Introduction into the Presentation of DSE

After annotating and commenting the TEI/XML data with an editing tool, it is presented or published as a front end (interface of a website) using publishing tools. These two work steps can be separated from each other - i.e. the TEI/XML data can be output by different publishing tools in different ways; old TEI/XML editions can thus be presented in a modernised way and their presentation types can be extended. Nevertheless, it makes sense to outline the desired presentation functions as early as the planning phase, as this can influence the choice of edition and presentation tools. If standard presentation functions, such as those documented in this chapter, are desired, the TEI Publisher is a tool that can combine editing and publication.

Chapter 3, "Presentation", deals primarily with the standard presentations that are common in most DSEs today. In contrast to the previous chapter "2. Editing work", the focus is less on the sequence of workflows and their limitations than in the previous chapters, as the presentation cannot be divided into different work steps, but into decisions that are decoupled from each other. E.G.: Does the edition require an extensive introduction to its use? How can indexes be organised? How is the edition text presented and in what form can it be downloaded?

The sub-chapters presented here are therefore not intended as consecutive steps, but describe isolated workflows for aspects of DSE front-ends, their advantages and disadvantages. Special attention is paid to the evaluation of existing solutions.

Aspects of frontend design that go beyond user functionalities are not part of this handbook. The graphic interface (design of menus, colour, fonts etc.) can of course be changed in standard tools such as the TEI Publisher (see => the corresponding documentation). In larger projects, this can also be outsourced to graphics experts; in this context, cooperation with university graphics departments can be useful.