Documentation Center

What is the difference between working and default for languages and resolutions?

Working language, working resolution, default language, default resolution, and preview image resolution are described.

Question: What is meant by "working" and default" when it is used for languages and resolutions in draft or released publications?

The hierarchical structure and working language or resolution

Content Manager manages objects at multiple levels: logical, version, and language. This lets you specify and track metadata on each object at a granular level and provides features such as pre-translation and management of content references across languages. To understand the terminology for working and default states for languages and resolutions, you must understand the concept of the Content Manager Logical-Version-Language/Resolution hierarchical structure.
HierarchyDescriptionExample
LogicalThe object itself with an assigned GUID within the repository.A topic describing the dashboard features of your automobile.
VersionThe modification or edit made on the logical object. The version may vary between publications.Publication A may have version 2 of the logical object selected that describes a standard automobile dashboard, whereas Publication B may have version 3 of the logical object selected that describes an enhanced dashboard with extra features such as a GPS or rearview camera.
Language/Resolution
  • Topics, maps, and library topics require that a language is selected.
  • Images require that both a language and a resolution be selected.
The topic describing the dashboard may be in English. The image of the dashboard may be in low resolution.
  • The Working Language is the language in which you are authoring within a version.
  • The Working Resolution defines the resolution of the image.

The Content Manager interfaces and default language and resolution

The client tools (for example, Publication Manager or Browse Repository window) show the selected version of an object and the Default Language within the version. If the object is an image, they show the Default Resolution within the language. All other languages and resolutions are filtered out in the user interface.

The web interface shows all versions, and languages available within each version and all resolutions available within each language.

Preview Image Resolution

The resolution level exists because different publications may require different resolutions. For example a print quality PDF requires an image with a resolution of 200dpi or higher, typically referred to a High resolution, whereas Web related formats, such as HTML pages or Compiled Help (CHM) may require 72 dpi images, typically referred to as Low resolution.

Occasionally a third resolution, Master, may be present. This holds an image source that is typically not used in rendering, such as Photoshop PSD, Corel files, or SVG files.

It is strongly advised that you have a fixed relation between resolution and image type, for instance:
  • Low resolution images are formats easily rendered in web browsers such as JPG, JPEG, GIF, PNG. These formats may be associated with low resolution.
  • High resolution images are high quality formats such as JPEG or EPS. These formats may be associated with high resolution.

The Preview Image Resolution is used in the web based previews in Publication Manager and the Browse Repository window. This value defines the resolution that the system should use to render images inline in topics. In almost all cases this is the Low resolution because this resolution is always present, very small and very fast to render.

Example

The following table provides an example of some typical values. The assumption is that you are authoring in the English language and are using low (PNG) resolution.
ExampleDescription
Working LanguageEnglishThe language you select when you create the publication in Publication Manager.
Working ResolutionLowThe resolution you select when you create the publication in Publication Manager.
Default LanguageEnglishThe language that is used to preview topics and images.
Default ResolutionLowThe resolution that is used to preview stand-alone images. I.e. when you click on the image to view it independent of the data in a topic.
Preview Image ResolutionLowThe resolution that is used to preview inline images in the web preview.

How the publication release relates to these concepts

When actively working in a publication, the publication and topics versions are in a Draft type of status. When ready for publication and distribution to your audience, you put the publication into a Release type of status. To release the publication, the Version must be fully defined. For a version to be fully defined:
  • One Language level item must be in a (R)eleased status for any topics, maps, and library topics in the publication.
  • A combination of Language and Resolution must be in a (R)eleased status for any images in the publication.

All objects may not be available in all languages. This is typically true for images. In this case, when configuring output, you can specify Fallback languages for each object type (topics, maps, images, and library topics). If a language is not available, the fallback language is used for that object.