5. Content development & integration

In the end, your content is what your reader cares about the most. In this phase, all written and other content (such as images and video) are integrated into your publication using the H5mag Live Editor. Using the Live Editor, you see the result right away — just like how your readers will experience it. For future editions, out of five only this step has to be taken again for each publication. Some helpful hints:

• You can write your content in a text editor such as Word, but in case you work from submitted content it can be very effective to cut out this step and edit it directly within H5mag. This is a true WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) experience and can speed up your publication process.
• You can have multiple accounts and give one to each person involved. Use the unpublished version to review and edit each others content. You can see it if someone else is working on a specific article so that no conflicting copies will appear. 
• You can share an unpublished version using the preview button. This is a great way if you want someone else to sign-off on your publication.
• Besides writing texts be sure to use the advanced content features of H5mag. Instead of just having an interview written out, why not record a short video? Instead of using elaborate text to describe a complex topic, why not show an intuitive infographic with clickable hotspots?
• Within a H5mag you have more freedom to write a substantial piece of content than on a typical website, but because you are competing in an online context it is still very important to write texts suitable for the web:
  • If you desire to get more traffic through search engines, then make sure the keywords a reader might search for are present in your article.
  • When linking, never use ‘click here’ as your link text but make sure that the link text itself is descriptive. Links stand out in text and are often the first thing a reader sees. Also, people on a tablet or phone are not clicking but tapping! See also W3C’s Don’t use Click Here article.
  • Break up longer texts using (sub) headlines, pull quotes, bullet lists, bold texts, inline pictures and other stylistic elements. In layout, it can be helpful to not write out something in a paragraph but for example set it aside as a list of facts or important numbers.
• With photography it’s best to instruct your photographer to shoot with lots of ‘edit space’. This means zooming out a bit more than most photographers typically do; you need some extra space that will be cropped on regular devices but shown on very wide devices. In general you get the most flexibility with landscape photography. 

Deliverable: first edition of your publication!

Next step: Getting it out there