QuarkXpress 6.0 (Mac) Review

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(More customer reviews)This program is a complete joke. Quark has basically re-issued Quark 4 (and 5 for that matter) with almost NOTHING new worth mention.
* The very first thing you'll notice is this ridiculous validation scheme. Think you're going to buy software and install it and go to work? Wrong!! You have to be validated first which, if something goes wrong, can take DAYS!
* The multiple undo's would have been a great feature for 1998, even now not everything is undo-able.
* Quark has this wonderful new system of "Projects" and documents. If you ever pick-up an old document to make some changes and then re-save as a new one, the old file name remains with the file because Quark assumes you're just adding a new document to the project...A MAJOR ANNOYANCE! If you do use the project thing as intended (multiple documents and sizes wrapped up into a single file) you still have to collect each individual document seperately! HELLO?! HOW BOUT "COLLECT ALL"??
* The "Export to PDF" feature so rarely works, I don't even bother with it. I still have to "print" to a PDF.
* The "full resolution preview" isn't and frequently causes crashes when trying to change the preview res on a picture.
* All the old stupid annoying things about Quark are faithfully preserved in version 6...
* Still no "update all" feature in the links menu.
* Still no way to select a graphic and tell Quark to re-link to something different.
* Still no key commands to select tools on the tool palette.
* Still limited to 48x48" layouts.
* Still no support for OpenType. If you use OpenType fonts, expect lots of very strange letter spacings, etc.
* Lots of people still use Quark 4. If you need to save down, you must save from Q6 to Q5, then Q5 to Q4. If you're upgrading from 4 to 6, YOU'RE SCREWED! Quark 6 WILL NOT save down to Quark 4!
* Quark brags about all these new features that NOBODY will have a use for. Web pages?! PLEASE! Not even even a half-a** hack web designer would try to create a website in Quark! I tried just for the experience and believe me, it's a joke! 3 words... NO CODE VIEW!! How bout 4 more? NO MEASUREMENT IN PIXELS. These things alone makes Quark a web program not to be taken seriously.
If you're DYING to waste nearly $900, keep your antique Quark 4 or 5 and take that money to Vegas. Better yet, download a free trial of InDesign and see what a REAL page layout program should look like in the year 2004!

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Item #: F72218. QuarkXPress is powerful layout software with an intuitive, versatile interface that lets you combine writing, editing, and typography with color and pictures to produce dynamic final output. QuarkXPress is widely used by magazines, newspapers, advertising agencies, typesetters, printers, corporate publishers, design firms, catalog houses, book publishers, and form designers. It is also used by businesses with publishing requirements.QuarkXPress 6 software includes a wealth of new design and productivity-enhancing features that let you produce professional layouts - for print and the Web - more efficiently than ever.Because PDF creation technology has been incorporated into QuarkXPress 6, you can output PDF files directly from QuarkXPress without buying third-party software.Layout spaces simplify the management of complex projects by providing the ability to share specifications such as style sheets, colors, hyphenation settings, and lists among layouts. You can also include multiple content types and layouts with varying page sizes in a single file. Synchronizing content allows you to share text between layouts.Full-resolution preview displays images at the file's full resolution so that you can scale or magnify images with minimal pixelation and position page elements more precisely. You must register your copy of QuarkXPress before you can access this feature.Create a more compelling Web experience through better design with new and enhanced tools, including two-position rollovers, cascading menus, font family specification for cascading style sheets, form controls improvements, and more.Improvements to output features, including As Is Color Space and DeviceN, underscores Quark's continued commitment to supporting open standards in the workflow and delivering the highest quality output. Product Description: QuarkXPress ( v. 6.0 ) - complete packageCategory: Creativity applicationSubcategory: Creativity - desktop publishingVersion:

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QuarkXpress 4.1 Review

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(More customer reviews)It took me a few months, but I finally stopped complaining that they'd screwed up XPress. Version 4.1 is light years beyond version 3.3. And, it's a whole lot better than 4.0. The new features make this program a pleasure to work with. The user interface is more intuitive than ever. And, it still beats PageMaker and InDesign by a mile.

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QuarkXPress software gives you powerful design command over every aspect of your document, from conception to output. QuarkXPress lets you create a wide variety of materials quickly and efficiently from within an intuitive, standards-based environment. This premier electronic page-layout application provides you with software solutions to meet your publishing needs. Building on existing tools to facilitate digital workflow and multipurpose publishing, QuarkXPress 4.1 includes improved support for PDF, scripting, and Internet publishing. Some of the new features include PDF Import QuarkXTensions software (import pages from PDF files created with Adobe Acrobat Distiller 4.0 into QuarkXPress picture boxes and print high-resolution output, as you would any other graphic); PDF Export QuarkXTensions software (output PostScript files optimized for use with Adobe Acrobat Distiller 4.0, with the option of distilling your file immediately or saving it as a PostScript file that can be distilled later); and HTML Text Import QuarkXTensions software (import HTML text into QuarkXPress text boxes, the same as other text formats). You can also author XML content easily and efficiently; generate high-resolution image previews; use the new Scissors tool to cut text and picture boxes, lines, and text paths; use custom bleeds to specify a bleed value for each side of a document; and more.

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QuarkXpress 5.0 Review

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(More customer reviews)Pay no attention to the catty doom-sayers: QuarkXPress is here to stay. Quark is too firmly entrenched in the collective consciousness of the computer community at large, and has too many diehard loyalists, to go quietly into that good night, just because a certain monopolistic competitor is banging loudly at the gate. The demand for Version 6, released in June, is phenomenally high. The reason is elementary: Quark is the best LAYOUT program - an all-important distinction - available, period, and has been since the dawn of desktop publishing.
My personal experience with Quark goes back to 1993, when I started a home-based advertising agency specializing in Yellow Page advertising. Quark was the first program I loaded on my then-formidable Macintosh Centris 610 (which nowadays sits on a couple of cement blocks out in the yard). I had never touched a computer in my life before then, but I felt an instant rapport with Quark, whose logical interface brilliantly exemplified the "your computer is your desktop" metaphor. (I might add, before starting my business, I had been a "paste-up artist" for nearly ten years, working with X-acto knives, layout boards, art wax, etc. It was easy for me to make a seamless transition from these tactile tools to Quark's virtual workspace.) To those who find Quark "non-intuitive," "non-user friendly," "frustrating" and "difficult," I politely suggest, perhaps you are in the wrong business. I've found Quark to be the polar opposite of these pejoratives.
For ten years now, Quark has been my primary program AND my favorite one. No exaggeration: I could not have survived the text-intensive world of the Yellow Pages without Quark's peerless typographical capabilities. I use Quark not only for my bread-and-butter YP work, but for virtually every print need imaginable: forms, labels, brochures, newsletters, calendars, greeting cards - you name it. For business correspondence and for creative or leisure writing (including all my Amazon reviews), Quark is also my chosen collaborator. After ten years, we're inseparable.
Sure, Quark has its quirks - I defy you to name an application that doesn't. (For instance, whenever I collapse a window in Illustrator, my G-4 freezes. I've never been able to figure that one out.) Considering the myriad of GREAT things about Quark, I prefer to think of its occasional lapses as the entertaining skulduggery of cyber-gremlins, no doubt playing pool with all those ones and zeroes. I never get bent out of shape over Quark's idiosyncrasies, because these, too, shall pass with a little sweet-talk, patience and tinkering.
I will never throw Quark over for Adobe InDesign for several reasons. One, I am too fond of and too loyal to Quark ever to betray my trust in the product. Two, I have nothing but admiration for the maverick Quark company, which has steadfastly resisted encroachments on its territory. And three, I have enough Adobe products already, thank you very much. I like them well enough, but I will not put any more money in the coffers of a humongous company that enjoys quite enough dominance already and has no business trying to rope and tie my favorite maverick.
It's important for desktop publishers and other professionals to have choices that don't include Adobe in their titles. For me, the only choice is QuarkXPress.

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QuarkXPress 5.0's new and enhanced tool suite produces professional print and electronic media publications more efficiently than ever before. Design Web pages and entire Web sites using the same palettes and tools you use to publish print documents. And because QuarkXPress 5.0 conforms to open standards, your Web pages can be opened and edited in standards-based HTML development tools, such as Dreamweaver. The 5.0 release also boasts an XML export tool that lets you extract content from QuarkXPress documents and store it in XML format.
QuarkXPress 5.0 streamlines print, Web, and PDF workflows by importing and exporting documents in dozens of file formats, including HTML and PDF, as well as XML format. The software's new tables tool sports typographic and image controls that create graphically rich tables in no time. QuarkXPress 5.0 also adds a new layers tool that isolates items within documents, letting you manage hundreds of document variants and making it an ideal tool for separating multiple design elements within a document.
With version 5.0, the QuarkXPress design environment gets Web savvy. Add drop-down lists, rollovers, hyperlinks, image maps, and metatags to your Web page designs. The product's powerful XTensions interface lets developers enhance QuarkXPress to meet the needs of unique publishing workflows, while its new License Administrator benefits publishers with multiple-seat installations by helping larger organizations share the use of a smaller number of licenses.

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Quarkxpress 8 Upgrade for mac/win with int Designer Xpert Tools Review

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(More customer reviews)I've been using QuarkXPress since 1994 and I would not be able to do a good job as a graphic designer without it. It is part of my layout arsenal including Illustrator and Photoshop.
I know that InDesign is also a great program but since I started with Quark, I'm staying with Quark as long as they continue to deliver a great piece of software.
The truth is, I looked into getting an Adobe Suite but Adobe did not make it easy or inexpensive to do so. I own 5 other Adobe products that are already included in the suites but I would have had to pay full price (minus $100) to buy a suite. $100 was the only break Adobe would give me as a loyal customer. So for a minimum of $1300 I could buy the basic suite. It just wasn't worth it since the only thing I didn't have was InDesign.
So, getting back to Quark 8.0 upgrade. I upgraded from Quark 7 because I purchased a new computer running Windows 7 64 bit. I wasn't sure if Quark 7 would be compatible but I decided it was just easier to upgrade and be done with it. I've had no problems running on 64 bit Windows 7.
There are some great new features (that really should have been part of the program to begin with).
1.) When you import a picture into a picture box and that picture is larger than the picture box, you can see the rest of the picture faded back (when you unselect the picture box, it goes away). This really helps in positioning a picture. Additionally, you can rotate and scale by grabbing picture corners.
2.) The tools/measurements have more options. For example, the measurements box now gives shortcut access to just about anything like alignments, tabs, runarounds, drop shadows, etc.
3.) Font choices in the measurements box actually displays a sample of the font.
4.) You can create a plain box. Not a picture box, not a text box, just a box to be used for fill or whatever. That box can later be defined as either text or picture.
5.) The object alignment options are now the same as Illustrator, flush left, flush right, center, flush top, flush bottom, distribute evenly both horizontally or vertically, etc. and are easy to get to in the measurement box.
6.) You can import native Illustrator (.ai) and Photoshop (.PSD) files although I try not to do this since I eventually go back to make them flattened files before publishing.
7.) It is much easier to edit shapes with the expanded Bezier tool options.
8.) Just about every tool has been enhanced with more options or more common options and shortcuts from other programs.
There are really too many changes to keep listing but Quark's website has a lot of detail as well. I'll try to come back and update as I come across new things or crash issues.
I have had just a couple of crashes in the two months I've been using it. They seemed to be related to text reflow and table editing -- two things that I had trouble with in previous Quark versions.
Other than that, I have had no trouble in setting up new projects, editing previous versions, exporting for print or navigable PDF's for online posting.
The thing that keeps Quark as an industry leader in publishing is the ability to manipulate type so precisely. That and the detail and flexibility in style sheets, master pages and 'find and replace' options.
I really think that Quark has taken a good product and brought it well up to speed with competitors in the industry. It is worth every penny to upgrade.

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QuarkXPress 8 complements the way creative professionals work. Strive to do better and constantly improve, employing this state-of-the-art page-layout and design software developed to help get you there. Work faster and design more with fewer clicks using the modern, intuitive interface of QuarkXPress 8. Create stunning text and achieve the effects you want with designer-driven typography. Share your print content across media with built-in Web and Flash authoring tools. Inspired by the designer's passion for perfection, QuarkXPress is a superior page-layout and design software that creative and production professionals depend on to deliver print, Web, and Flash output.Common Illustrator and Photoshop keyboard controls Flip between QuarkXPress, Photoshop, and Illustrator without having to change the way you switch tools or manipulate objects, reduce your learning curve Easily move text and pictures between QuarkXPress and any applications that support drag and drop System Requirement -Microsoft Windows XP (service pack 2 or 3) or Windows Vista 1.0 (certified on Windows Vista), Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), G5 PowerPC processor or Intel processor (G4 minimum), 256MB RAM minimum, 500MB free space, DVD-ROM drive, and Internet connection for activation

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QuarkXpress 6.5 Review

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(More customer reviews)I have just installed Quark 6 after waiting years for a worthwhile upgrade. It feels to me like a basic rewrite of version 4.11 with no major attention to intergrating with Photoshop psd format, industrial strength Acrobat PDF making tools and no compatibility with Illustrator .ai drawing format.
I wonder if the CEO of Quark has the faintest idea what the CORE business of designers really is or what they expect from Quark. Designers use Dreamweaver or Golive to make websites and wanted Quark 6 as a rock stable design LAYOUT tool with cool features - no more. It was the Mac community that built the Quark company yet they have quickly abandoned their client in the search for new fields in the PC sea.
I got a clean install and registration via the web, followed by multiple crashes and conflicts with fonts in OSX 10.2.6 when I did basic things like try to open 4.11 files, try to Export as PDF and try to use Suitcase X1 to autoactivate fonts I have been using for years. The program really lacks any tolerance to font duplicates under OSX.
Quark 6.1 must soon intergrate with Adobe photoshop, Acrobat distiller and Illustrator or it will flick,spin,crash and burn into the forgotton wasteland. In that wasteland you will find every software company that abandoned its CORE business and clients.
I don't care where it's made, but I really DO care about stability, features and more stability.
Also I would like to question the integrity of MAC and PC websites who have given Quark v6 a 4/5 rating. These journalists are easily distracted by press-release-smoke-screens of new web features designers don't depend on. As a registered user of Quark for 10 years, I give the new version 2 or 3/5 for its lack of new typesetting features, poor dictionary, token-only layers, 1200mm size limit, general anti-Adobe compatibility and font instability.
I will also be crossgrading to In-design to protect my future.

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Item #: F72219. QuarkXPress is powerful layout software with an intuitive, versatile interface that lets you combine writing, editing, and typography with color and pictures to produce dynamic final output. QuarkXPress is widely used by magazines, newspapers, advertising agencies, typesetters, printers, corporate publishers, design firms, catalog houses, book publishers, and form designers. It is also used by businesses with publishing requirements.QuarkXPress 6 software includes a wealth of new design and productivity-enhancing features that let you produce professional layouts - for print and the Web - more efficiently than ever.Because PDF creation technology has been incorporated into QuarkXPress 6, you can output PDF files directly from QuarkXPress without buying third-party software.Layout spaces simplify the management of complex projects by providing the ability to share specifications such as style sheets, colors, hyphenation settings, and lists among layouts. You can also include multiple content types and layouts with varying page sizes in a single file. Synchronizing content allows you to share text between layouts.Full-resolution preview displays images at the file's full resolution so that you can scale or magnify images with minimal pixelation and position page elements more precisely. You must register your copy of QuarkXPress before you can access this feature.Create a more compelling Web experience through better design with new and enhanced tools, including two-position rollovers, cascading menus, font family specification for cascading style sheets, form controls improvements, and more.Improvements to output features, including As Is Color Space and DeviceN, underscores Quark's continued commitment to supporting open standards in the workflow and delivering the highest quality output. Product Description: QuarkXPress ( v. 6.5 ) - complete packageCategory: Creativity applicationSubcategory: Creativity - desktop publishingVersion:

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Adobe Indesign CS3 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)At this point, I'd strongly suggest that you not buy this version and instead wait for the CS4 version of InDesign, which should be coming out in October 2008. Here's a review of the new features it offers.
INDESIGN CS4
What's great about this upgrade is that no particularly category of user is slighted. Those who deal with graphics rich documents get Smart Guides and an improved Links panel. Those who work with long, complex documents get cross-references and Smart Text Reflow. Those who do catalogs get conditional text and direct-to-PDF output. Those into multimedia get Flash output two ways. For everyone there's an improve user interface that includes tabbed windows for those have more windows open than they have display space. Finally, almost everyone seems delighted by a surprise new feature, GREP styles, which is great for taking care of all the niggling little formatting chores inside a paragraph. All these features save time and make the work go smoother.
It is true that Adobe might have done more. ID still won't let a paragraph style define a heading spanning multiple columns. One Adobe programmer told me that required hard work, text in columns has to be organized to end in a nice row before the heading. That may be true, but other products do it, including the two-decade old FrameMaker, and the alternative is clumsy fiddling with frames that get out of kilter in the text or formatting is changed. As it stands now, Smart Text Reflow and Conditional Text can't be used with multi-column plus heading text.
And in the timesaving department, linking frames is still the Nuisance of Nuisances. ID needs Named Frames, which would allow users to attach a name to all frames in the same sequence, something particularly useful for magazines and newspapers Add another feature called Smart Frames, which would automatically link all frames in a specific order--top to bottom, right to left, lower to higher page--and linking frames would become easy. Those who want something unusual could still do things the old way.
In short this is a solid and useful upgrade for almost anyone who uses ID more than occasionally. It'll save you time and let you produce more complex, better looking documents with less effort. If you use ID more than a few hours a week, this is a must-have upgrade.
--Michael W. Perry, Untangling Tolkien: A Chronology and Commentary for The Lord of the Rings

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Adobe InDesign CS3 Windows. Does NOT include full printed User Guide in the box;Fulfillment will include:30-50 page Getting Started Guide in the box;A PDF of the unabridged User Guide on the CD/DVD; Generic doc fulfillment card outlining policy and our commitment to the environment in the box 2; Online help (both on web and on the desktop) which includes readily accessible training beyond what manuals include.Full printed User Guides will be available at adobe.com

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