TEXT-DRIVEN WORKFLOW FOR NEWSPAPER

Question

We're a small community newspaper thinking about switching to InCopy (currently using NewsEdit)
All reporters, photographers, designers work in the same office. Most stories are written before the pages are layed out based on the amount of advertising so we would be using a text-driven workflow. I've downloaded a trial version of InCopy CS4 and I'm trying to get a feel for how everything will work between InCopy and InDesign.
Currently the reporters type their stories in templates that show the copy flowing in columns. When these files are brought into InDesign the columns stay and the headers (which are attached) are in a separate text box. The reporters can also attached cutlines to their photos. The designer then just has to import the story and photo into InDesign and resize the two boxes (header and story) and the photo and cutline to fit the space available.
The only way I can find to have 2 text boxes in InCopy is to make an InDesign document and anchor 2 text boxes (one of which is divided into columns) to the Master Text Frame. I then export this as an .incx file, load my stylesheets and save it as a template file.
The reporter then opens the template and inputs the story and header in the appropriate boxes and saves it as an .incx file.
I (the designer) then opens the page layout and places the story. In order to resize anything the story has to be checked out. Then because the boxes are anchored, I have to go to Anchored Object menu, change the Options and then Release. I have to do the same with the photos and cutline.
If I haven't put you to sleep yet, here's my question.
Am I totally out in left field or am I on the right track as to how this should work? Is there a better way to make this work.
Any editorial changes are made on the page by the designer and there's only ever one reporter working on a story, so I think the checking in and out of stories might not pertain to us a lot except for when resizing them when they're on the page.
Also when I draw a text box for a pull quote on top of a story the only way I can change the runaround is to go to Anchored Object menu and release the story text.
Any help or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.
Barb

Answer 1

Barbara, I'm sorry but no, you can't have 2 text frames in a native InCopy document. And in the one frame you have to work with, there is no way to divvy it up into columns.
It sounds like you might need one of the CMS's built on top of InDesign and InCopy, like Smart Connection Pro/Enterprise or K4. These systems *do* all you to create multiple-framed "article" templates for the InCopy users, along with other features that the stock IC/ID workflow doesn't. But the learning curve is fairly steep (especially in the beginning) and the cost starts at $20K and goes up from there, not including the cost of ID and IC themselves. Quite a difference compared to the $249 per editorial seat cost of a stock IC/ID workflow.
In that stock workflow -- which most of my clients use, including community newspapers -- editors write everything in the single frame, and yes, the designers then cut and paste as necessary.
A somewhat awkward but doable workaround is that the editors could write the headline on page 1 of the INCX file and then enter a Frame Break from the Type > Insert Break Character menu. InCopy would automatically generate a second page (to create a threaded frame) and put their cursor there. The editors would write the body copy in that frame, or however you want to work it.
Then the designers would have a page set up in ID with a small frame for the headline that's threaded to a multicolumned frame for the body. They'd place the INCX file into the first frame, and it would automatically flow into the 2 frames correctly (assuming the headline fits inside the headline frame, if not, they edit it/format it to fit).
One of the main benefits of the IC/ID workflow is that the editors can see and edit their text within the context of the design, the layout, instead of marking up paper proofs for the designers to enter. Or, it allows the designers to create pages in ID (with empty text frames for heads, body, sidebars, cutlines etc.) for the editors to fill in with their text from the start.
It sounds like you're not looking for this. You're mainly interested in giving the editors a head start in formatting and fitting text without the layout at all. This is a lesser feature of the stock IC/ID workflow. It is most valuable when it's replacing Word as the start of the process. But it sounds like it's no match for what you're able to do with NewsEdit. ;-(
I've had other clients ask me how to create multi-framed templates for the editors to use. I wrote a long article about in my InCopyFlow e-zine, which you can read as a post on my InCopySecrets.com blog here:
http://incopysecrets.com/working-with-layout-templates.php
Maybe that'll help show you what's possible?
AM