Publishing with Yudu - Online Documents, Newsletters, and More.

Having run up a streak of consecutive posts (ended last week at just over 60), I wanted to take the time to reflect on some of the more memorable ones, as well as pull together a few that were especially relevant to teachers at ETHS. Thus was born the EdTech @ETHS Monthly. Crafted from a simple MS Word template, I wasn't ready to commit hours to a fancy newsletter design. Yet, keeping my activity sponsor hat on (Green Team - Environmental Club), I wanted the document to be accessible and carbon free. Yudu took care of the rest.


What is Yudu?
I discovered Yudu last year and have been experimenting with publishing PDF's for our online newspaper, the Evanstonian. I particularly liked the embeddable mini-flip version of the PDF that allows you to get a snapshot of a longer document such as the print version of the paper. Yudu is very easy to use - simply upload your PDF (which Word 2007 now creates with ease), and Yudu processes the file and converts it into a very user friendly, easy on the eyes, published document. The document opens up in a snazzy viewer, and you can implement page turn flicks, zoom in and out with ease, click on highlighted links, search within, annotate and make bookmarks all on the publication.

Why do you Yudu?
The ability to view a published document without going through a PDF viewer is a nice feature, though Yudu does require Flash, so being the iPad fanboy that I am, I may explore other options for future newsletters. I do like all of the additional features that Yudu offers with regards to interacting with the published document. Being able to share one's highlighting, bookmarks, and annotations make the application a possible candidate for classroom use, especially for non-editable PDF's. In addition, I often get emails from teachers about being unable to open a document through Outlook Web Access, so an online version of the publication may help address this issue. Lastly, sending only an online version can help limit one's printing, thus making a positive impact on the environment as well.