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A Publishing Tool

The digital tool this poster was built with is called Quire. Quire is a free and open-source publishing tool developed at Getty. We designed it especially to help users create scholarly, visually rich publications. Focusing on discoverability and longevity, Quire can output a book as a website, a PDF, and an EPUB e-book all from the same set of source files. It can also include deep zooming images, audio and video, image overlays, and more.

Quire is full of powerful features but its plain text interface can be daunting to new users.

A code text editor with a sidebar to the left listing many different files. The main panel shows plain text content with some varied character markings. Some visible text and features look to be those from the previous page of this website.
Working on a Quire project means working in a text editor like those commonly used for coding. Content for Quire projects is formatted as Markdown, and augmented with shortcodes for more complex features.

When they get used to working in a text editor, many users appreciated the high degree of control it gives them over their book. Being exposed to the pieces of books, means it is easier to manipulate them. This can be done in simple ways, like changing a color or reorganizing a page; or in more complex ways like creating a new interactive feature or restructuring the navigation.

Two ukeleles on a plain orange background, but the one on the right is made from a kit, and the pieces from the kit are spread out individually below and in front of the finished model.
There are different ways of getting a ukelele. You can buy one from a store like the one on the left from Guitar Center. Or, you can make one yourself, like the one on the right from KiwiCo. The KiwiCo version is more work, but it also gives more opportunity for customization, and a better understanding of what a ukelele is and how it works.

Community Showcase

Since releasing Quire as free software (first in a private beta in 2018 and then under a full open-source license in 2022), dozens of institutions have used Quire to create books, journals, online exhibitions, and more. You can find some of them in our Community Showcase.

A grid of twenty-five images of website home pages with small text labels below each. The images at the bottom are cut off, indicating more would continue below
Some of the projects featured in Quire’s Community Showcase.
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