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 Version 3.0 has been superseded many times, and the current version is part of a huge publishing suite from Adobe (who acquired Macromedia some time ago.)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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