Quark Forums

I'm not sure if sofa threads is the correct place for that subject.

After working in QuarkXpress for 20 years of my professional experience I finally pick up the decision. I will change to another DTP software. Me and my team. I hope You have different experience with latest versions of Quark than me. Good for You. If it will be possible I will trade 7.5 for version 3 or 4, which were stable and reliable tools for serious work. I hope, that I don't spoil your coffee break.

Regards

Could I ask why you are changing after 20 years of use with quarkxpress?.

I'm too old to be a software gizmo freak. All shadows, beziers are not important for me. What is important, is to have solid and reliable workhorse. And sorry, but current (I mean 7 and 8) versions of Quark are not that kind of tools like 3, or 4. I know, that always are thousands of possible reasons, that I have that version of system that is not the best choice for this version of Quark, or Quick Time, or printer, or driver, or whatever else. I'm not any more interested in possible software conflicts and any IT explanations.

doktor:

I'm too old to be a software gizmo freak. All shadows, beziers are not important for me. What is important, is to have solid and reliable workhorse. And sorry, but current (I mean 7 and 8) versions of Quark are not that kind of tools like 3, or 4. I know, that always are thousands of possible reasons, that I have that version of system that is not the best choice for this version of Quark, or Quick Time, or printer, or driver, or whatever else. I'm not any more interested in possible software conflicts and any IT explanations.

 

That's fine. Just be aware that if you get any outside files that you will need to process (native files or PDF) you are probably not going to be able to do so with XPress 3 or 4.x.

As an example. I got an ID PDF with transparency a few years back. Had a spot color in it. My normal processing of the customer supplied PDF flattened the PDF which ruined the transparency of the spot color. I was forced to deal with this PDF in Indesign CS2. If the only thing I had then was XPress 4 we never would have got that ad on the press because XPress 4 didn't import PDF files until 2001 and only then with an XTension that was very limited in features. None of those features allowed for import of PDFs with transparency.

Just pointing this out. If you aren't going to be dealing with outside content then this shouldn't be a problem. Good luck to you.

Real bad example there eyoungren, as Quark 8 and I'm guessing Quark 9 still doesn't support import and export of PDF transparency . Yes you can import the transparency now, but it gets flattened when you export to PDF. So even with Quark 9 you still need InDesign if you want to import and export that PDF and keep the transparency live. Until Quark lets you export all transparency, not just native, it's not complete nor worth buying IMO.

 

almaink:

Real bad example there eyoungren, as Quark 8 and I'm guessing Quark 9 still doesn't support import and export of PDF transparency . Yes you can import the transparency now, but it gets flattened when you export to PDF. So even with Quark 9 you still need InDesign if you want to import and export that PDF and keep the transparency live. Until Quark lets you export all transparency, not just native, it's not complete nor worth buying IMO.

You know what almaink? You're right. Bad example.

doktor:

I'm too old to be a software gizmo freak. All shadows, beziers are not important for me. What is important, is to have solid and reliable workhorse. And sorry, but current (I mean 7 and 8) versions of Quark are not that kind of tools like 3, or 4. I know, that always are thousands of possible reasons, that I have that version of system that is not the best choice for this version of Quark, or Quick Time, or printer, or driver, or whatever else. I'm not any more interested in possible software conflicts and any IT explanations.

If you have old hardware and an old operating system, it's not likely that any new program is going to run well on your machine. Even if you stuck with an old OS and used Quark 3 or 4, that doesn't mean you're not going to have issues eventually. Fonts get corrupted. Pictures get damaged. There could be any number of issues and they don't just happen to Quark users. It's the nature of working on a computer and doing graphic design in 2011. They're machines and tools and they sometimes malfunction. If you don't want to put the time and effort into dealing with these kinds of issues, then the least stress-inducing option is for you transition to a career that doesn't involve a computer. As long as hardware and software continue to evolve, there will eventually be conflicts. I'm using the same Quark 8 as everyone else and I don't have any stability issues.

almaink:

Until Quark lets you export all transparency, not just native, it's not complete nor worth buying IMO.

I completely disagree. If that feature is important to you and you need it for your workflow, then yes. It might not be worth buying for you. But that one criterion isn't enough for all people to measure the worth of an entire software program that has many different applications. Transparency issues have no bearing on my workflow at all, so I didn't even know that was a problem.

Personally, I find a huge value in Quark's HTML and interactive capabilities. I only started seriously playing with them a few months ago and I've already cranked out some cool stuff, if I do say so myself. I tried for YEARS to master DreamWeaver and Flash and it just wasn't clicking. Not that there is anything wrong with those programs. I just found them tough to master. When I realized I could do those same things in Quark, it took me less than two weeks to figure out how to build my first website. Within a few weeks of that, I was designing my own online interactive Flash portfolio and was able to replace PowerPoint for all of the presentations I had to create.

I now have two website jobs lined up that I never would have had if it wasn't for Quark and I'm cranking out HTML faster than some of my associates who are still struggling to figure out how to do the same things in Dreamweaver. I can't deny the value in that for me.

When Quark 9 comes out, I plan to figure out the iPad app thing and see where I can go with that, too. With or without any limitations it may have. I'm actually looking forward to it.

Quark may not do everything I want in the way I want, but I find that it can do a lot of cool things and do them well enough for me to totally reinvent my marketable skill set.

Welcome to the BEST day of your life! There is a reason why thousands of designers stopped using Quark and went to Adobe. Since software is just tools we use to make our livings, there's a point where you gotta look around. Without a doubt, the best move of my life was to jump to Indesign after Quark would not cross-grade my license when I mistakenly bought another seat license and clicked PC version instead of Mac. Quark wouldn't help and stuck me with it (no returns allowed) and it was the best day of my life. Our of frustration I bought Indesign, spent 1 week, and have since probably 10X my capacity to earn more and provide better designs to my clients. HUGE THANKS TO QUARK for sending me the middle finger. Go for it, jump ship and be prepared to get excitied about design again. I can offer you one tip too, that will quadruple your income, go to Itunes and search for "The Indesigner" video podcasts (they're free) and be prepared to be blown away.

Harrison Fjord:

Welcome to the BEST day of your life! There is a reason why thousands of designers stopped using Quark and went to Adobe. Since software is just tools we use to make our livings, there's a point where you gotta look around. Without a doubt, the best move of my life was to jump to Indesign after Quark would not cross-grade my license when I mistakenly bought another seat license and clicked PC version instead of Mac. Quark wouldn't help and stuck me with it (no returns allowed) and it was the best day of my life. Our of frustration I bought Indesign, spent 1 week, and have since probably 10X my capacity to earn more and provide better designs to my clients. HUGE THANKS TO QUARK for sending me the middle finger. Go for it, jump ship and be prepared to get excitied about design again. I can offer you one tip too, that will quadruple your income, go to Itunes and search for "The Indesigner" video podcasts (they're free) and be prepared to be blown away.

 

And yet…we still have the pleasure of your company here on the Quark forums.

If Harrison F has so much more work now, where does he find the time to post messages here?

 

shaun:

If Harrison F has so much more work now, where does he find the time to post messages here?

Well said. I know people who went to ID who used to be here on the forums. They aren't spending time here anymore.

eyoungren:

 

shaun:

If Harrison F has so much more work now, where does he find the time to post messages here?

Well said. I know people who went to ID who used to be here on the forums. They aren't spending time here anymore.

I'm also on InDesign for some works ;-) but my heart belongs to Quark. And I'm too old to to post on ID forums.

 My heart do not belongs to Quark or Adobe. Software is just a tool to do my work.  And I'm too old to be sentimental. If my tool is not is not suitable for my job is not a good tool. I'm working in print. Long time ago in old versions of Quark there were additional (external) module for hyphenation and typography in Polish language. To use it You have to buy it. Well, that was the money issue. With transition from version 4 to 5 this module starts to be unofficial and hyphenation was inside Quark.To make the long story short the old one was working good and the new one (in 7.5) is not correct. In addition the mechanism of hyphenation is now based on inserting invisible spaces inside words. It means that is unpossible to use the text from PDF generated by Quark, because you get in copied text with spaces everywhere. I even speak with guys from the company that have written the previous plug in. There is no way to correct hyphenation in quark

Harrison Fjord:

There is a reason why thousands of designers stopped using Quark and went to Adobe.

Yes. And that reason is because they were broke and thought they were getting InDesign for free with their Photoshop.

Harrison Fjord:

Since software is just tools we use to make our livings, there's a point where you gotta look around. Without a doubt, the best move of my life was to jump to Indesign after Quark would not cross-grade my license when I mistakenly bought another seat license and clicked PC version instead of Mac. Quark wouldn't help and stuck me with it (no returns allowed) and it was the best day of my life. Our of frustration I bought Indesign, spent 1 week, and have since probably 10X my capacity to earn more and provide better designs to my clients. HUGE THANKS TO QUARK for sending me the middle finger. Go for it, jump ship and be prepared to get excitied about design again. I can offer you one tip too, that will quadruple your income, go to Itunes and search for "The Indesigner" video podcasts (they're free) and be prepared to be blown away.

I have InDesign and just don't much care for it. Just like Quark, InDesign is not for everybody. I don't really see why people switch to InDesign and then become just as passionate about "converting" other Quark users as an atheist trying to get someone to stop believing in God. Why is it so hard for them to accept that some people are perfectly happy using Quark? We're not waiting to be converted or enlightened. We just like it because we do. Just the same way some people prefer working on a Mac to a PC. It's a shame that Quark did not work for some of you and that you had a bad customer service experience. But the program works great for me and I haven't had any issues with their customer service. If you're all so happy using InDesign, then great. That's wonderful for you. But is it really necessary for InDesign users to continually try to burst other people's bubble? You may be even more happier than you claim to be now if you can just accept the fact that some people like Quark and their reasons for it are just as justified as your reasons for liking InDesign.