Electronic Publications

Many people now need to produce electronic publications in addition to or instead of print versions. When producing electronic versions, the text must follow the same steps for editing, quality assurance and sign-off as presented in the Editorial Process section. Also, if the electronic version reproduces the layout of a print publication, the electronic version must be compared to the final print version. The layout can be done by the designer who will have done the print version of your publication. You will need to follow the steps mentioned in the Design and Layout section.

Keep the target audience in mind when choosing an electronic format. The most common approaches for electronic departmental publications are the following.

• Publishing to Internet and Intranet Sites
• ISBN and Catalogue Number
• Conversion Work
• Proofreading
• Quality Assurance
• Sign-Off
• Posting the Publication Online
• IC Internet Style Guide

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Publishing to Internet and Intranet Sites

If involved in publishing HTML products to the Industry Canada website, you must adhere to the Web Standards for the Government of Canada from the Treasury Board Secretariat.

To meet this standard, all Industry Canada web pages and websites must be compliant with Level A and AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (W3C World Wide Web Consortium). It is highly recommended that, when posting products to the Industry Canada website, you conduct accessibility verification testing to ensure the coding meets all WCAG 2.0 criteria.

ISBN and Catalogue Number

You need a different ISBN and catalogue number for each stable format of a publication. Only hard copies and PDFs are considered stable formats. ISBNs and catalogue numbers will not be provided for publications in HTML, as it is not considered a stable format. Contact the Depository Services Program to obtain ISBNs and catalogue numbers.

Conversion Work

Sometimes the designer will have to create a design and navigational tools (for example, a menu system) before converting the text. Get your client to approve these before the conversion. You must provide the designer with an electronic file of the text, any image files (in the designer's preferred format) as well as a printout of the final text and graphics for the conversion. Links, and the web pages they refer to, should be identified clearly.

Proofreading

When the conversion is complete, the electronic publication must be proofread and all the links checked. This is a detailed process best performed by an outside supplier. The Industry Canada Style Guide contains a handy proofreading checklist for this task.

Quality Assurance

In-house staff should do a quality assurance check to ensure that:

• the proofreader did an acceptable job
• federal and departmental publishing policies and guidelines have been respected

Sign-Off

Your client must approve the converted document because he or she has final responsibility for the accuracy of the publication.

Posting the Publication Online

When the publication is finalized, deliver it to the client to be posted online by his or her Webmaster. Ensure it is posted to the Depository Services Program (Communications Canada) and Legal Deposit (Library and Archives Canada).

IC Internet Style Guide

This guide was developed by the Communications and Marketing Branch and is intended for web developers who are coding pages for Industry Canada websites. It outlines how to correctly code using HTML5, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and the Web Experience Toolkit (WET) to meet both the department's presentation styles and usability and accessibility requirements.