Opinion of Quark 8

[kasperheim]

I have one (ONE) client that LOVES Quark. My client has upgraded to Quark 8 and is constantly trying to convert me.... I however am in love with InDesign. I currently have Quark 7 on an iMac PPC. I have CS4 on my iMac Intel.... I'm curious to know the opinions of other prepress people regarding Quark 8. Does it even come close to InDesign in efficiency?

Thanks in advance to any and all!

[buckeye]

If it means losing said customer, then by all means upgrade. Make sure it's Quark 8.1 as it will allow you to handle transparency - to a certain degree. That being said, it's still not in InDesign's class.

[Screamingbeaver]

Hello... QuarkXPress 8.1, can be as efficient or more depending on other aspects of your workflow... be sure to check out an overview over at QuarkXPress 8: Desktop Publishing Software - Page Layout Software feel free to drop any specific questions. I'll do my best to provide feedback...

[almaink]

I stopped designing with Quark completely when Quark 6.1 came out. Since Quark is stilled a postscript based application, even tho it now exports native transparency, it still can't import transparency so IMO it's a dated application that is only good for non transparency work. Can't that one customer that uses it send PDF's so you don't have to spend money to support one customer?

[wonderings]

We used to do everything in Quark, like most I am sure. Now, its a dusty app on my dock. From time to time I go into Quark for old repeat jobs that were all set in quark, but I never set anything in quark anymore. It does work, but for me, it doesn't come close to Indesign in anyway. I think all but one or two of our customers have switched to InDesign from Quark. Now just need to get rid of the few who use Corel.

[162Lehi09]

yes! in a heartbeat.

[Shawn]

You've got to support what you're clients are using. Quark 8.1 isn't bad, it's still not as robust as InDesign, but it's been more stable than 6 or 7 for us. If Quark had put all the features of Quark 8.1 into Quark 6 they may not have lost so much market share to InDesign.

The native transparency output has been a big help for us on certain jobs. Quark 7 has been nothing but trouble in that respect. Now if they could get get native transparency INPUT into Quark from PDF or Illustrator we'd be all set.

I'm still going to use InDesign primarily, but it's nice to see a semblance of competition in the design space to keep both Quark and Adobe on their toes.

Shawn

[Hopkins Printing]

Now if they could get get native transparency INPUT into Quark from PDF or Illustrator we'd be all set.

Amen to that!

Cheers,
Jon Morgan
Hopkins Printing

[John W]

Quark is still number one worldwide. InDesign rules in North America. Many studies comparing both are out there for reading and without a doubt, Quark is better in more areas of work than InDesign. IMO, Quark is a better company towards print than Adobe. Just look at their releases below. Adobe gives a very short generalized statement while Quark gives a more specific comment:

WHAT'S NEW (Indd)
Version 6.0.4:
• provides key fixes in the areas of Printing, Exporting, Text handling, Spell check performance, Links performance, Graphic handling and others.

WHAT'S NEW (Quark)
Version 8.12:
• This update improves PDF output capabilities and introduces features that make the page-layout process even more intuitive and productive.
• QuarkXPress 8.1 introduces a 'Native Transparency' mode for creating PDFs which can offer designers faster and more flexible PDF output support and provide greater control over their PDF workflow process.
• This release also renovates spell checking, adds the ability to paste text without formatting, and improves productivity with Scale functionality.
• QuarkXPress 8.1 also fine tunes Usability and Item Styles.
• In addition, it can help prevent errors by reporting faux font styles such as bold or italic.
• This version readies QuarkXPress for Snow Leopard and Windows 7 compatibility.

Quark actually makes better pdfs than InDD! And it's compatibility with Acrobat is also superior now.

We use InDesign (about 10-15%) and Quark (85-90%) because it works for us better that way. And don't get me started on table editing small areas of a large complex table such as at the back of a car brochure. Indd can be a nightmare (parameters must be rewritten) while Quark is simple and straight forward (single items are editable).

So please stop bashing either software. The best answer above was use whatever your client uses.

John W

[Arthaven]

Quark XPress 8 is a nice upgrade over previous versions but it still doesn't touch InDesign IMO. I think the XPress lovers out there just haven't stepped over the fence to equally learn InDesign as well. The only feature that I personally truly love that InDesign doesn't have is the project feature with multiple sizes in one document. Seems like I'm the only person that even uses that feature. :/

OP, is requesting high-res PDF files an option? If you the customer is that important you pretty much have to upgrade or start up some dialogue with the customer as to why you will no longer be supporting the program.

EDIT:
You probably should just upgrade since you are still have an upgrade path. You won't have to fork out the full version price.