Hello Dan Logan, Matthias Guenther and other employees of Quark Inc.!
I am the great admirer and true user QuarkXPress some years.
More recently I sent you the offer on improvement QuarkXPress (particularly: change possibility increment on which objects are displaced at work with the keyboard). A bit later I even have sent the illustrated description of the offer.
I want your understanding that I operate in interests of thousand users QuarkXPress. Therefore now I wish to offer you one more small, but the important improvement.
In editorial work it is necessary for designers, journalists and editors to be constantly informed on text volumes. How many the text in boxing? How many the text on page? These questions arise at me and at many my colleagues of many times daily.
Until recently for QuarkXPress there was Text Count xtension (company DTP Tools manufacture, see http://www.dtptools.com/product.asp?id=tcqx ). It added to the program a palette with the counter of symbols (symbols with spaces, without spaces, words, lines, paragraphs). It was good, but blase the data the palette. As far as I know, in Europe and Russia the text measure by number of symbols with spaces, and in the USA and Canada — words or lines. In my opinion, the rest was excessive and justified only that Text Count xtension was paid. But for 7 and 8 versions QuarkXPress it any more is not issued.
If the text (as in newspapers and magazines) occupies ten boxes, it occupies a lot of time. But to refuse calculations it is impossible is it is necessary both for editors, and for accounts department. And even for journalists who need to know, how many the text to reduce or how many the text to add. It is necessary for designers to understand, what volume is not included into the taken away space. Such statistics is necessary to all.
But now I and thousand my colleagues consider text volumes hardly. I copy the text in QuarkXPress and I insert it into document MS Office/Open Office. And only there I learn statistics.
I consider that this thing can be simplified cardinally, having made the information on text volumes accessible directly in QuarkXPress (as at InDesign and even at PageMaker such information was accessible always).
Please, look at this scheme:
I offer on an measurement palette under the list of fonts to use an empty place (it was released from QuarkXPress 8). It is necessary to shift a little more to the right of button "B", "I" and "f". The Vacant place on the right can be used for informing on text volumes.
For example: Сhrs 10767, Wrds 8760, Lns 567 (characters with spaces, words and lines accordingly).
It can be the counter in real time which is updated during text updating.
In case the text part is selected, I suggest the counter to take in square brackets: [ and ].
And if text more than places in boxing, I suggest to add in the end of the counter dots, and the information to show only for the held text.
If to complicate, on click on dots it is possible to show volumes of the text which has not entered into boxing (but then it is necessary not to finish the counter dots and to begin with dots). On the second click on dots the counter comes back to an initial kind.
I have tried to describe the idea in detail. But in my opinion, it is simple performed by and very much will help users with daily work.
Please, think over such simple improvement. Probably, realised differently instead of how I have described. It will be really big help for me and many-many my colleagues.
Dan, Matthias, please, respond, whether it will be possible to realise this idea and that you think about it.
I thank.