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TOMB RAIDER CHRONICLES
INGREDIENTS
Copyright 2008 www.tombraiderchronicles.com
[ May 23rd 2008 ]
One
of the most commonly emailed questions - after
that of when Tomb
Raider Underworld is coming out - is related
to the tools we use to produce our web site. We
hope the following information provides an insight
into how we go about producing material for publication.
Our magazine
compromises of three main areas of content. Documents,
such as articles, walkthrough and game guides
and other text-based materials. Imagery, such
as screenshots, promotional and conceptual artworks,
pictures and other static imagery. Binaries, such
as demos, wallpapers, patches, videos and other
downloadable content.
Although
our magazine is dynamically presented before your
eyes, we do not use a CMS, or content management
system. This will change in the near future as
we prepare a brand new version of our magazine.
Our pages are made up of five sections, which
are compiled upon request by your browser. This
means we can update all 6,370 pages almost instantaneously
when publishing new material.
Our documents
are first written by one of three staff writers
using Google Docs. This method makes it easy to
share material and expedites proofing because
the platform is Internet-based. Once proofed,
the material is then converted to HTML using Dreamweaver
3.0. We've been using Macromedia Dreamweaver 3.0
since it released many moons ago. Version 3.0
has been superseded many times, and the current
version is part of a huge publishing suite from
Adobe (who acquired Macromedia some time ago.)
The
more modern editors sport a tally of features
including support for JavaScript, XHTML and CSS,
but we've preferred the simple, fast and efficient
older version for some time now. For every day
publications like articles and news items, our
trusty third version continues to serve us well.
For XHTML-based material, we use Macromedia MX.
Imagery
is another huge part of our web site, and we have
a few tools we use on a daily basis. Most assets
are delivered in their native format, more commonly
Adobe PSD, TGA or TIFF. Initially, we use Adobe
Photoshop to prepare the material for web presentation.
For batch imagery where manipulation or size reduction
is either not an issue, or negligible, we use
Easy Thumbnails. This application expedites the
process of resizing material and creates thumbnails
with speed and ease.
Our binaries
include many different types of downloadable content.
Wallpapers are prepared in Adobe Photoshop more
often than not. Our videos are produced using
either Adobe Premiere, VirtualDUB, or Super (c).
Any sizable editing is first processed through
Adobe Premiere. Quick exports or format conversation
are handled with ease using either VirtualDUB
or Super (c). Audio processing is done using CDEX
or Gold Wave.
Dreamweaver
MX can be purchased for approx. £200 from Adobe.
Photoshop can also be purchased from Adobe, and
weighs in at approx. £370. Premiere is our final
Adobe product and can be purchased for approx.
£400. You can download 30-day trial versions of
all Adobe products from www.adobe.com.
Easy
Thumbnails is produced by Fookes Software and
can be downloaded for free from www.fookes.com.
VirtualDUB is open source, and can be collected
- again free - from www.virtualdub.org.
Super (c) is also free software, and can be downloaded
- eventually - from www.erightsoft.com.
CDex is also open source, and can be collected
from cdexos.sourceforge.net.
Gold
Wave is available from www.goldwave.com
and will cost approx. £22. Google Docs requires
basic registration, and can be accessed for free
via docs.google.com.
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