Quark 5.0 finally, bl**dy quark

[grouse]

From MacUser (UK)...

"US only Quark 5 announced - for classic OS
Quark has finally announced the US release of QuarkXPress 5.0, more than a year after the first review of the application - albeit in beta form - appeared in MacUser."

I'm flabberghasted! Not for Europe yet, could be months, not for OS X, not got that much except Layers, Tables, and web integrated stuff, which will be way behind the dedicated web packages, and almost certainly much poorer .pdf support than Adobe's own Indesign 2.0 (which is carbonized)

Time to switch?

Can people tell me if InDesign 2.0 is now really a quark killer application and whether Quark's days are now numbered?

 

[jayscheuerle]

Kill the Quark!!

I've played with ID2 & thoroughly enjoyed it. The layer transparency effects, soft alpha channel support for photoshop images and color-correct previews all make it more worthy than Quark for bringing your designs to the next level without having to leave the program. If service bureaus, print houses and publications would step up & more readlily accept ID2, I'd be very happy to switch.

 

[zim]

quark. thats a funny word. i recently found a printer that will be able to accept id2 files so bye bye quark.. well not for good because i find that id does a poor job at importing quark files so quark will never completely go away. i waited and waited for quark but they consistently let me down. we had version 3.1 for how many years? and then 4... operating systems change faster then quark gets around to updating.

 

[grouse]

let's try and encourage...

....a hatful of posts here, tell your friends, and then we'll email the thread id to Quark HQ. Too little, too late, much as we love the speed and leaness of Xpress, and we need other people in the game to keep Adobe on their toes (Photoshop for OS X, has no real competitors that's why it's late!).

 

[jayscheuerle]

Quark revisions

I get the feeling that Quark is a one-man company, with the owner/programmer pounding out the next revisions code after working at a service bureau all day....

 

[eyelikeart]

Quark & InDesign

Quark's been the industry leader for a while now...

I think it's still going to be hard to pry people of what they have gotten used to....people are often creatures of habit....

I haven't used InDesign up to date.....I heard InDesign 1 was terrible.....but 2 is supposed to be pretty nice I hear....

 

[eyelikeart]

also...

I've had a copy of Quark 5 for a little while now.....not even sure if it's beta or what since I haven't even launched it.....has anyone used it yet and are impressed?

 

[jayscheuerle]

Re: also...

Originally posted by eyelikeart
I've had a copy of Quark 5 for a little while now.....not even sure if it's beta or what since I haven't even launched it.....has anyone used it yet and are impressed?

I used the beta for about 5 minutes. They implemented some web-specific changes & a poor-man's version of layers.

 

[Quark]

No relation

Just to let everyone know, my name "Quark" is not related in any way to the software program Quark.

I'm from DS9 and I own a bar... get it?

Humans, ha!

By the way, is Quark (the software program) kinda bloated and Microsoft-like? I've used it a couple of times, but I am no expert.

Still, would be nice to have a leaner-meaner OS X version.

 

[grouse]

and the beta was North American only!

So even if they wanted us Europeans, Asians, Antipodeans, Africans, South Americans, to make comments, we couldn't.

I'm agreeing with the one man in a small potting shed arguement.

I guess it's in a field in Denver, CO and what can you americans tell me about Denver anyhow?

 

[OSeXy!]

ID v Quark

The only thing that keeps Quark in business is that ID mashes Quark documents instead of 'importing' them (so the amount of work required to migrate existing files/archives is prohibitive) and people have got used to Quark shortcut keys.

But: because most people who use Quark also use Photoshop and Illustrator, once you've used ID for awhile it is PAINFUL to go back to Quark, because you get so used to being able to 'jump' directly to the other Adobe apps and use the same (more or less) interface, shortcuts, command logic, etc... Not that one should mistake efficiency for goodness: Quark once showed how to do things -- in fact it was the only way to do some things. But things do change after a decade! And I think Quark's days are numbered.

 

[grouse]

-quark

One think quark ain't is bloated. It is utterly un-microsoft-like and retains all the simplicity of OS 7.5, unfortunately, the world's moved on and Quark hasn't!

 

[Falleron]

Quark OSX is coming soon!

http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0201/24.quarkosx.php

 

[eyelikeart]

Quark's pretty un-bloated...if that's a word....

it's a pretty stable program, except for when it comes to extensions.... ugh

 

[grouse]

-falleron

<<Turpin also told MacCentral that Quark had not yet determined what the upgrade path will be for QuarkXpress 5 buyers who want to migrate to the OS X version once it's released. "I think we're going to include new features, as well," said Turpin.

Quark isn't yet offering a specific timetable for when the Mac OS X version of QuarkXpress 5 will debut, noting that as a general rule, his company doesn't offer release schedules. "We're taking a very aggressive development cycle. We want to accelerate the development of QuarkXpress for Mac OS X as much as possible," Turpin said. >>

I'm not sure how this translates as soon. I seem to remember the beta of QE5 being released with the promise of the real version "shortly". It took a year!

Are they really such a small company that they can't do more than one thing at once? It makes me so cross, I have spent years training staff up on QuarkXpress and it's gonna be wasted I fear. I'm hearing very very good reports on Indesign 2.0, the first version to be up to it (I agree earlier versions were very poor!)

 

[BiG™]

Quarks death march?

For years now I've been supporting designers and the Macs they use. And I have always hated dealing with Quark, they have horrible customer support, their .0 releases of software always look like beta's, full of bugs and glitches, and their bug fixes take ages. When InDesign came out, I jumped around in joy. Customizable keyboard shortcuts to map them to Quarks...quark importing?!!? Why would a designer not want to switch? Well, InDesign 1.0 wasn't much better than Quark 4.0. And designers are people of habit, they work on crazy deadlines and hate having to risk anything due to their software letting them down. That will be Adobe's biggest hurdle is convincing designers to switch. Since the release of InDesign 1.5, they've convinced me. The other think, carbonizing Quark 5? And not releasing it right away? They should have either released a carbonized version immediately, or waited and released a Cocoa version. Anyway, hopefully this will be their death march as we see a shift in program choices.

 

[Hemingray]

Congratulations, Quark! You finally incorporated PLATINUM into your appearance! Good job! And it's only taken a few years...

I'll bet they STILL don't use NavigationServices. Nevermind the fact that OS 9 is currently being phased out...

...oh Quark, oh Quark...

R.I.P.

 

[Digidesign]

My complaints with QuarkXpress 4.11:

- no keyboard shortcuts for common tools. InDesign (ID) at least has Adobe's standard 'T' - Text, 'V' - Selector, etc. It's so un-intuitive to have to click on the different buttons everytime you switch tools.

- I like Adobe's zoom + pan sequences much better.

- I like Adobe's path system much better, ala Illustrator's pen system.

- ID's ability to export to PDF with ease and options. Quark's export abilities are zilch without expensive filters.

- Adobe's text rendering is far superior during layout over Quark's non anti-aliasing previews.

- Choosing and organizing colors in Quark is hell. InDesign at least incorporates the more intuitive photoshop color picker system. (no HSB, though)

- InDesign has a good ability to manage links, or embedded material in the documents. Quark has no such system.

I could go on and on, but let's just say bottom line is that if you like Adobe's system and approach, then you'll be much happier with InDesign than Quark. Unfortunately....(and this is a big one), Quark is a standard that is far from over. In many cases, InDesign file submission is not even an option.

 

[palala]

uggggghhhh

I tried out Quark 5 and was very unimpressed. Practiacally nothing has changed. Quark has been a powerful program, and brought us into a Desktop publishing age, but it stays there. I wish printing houses would get up to date and support ID. I don't know that ID is the ultimate program for Desktop publishing, but I know that Quark is not anymore. If nothing else, I had hoped that ID would make the people at Quark re-design Quark into something great, or maybe get them to release a new version every once in a while. Man they piss me off.

 

[Onyxx]

the death of a legend

sound the taps

I abandoned quark with Indesign 1.5.
it just "felt" more like what i should be working as well as its great compatibility with photoshop, illustrator, etc.
screw quark, they've been screwing us for years.

 

[Hemingray]

You play taps, I'll ring the death knell. Anyone here wanna dig the grave?

....oh wait, look! Quark's digging it for us!

 

[Digidesign]

Once it's dug, let me know. I'll pi$$ all over it!

damn quark....grrr

 

[greenplasticcup]

wow, you guys have a lot of bent up angst.

denver is a great town. visit sometime.

i used to drive by quark's office on the way to work every day. A building with no signs on it at all, aside from 1800 Grant St.

kind of creepy.

 

[grouse]

I wonder if

Quark should feature in an all-star remake of

"things to do in denver when you're dead"

Andy Garcia and group of hoodlums, team up to bury the festering carcus of Quark inc.

The evil Indie Zion, played by Christopher Walken, bankrolls the team and in a strange twist ends up as the Hero.

Aging love interest for Zion is played by screen veteran Maggie Smith as Page M. Aker.

 

[kuti]

can I mix different spot colors into one multi-ink color in ID 2.0 ?
anybody knows?
when it's possible, i will happily switch to ID