Launched at drupa last spring, Agfa Graphics (Booth 627) has partnered with CHILI Publish (Booth 971) to develop :Apogee StoreFront, a cloud-based software solution that enables PSPs to market their capabilities and products online.

:Apogee StoreFront is a Web-to-print solution for the creation of online stores (or “storefronts”) for printed and non-printed products. It is aimed at companies which want to expand their operations or broaden their audience with additional services.

CHILI Publisher is the basis for :Apogee StoreFront’s Online Editor that lets print buyers design or edit their own documents. For occasional users, easy-to-navigate forms allow prompt personalization of pre-defined business cards, letterheads, or other documents while frequent customers can make the most of advanced editing capabilities for creating visually rich, multi-page publications.

“We were looking for a solution that enabled us to integrate the editing environment into our Web-to-print stores. It had to be customizable for different types of print buyers”, explains Laurens Leurs, Agfa Product Manager for :Apogee StoreFront. “CHILI Publisher provides that flexibility along with a set of APIs and functions that we can use in :Apogee StoreFront. As one of the early adopters of PDF, we also value CHILI’s support for open standards. This facilitates the automation that we offer between the :Apogee StoreFront Web-to-print system and our :Apogee Prepress workflow.”

The integration process went very smoothly, reports Agfa. “There was prompt feedback by the CHILI team on reported questions and suggestions from our development teams,” Leurs continues. “We also appreciate the clear road map that CHILI has allowing us to incorporate more features of CHILI Publisher into :Apogee StoreFront.”

CHILI Publish’s Managing Partner Bram Verniest adds: “Our products are designed with maximum flexibility in mind that makes them easy to incorporate into solutions such as :Apogee StoreFront. As a result PSPs can enhance their service offering with reliable, business enhancing capabilities.”

CHILI Publisher V.3.0

CHILI Publisher has evolved since its first release two years ago, says its developer. The most important feature is its ability to integrate in Web applications. Users decide how they want to offer the online document editor to their end users. The point-and-click approach to customize the editor, and the very strong API allow you to integrate the editor in a matter of hours.

In version 3.0, tables can be used to format data in a structured way. CHILI Publisher also provides the option to use tables as a layout grid. Import and export tables to and from Adobe InDesign with preservation of styles. Other V.3.0 features include:

• With the Mobile Reader HTML5 Edition, customers now can read CHILI documents on any tablet device. Not only are major tablet OS supported, but a framework is offered to access CHILI mobile feeds on any tablet and in any browser.

• Three-dimensional folding: See how amazed customers will be when they see their artwork folded in real life.

• Image transformations: Because not every content creator is a photographer, now it is possible to apply (a series of) image transformations to an image placed in a CHILI document.

• QR code compatibility: Is it Web-to-print or print-to-Web, asks CHILI.