AP introduces two new Stylebook subscription products
The first, Stylebook & Webster’s New World Online, integrates about 185,000 definitions from the Stylebook’s primary dictionary to make it easy for users to find entries from both resources at the same time.
Subscribers can do a single search to get clearly labeled results from the AP Stylebook and Webster’s New World College Dictionary, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. In those cases where the Stylebook differs from Webster’s New World Dictionary, the user can see both entries and compare.
Pricing is based on the number of users, with the per-user cost declining for site licenses with larger numbers of users. Like Stylebook Online, Stylebook & Webster’s New World Online is mobile-optimized so it works well not only on desktops and laptops but also on smartphones and tablets. Subscribers can opt in to email notifications when entries are added or changed and can submit questions to Stylebook’s popular Ask the Editor feature.
“This combined resource will be a boon to copy editors, journalists and writers everywhere,” said Steve Kleinedler, executive editor for the reference group of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which acquired Webster’s New World College Dictionary in late 2012.
AP is also rolling out AP Lingofy, a Web browser plug-in software powered by Tansa Systems’s advanced proofing engine, to provide automated style-checking in the most popular browsers, including Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Google Chrome.
Aimed at users who create content directly online, including bloggers, website administrators and social media managers, Lingofy checks website content for AP Stylebook’s spelling, language, punctuation, usage and journalistic style guidelines. Lingofy users also have the ability to modify and maintain their own online stylebook entries, including proper names, word usage, warning words and phrases, which the system will actively check for during proofing sessions.
Lingofy also checks content for consistency with Webster’s New World College Dictionary, so users get the benefit of a review against Stylebook guidance and its primary dictionary.
“Whether they're tweeting, blogging or uploading an article to their website, Lingofy’s advanced proofing tools provide online writers and editors the ability to improve the quality of their content, while allowing them to maintain the rapid delivery of information web consumers have grown accustomed to,” said Morten Krøtø , managing director of Tansa Systems AS.
Lingofy complements AP StyleGuard for Word and StyleGuard for Outlook, two existing products that offer automated style-checking for content created using the Microsoft Office software. Tansa has offered automated style checking for close to a decade in its Tansa Text Proofing System, used by many newspapers and publishers in their production environments.
Pricing for Lingofy is per user, with the ability to download plugins for multiple browsers. Tansa will regularly update its servers to ensure Lingofy reflects the latest AP Stylebook additions and changes.
Both products are launching in a beta phase this month, available first to existing AP Stylebook customers. AP expects to release them widely by the end of the year.
“Our collaboration with Webster’s New World College Dictionary and Tansa Systems is helping us launch two robust AP style products that go well beyond the thousands of entries in the AP Stylebook to give writers and editors more comprehensive guidance,” said Colleen Newvine, product manager for the AP Stylebook suite of products.
Updated regularly since its initial print publication in 1953, The AP Stylebook is a must-have reference for writers, editors, students and professionals. The AP Stylebook is used daily by news organizations and communications professionals around the world and is considered by many to be the definitive resource for journalists.
AP continues to look for new ways to make useful and innovative style products. Earlier this year, AP launched automatically scored AP Style Quizzes, available as an annual subscription.