

CMS:

Adapt Content Management Technology marked a significant shift towards real-time content delivery, integrating digital newsrooms, advertisement production, and pagination. It streamlined the process by enabling content to be written once and shared across multiple platforms, promoting smooth communication. Adapt CMS was designed with flexibility in mind, allowing businesses to adopt new technology and platforms at their own pace. It offered a genuine PDF workflow, synchronised with desktop publishing software, and integrated smoothly with third-party solutions for improved efficiency. This application promoted a multimedia, multi-platform environment, removing the necessity for complex interfaces among various departments.

Planning:

Adapt Planning, PCS’ advertising ROP display planning and classified pagination system brought streamlining to the publishing process. It integrated with front-end systems, facilitating two-way communication and accessibility through web browsers. Its compatibility with various platforms simplified the setup for colour pages on presses. The View Document Plan tool offered a comprehensive view of publications, and the reporting features allowed for detailed analysis of advertising revenue and discounts, making advertising pagination more efficient.

Production:

Adapt Production, this was a multimedia production management system. It efficiently controlled various elements, including documents, graphics, multimedia, and text for regional advertisements. It seamlessly integrated content for internet publishing, ensuring automatic updates on the publisher's website. The system recorded every detail, from booking to modification history. It worked well with popular desktop publishing packages and effectively handled non-print advertisements such as web banners. Centralised database management and automation were key in enhancing efficiency. Features like image optimisation, error reporting, and comprehensive advert records further improved the production workflow.

In June 2004, PCS had a successful deal with Newsquest (Wales & Gloucestershire), a part of the Newsquest Group within Gannett. They decided to enhance their editorial processes by installing the new Adapt Editorial solution from PCS.

This upgrade wasn't just about getting 50+ editorial seats; it also included PCS's latest Adapt Planning module. Before this update, the company was already using some of our products, including Pulse, and the PropertyNet advert management tool. The new Adapt Editorial system aimed to provide Newsquest (Wales & Gloucestershire) with more features than their old QPS system and better integration with their current software.

Throughout the 2000s, we saw steady adoption of Adapt by newspapers like Lincolnshire Echo, Hull Daily Mail, Newark Advertiser, Leicester Mercury, Barnsley Chronicle, and the Guiton Group. These publications found value in our software, reflecting its practicality and relevance in their day-to-day operations during this period.

Now, not all software is perfect, and Adapt had its quirks. However, if you're acquainted with Knowledge Publish, you might notice some similarities in features across the Adapt suite. That's because this solution laid the groundwork for our next mission: the development of Knowledge.

PropertyNet Success and The Introduction of MotorNet.

Following the triumph of PropertyNet, our team of developers embarked on a new venture – the creation of MotorNet. This solution was designed to make generating dynamic car listings during production a breeze, all while simplifying text exports for the web. What's more, it boasted a user-friendly, web-based interface. The year 2003 marked a significant milestone when Johnstone Press placed an order for MotorNet, underlining its success.

In MotorNet, each car had its designated spot in the database, closely linked to the relevant dealer and branch. Customisable fields made it effortless to perform well-structured searches for web publication. You could sort car listings based on various criteria, including price, in both ascending and descending order. The application excelled in arranging cars within specific groups, such as grouping vehicles priced under ￡1500 and ordering them in ascending sequence.

The second part of this innovation came in the form of a QuarkXPress XTension, skilfully managing the flow of car information into the final design. It seamlessly cooperated with the web input element and seamlessly integrated with all the familiar Quark features.

PropertyNet Success

Fast forward to 2007, and PropertyNet, our browser-based property advertising system, continued to make waves in the newspaper industry. It was a year of tremendous success as PropertyNet gained outstanding traction, finding a home at Staffordshire Newspapers Ltd and LSN Media.

These two companies played a pivotal role within Iliffe News & Media, a conglomerate comprising four regional newspaper publishing entities. In this extensive network, Iliffe News & Media had an impressive array of publications, including three evening newspapers, seven paid-for weeklies, 22 free newspapers, and an additional seven Sunday free newspapers.

As the years flew by, PropertyNet received an upgrade to Adobe InDesign. In response to customer demands, we introduced Adobe InDesign CS plugins and an InDesign Server, tailor-made for seamless integration with PropertyNet. This development was a significant milestone for PCS, expanding our suite of InDesign production solutions with the incorporation of PropertyNet.

Clients could smoothly transition from QuarkXPress to InDesign with the help of our amazing support team, ensuring they continued to enjoy the exceptional advantages offered by PropertyNet. The InDesign CS3 client version of PropertyNet retained the user-friendly experience and ease of setup found in the Quark version while introducing the inherent reliability of InDesign and access to its extensive range of features.

The Noughties marked a pivotal decade during which PCS not only survived but thrived, navigating the shifting landscape of newspaper publishing and digital progress. It significantly influenced the trajectory of our software development and expanded our presence within the industry.

And how could we have Adapt mentioned and not upload this gem of a marketing video... watch until the end for a laugh (Cue the Benny Hill Theme.)

But the story doesn't end here. Our journey through the 2000s will unfold over a few chapters. In our next instalment, our skilled development team is poised to tackle a ground-breaking project. Any guesses on what it might be? Don't miss out – stay tuned for the next article of "Fifty Years of PCS." Exciting times lie ahead!

#FiftyYearsOfPCS #NoughtiesNostalgia #RetroUI #RetroPublishingSoftware #PCS

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