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A Beta Look at QuarkXPress 7
On Tuesday 10 January 2006 Quark announced the launch of the QuarkXPress 7 public beta program…
On Tuesday 10 January 2006 Quark announced the launch of the QuarkXPress 7 public beta program. If you are curious to know what progress this layout application has made, keep reading
QuarkXPress 4 was the first layout application I have worked with and it was my companion during my growth as a designer. Yet InDesign CS came along and I fell in love with it, betraying my friend that had XPressly shared with me many layout adventures. Though this is still a beta release, QuarkXPress 7 looks and acts like Brad Pitt in Troy. A temptation for those designers who always look for the best.
With the announcement of Intel based Macs at the Macworld conference, we also found out that Photoshop isn’t yet really agreeing with the new processor. Adobe, as Jeremy Schultz reports, doesn’t look like is very much interested to put that right straight away. Yet Quark’s statement that version 7 of their layout application will run on Intel based macs might become Adobe’s “Trojan horse”. We’ll see who’ll burn down first.
Completely Enchanted By the Measurements Palette
The first thing I have noticed when I opened QuarkXPress 7 was the Measurements palette. It’s so rich of features, so easy to use and so convenient that I almost said to myself: “To hell with the new transparency options, the Open Type features and Brad Pitt, I think I’ll just play with the Measurements palette all day”.
Since I started to use InDesign, one of my biggest complaints against QuarkXPress was in actual fact this palette. Now it smokes the Control Palette, the InDesign’s equivalent. At mouse over, the Measurements palette shows you tabs that let you decide which sets of functions to show, thus making you save a lot of screen space which would otherwise be used up by a zillion pallettes. Do you want to see it in action? Here it is.
The following series of screenshots shows you how the Measurements palette looks when dealing with image frames. Click on “enlarged version” to see the palette at full size.
This series of screenshots shows you how the Measurement palette looks when selecting text.
Talking about palettes, they can now be grouped together and collapsed in a way that is very similar to Photoshop’s method of grouping.
Tansparency and Drop Shadow Effects
Transparency can be controlled from anywhere you can control colour, i.e., the Measurement palette, the Colour Palette, and the Modify dialog box under the Edit menu. Transparency in PSD files and alpha channels are also now supported and drop shadow effects have been added.
QuarkVista XTension
Introduced with QuarkXPress 6.5, the QuarkVista XTension has also its share of enhancements:
- QuarkVista effects can be applied to EPS and images containing line art.
- Filters can be applied to alpha channels (for example you can apply the blur filter to make the transition between image and background smoother).
- Contrast/Negative features added.
- Curve enhancements: can be adjusted numerically instead of dragging them with mouse. Channels can be changed all simultaneously.
- Synchronization: synchronizes pictures effects such as drop shadows, QuarkVista effects and adjustments for a better consistency.
Share Your Work With Little Problems
QuarkXPress 7 offers various features that allow designers to share their work with other professionals, maintaining consistency and respecting the printing parameters required for the job:
- Composition Zone feature: Let’s you share parts of documents or entire documents with other users so that several people can make changes to the same layout.
- Job Jackets allow for strong control over projects so that they never stray away from their original intent and prevent printing problems before the preflight stage. Job Jackets include specifications for colour management, style sheets, picture colour space and others. Aside from being an aid in preventing printing problems, Job Jackets also help maintain consistency amongst multiple jobs handled by several designers.
Other Application Enhancements
Quark recently has focused their marketing on the listening factor. They stressed how their attitude is changed and they are giving designers and desktop publishers the tools for their needs. Surely, they added quite a number of features to QuarkXPress 7 that were lacking in previous versions of the program and have become essential for graphic artists:
- Strong Open Type features, amongst the other things, allow for the use of ligatures and character alternates. Added also a Glyph palette. Access to special characters, such as indent here and discretionary hypens, is also made easier as you can find the most common ones under the Utilities menu.
- Multiple layout views allow designers to view their projects in several panes within one window or in several windows.
- Projects can contain multiple layouts like in QuarkXPress 6. However you are now able to export single layouts and even add them to existing projects.
- Colour management has been greatly improved too. You can even preview how your layout will look on different output devices. Colour management can be configured to use the same colour settings used in versions 3.3, 4.0 and 6.0, allowing for backward compatibility. Files can only be saved down to version 6.0 though.
- Expanded export features: The most significant change from a desktop publishing perspective is the possibility of saving your export settings for later use, so you can just pick the setting you need for a specific intent. PDF/X-1a and PDF/X-3 standard files can also be created.
The Overall Impression
So far so good. This is just a beta and my observations are simply related to some of the changes this application has had compared to previous versions, knowing well that this release has bugs to be ironed out, which is natural in a beta release.
Yet, I’d say hats off to Quark for having finally provided an application that is about what designers need and not what Quark thinks they need. Some people say “better late than never”. Is it? QuarkXPress 7 isn’t a dangerous foe for InDesign.The enhancements are not enough of a motivation for existing InDesign users to switch to QuarkXPress, yet some people who haven’t yet made the choice between the two programs might have a little problem choosing.
On the other hand, InDesign has the advantage of being well integrated with the Creative Suite and, traditionally, QuarkXPress alone has always been more expensive than the entire Adobe product suite. Yet don’t forget that at the moment Photoshop doesn’t run well on Intel Macs, which could be a drawback for the Creative Suite. Will this be fixed with the CS 3 or will Adobe release an update? How will this affect QuarkXPress’ success in the market?
If you got an idea, let us know.
- QuarkXPress 7 Beta 2 Now Available
- Macworld Conference: Quark Releases QuarkXPress 7 Beta Program
- The Screen View: Interfacing with QuarkXPress 7
- QuarkXPress 7 to Run Natively on Intel and Power PC-based Macs
- A Beta Look at QuarkXPress 7
- QuarkXPress 7 Will Launch in June
- Adobe Lightroom Beta Now For Windows Too
- Convert InDesign Files to QuarkXPress Files With ID2Q
- QuarkXPress Quick Tutorial: How to Open QuarkXPress Passport Files Into Standard QuarkXPress
- Convert QuarkXPress Files To InDesign Files With Q2ID
I have found a good overview of the QuarkXPress 7 Beta release by Judi Sohn. She did bring up some bugs which I hope Quark will look at considering that this is a release for a public beta program. Go on, have a look at Judi’s review.
A perfect application for a perfect, creative person.
Thats allllllllllllllll!!!
I have got to say though, I personally don’t feel compelled to switch to QuarkXPress. After all many of the features of QXP 7 are already in InDesign.
A side thought: I wonder if they’ll have QuarkXPress open ID files?
XPress is less than ID in price - and the suite - its only 199 upgrade right now and 699 new - host of new XT’s, and 7 will release with it ALAP XT’s, for no cost from what i understand… plus VISTA!!!!!
this blows the suite away - Que is a wast of time, and bridge is joke - no need for such specious tools with XPress…
for all of you that have switched - you jumped to early - lets talk about the real issues - its about making money - and all of the design features noted here speak of the most important aspect of this software - better ROI.
while you have waste dyou money trying to switch, and now have a slower cycle time, even still, XPress 7 is there for you to move back so ou stay in business.
you will be extrememly fast in production wi XPress - ID is a slow dawg - if if it ran well its not suited for real production.
output on ID is average compared to XPress and dont forget the dozen or so feature this author left out - like publishing to multiple channels at one, and the amazing idea of output enhancement XT - i can have one app and publish to: HTML, XHTML, XSLT, EPS, PDF (no need for acrobat anymore!!!), EPS, PS, .qxp, DCS, DCII - nothing compares to this in the industry and nothing will make you money and get you home on time while getting out of your way and allowing to truly design and be exceptionally creative.
better integrated with PSD files than ID itself - use it and you will agree - beta is free downlaod right now.
Adobe is all hype - and very average. I have learned my lesson.
Quark XPress my old friend!!
OK, “Lucky” - Since Quark has seen fit to have it’s India employees leaving comment spam such as your post, I’ll reply:
OK, I’m not sure what country you live in, but here in the USA, you can almost get the entire Creative Suite (PS, AI, Acro and ID & Bridge) for the cost of Quark alone.
And InDesign alone is in fact cheaper than Quark XPress.
Many folks find Bridge to be extremely useful, by the way.
The “design” features you’re so proud of in the as of yet unreleased Quark XPress have been in InDesign for YEARS!
ID runs exceptionally fast on my G5, your mileage may vary. I will tell you that QX 7 (the beta at least) runs HORRIBLY slow in comparison to ID and even Quark 6.
All those “export” formats have been available in ID for years (except for QXP and DCS, which are both useless).
And finally, what’s your marketshare looking like this year?
If you read my review that Elisabetta linked to in her comment, you already know where I stand.
Lucky, I disagree with you on every single point. My productivity went through the roof when I switched from QXP to ID. For starters, my machine didn’t crash as often and the text editing is far superior in ID (not even close) so my projects were completed faster.
The only advantage that QXP has over ID is inertia. It’s easier to go with what you know than switch to the superior product. An individual person like me can switch easily. Larger companies have a harder time and Quark is banking on that.
And guess what? ID’s export to PDF is far superior to QXP’s in every measure and always has been. Hello?!? Who pioneered PDF in the first place? How can you say that QXP has better integration with Photoshop when it requires an XTension to even import Photoshop files? And the beta *doesn’t* import Photoshop files at all as I pointed out in my review.
Interestingly enough, in the past two days there have been 60+ unique visitors to my page on Quark 7 from India. The only comment that has been close to supportive of Quark has been from, you guessed it, India. Coincidence? Not.
The truth is that teachers and writers of Quark textbooks are now teaching and writing InDesign. The truth is that when you go to a bookstore, there are more InDesign titles than QuarkXPress titles (including at least 3 on switching from QXP to ID). The truth is that people like InDesign and tolerate QuarkXPress.
Judi, I have had the same “coincidence” with this article as well…
I have started playing with the new Quark 7 and my first couple of attempts to actually print from it failed. I exported a PDF that printed fine. But there could be lots of reasons for the issues I encountered, so I won’t yet call it a bug. And, hey it’s still beta.
But I do like the look and feel of this new version a LOT better than the old. For years I have recommended Quark, but since Quark 6 and CS2, I recommend CS2. A lot of my customers and readers have already made the switch. But I would love to see Quark 7 bring the company back to its former competitive state.
Remember that part of desiging a job is actually making it print like it’s supposed to. Quark has always been good at print production. Don’t forget that InDesign’s initial product made files that were virtually unprintable.
I hope both Quark 7 and ID2 will turn out to be products that both creatives and production professionals will be able to love.
So far I’m impressed with what Quark has FINALLY come out with. And I’m not from India.
SB
That is very true. Do expect some articles about this in the very near future, and also about how QuarkXPress 7 deals with importing and creating PDFs, PSDs, et al. And of course feel free to make any additional suggestions or comments about this.
I’m glad to see that Quark is getting back in the ballgame. I am an old time QXP user (4 & 6). However, about four years ago I transitioned to a PC platform due to some specialized software needs that did not work on Mac’s. Cost was a major factor. We could not afford to buy Mac and PC versions of Adobe Creative Suite. We reluctantly gave ID a try and fell in love. We did have to shop some printers as about 60-70% of the printers did not accept ID files. We kept a Mac around to keep Quark on but it was a pain. Today, I would estimate in our area, 90% of the printers take ID files. (I think they quickly wised up and realized they were losing clients).
As a designer, I NEED Photoshop and I NEED Illustrator. With the Creative Suite, I almost get ID for free. Very hard to justify buying a product that does duplicate duty.
That said, prior to 7, there was no question for me and probably many other small shops where cost was a major factor. ID was the way to go. Now with QXP, we may have to rethink our stance. I personally feel that it caught up to ID and exceeded it in some regards. Just not sure if the cost warrents the difference. Gotta love competition.
David,
As you said yourself the cost of QXP has been traditionnaly higher than ID’s, which you almost get for free with Adobe Creative Suite. I think QXP 7 arrived a bit late, as I said many times to other people from the first moment I heard Quark was going to get out version 7 of their layout app.
Even if QuarkXPress 7 would cost as, or less than, InDesign, it’s still just one product; even if it caught up with InDesign features wise I wouldn’t buy it, because I’d still get more with CS2.
I personally think Quark is on a superior long-term track than Adobe, current version notwithstanding. Here’s why:
1. DOM document model will make Quark docs forward and backward compatible in perpetuity. Quark is now into OPEN standards, not proprietary control-freak standards like Adobe makes its money on.
2. Color-based transparency (as opposed to object based like ID) is much cooler way to design
3. Non-destructive image editing is the future..one file many outputs…replaces 90% of what you need Photoshop for.
4. Collaboration….hello it’s the age of Instant Message and Quark gets it and is adding it to DTP as a standard
5. Job Jackets are Flight Check on steroids for whole books or campaigns…and JDF based
6. 1 palette does the job of 11 in Indesign
7. Multi layout projects with synchronized content
8. Hundreds of killer XT’s available for every purpose under the sun…compared to the few lame ones for ID
9. Universal Binary lead means a lead for several years to come as Adobe solves its nightmares of conversion for CS and Macromedia…customers will pay with bugs and glitches in “proprietary format world”
10. ALAP had some serious IP and it’s Quark’s now so if you need to get serious publishing done fast, I have a feeling like you’re going to want Quark 7 and 8.
Hi
Do you know hwo to turn off Colour Management, I need to get RGB out of Quark and it automatically converts them to CMYK.
Am running 6.5
Regards
john
For Mac OS: QuarkXPress > Preferences > Colour Management.
For Windows: Edit > Preferences > Colour Management.
However just importing an image in QuarkXPress doesn’t make it CMYK and colour management doesn’t convert colour spaces, it just makes sure that colours in images match throughout different devices, such as the computer screen, the scanner and the printer for example.
What are you trying to do exactly? Are you trying to make a PDF?
I hope Quark is successful. Adobe is the new monopoly and good competition helps keep everyone honest and innovating.
Well, afer many years of suffer, I finally found perfect program for DTP and that is InDesign.
Well from first hand, I can tell you our marketing department unfortunately is stuck in Quark Hell. We are having to stick with Quark which makes me sad, I used to love working in InDesign at my previous employment. We recently upgraded to Quark 7 and it has been nothing but a disaster for everyone here. Crashes, font problems, image problems, linking problems, the list could go on for quite some time. All of these files used to work in 6 now are mysteriously hexed!! Beware of the upgrade!!!!
Hello, could you please tell me how to save a file
from Quark 7 to open in Quark 5 or 6 and make it editabe. thankx
Mario,
You can downsave in for 6 only not for 5, go to file > export layout as a projects ………there is a option for version, u can choose 6 or 7
hope ur problem resolved.