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QuarkXPress

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QuarkXPress is a page layout application for Mac OS X and Windows, produced by Quark, Inc. The first version was released in 1987. XTensions technology, which allows developers to create custom software add-ons for Quark products, was introduced in 1989. QuarkXPress Passport is QuarkXPress with the added ability to handle multiple language documents.

Although there are similar desktop publishing applications for the home and small office market, such as Adobe PageMaker, CorelDRAW and Microsoft Publisher, QuarkXPress has long been the dominant application for professional page layout. Adobe InDesign – launched as a direct competitor – was slow to gather speed, but outsold QuarkXPress in 2002 as Quark had not yet released a Mac OS X-native version of XPress.

QuarkXPress' current installed base is still larger than that of InDesign, though this does not reflect actual number of users or current sales.

Contents

History

Quark Inc. was founded in 1981 in Denver by Tim Gill and first released word processing software for the Apple II and Apple III. Later Fred Ebrahimi joined Quark Inc. as CEO and president. Gill left the company in October 2000 and Ebrahimi, though still a member of the Board, resigned as CEO and president in 2004.

After releasing QuarkXPress version 3.3, Quark has a history of releasing relatively infrequent new versions and pricing them at a high level. This – combined with public perception of former CEO Fred Ebrahimi's attitude towards the company's customers – has resulted in a strong negative feeling among many of Quark's customers. The release of QuarkXPress 5 led to a row with Apple who threatened to no longer endorse Quark Products, as version 5 still did not support Mac OS X.

Recently, Quark has changed its pricing levels and has been releasing more frequent updates (QuarkXPress 6.5 was free to 6.x users). Former CEO Kamar Aulakh has stated that customer service improvements have been Quark's number one priority.

Features

QuarkXPress is a drag-and-drop WYSIWYG page layout program. It handles text and graphics as different objects (text boxes and image boxes). Both types of boxes can be reshaped and layered in quite complex ways, and in varying levels of transparency and run-around. Quark has two distinct operating modes: text (most actions are within a text box and affect text layout) and move (box positioning and box characteristics). The two modes allow access to different menu-options and alter the actions of keyboard shortcuts. The software allows both box positioning and graphic or text positioning within a box with an accuracy of one-thousandth of an inch. Color control allows the full-use of printing-press standard Pantone inks, along with a variety of other color-space options. Draft ouput can be printed on conventional desktop printers. For printing-press purposes CMYK separated films can be produced with relative ease.

Since version 6.0, QuarkXPress offers layout synchronization, multiple undo/redo functionality, XML and web page HTML features, and support for direct PDF output. Version 6.5, released at the end of 2004, surprisingly took the lead in support for the Photoshop format (PSD) and positioned QuarkXPress as the only layout tool with true integrated image editing capabilities. This led to Quark receiving a number of awards, such as the Macworld Editor's Choice for 2004.

Version 7 adds support for OpenType, Unicode, JDF and also PDF/X-export. QuarkXPress 7 also adds native transparency at the color level.

Quark 7's Composition Zones feature makes it the only layout application with multi-user capabilities by allowing multiple users to edit different zones within one layout. The feature set is rounded off with capabilities to flight-check within the application based on user-defined rules, output specs and layout specs (in Job Jackets).

QuarkXPress 7 is available for Mac OS X 10.4 and higher and Windows XP. The Mac version is still a PowerPC binary; however, Quark has already posted a universal binary beta online to test native support of new Intel-based Macs. The company plans to release the universal binary version during the summer of 2006 as a free update. [link]

Version history

See also

External links

Comparisons with InDesign: QuarkXPress Tutorials:

 

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