Because QuarkXPress uses color-based opacity, it’s possible to create a blend that fades from a solid color to transparency, but blends are still limited to two colors. InDesign can apply different opacity to an object and then to an image, but not to the same level that QuarkXPress can. This is due to the application of opacity through color and content, rather than object. Only one object need be created in QuarkXPress 7. For example, if you want a text box with the text, stroke, and fill each set to a different opacity, you’d have to create three different objects in InDesign. Opacity support differs from InDesign’s in that each part of an item/object can be set to a different opacity. One of the major areas of improvements is with graphics, which now include opacity support (sometimes called transparency), Photoshop import (introduced in QuarkXPress 6), Picture Effects (also from version 6), and the ever-popular drop shadows. In some places it has jumped ahead in other places, it still lags behind. QuarkXPress has added or improved features that are similar to InDesign CS2. “Catch-up” features and overall improvements Other older unique features include direct HTML conversion, Tracking Edit, Kerning Edit, Font Mapping, and better TOC/Lists support. I didn’t have time to test this feature, but it certainly appears promising. In addition, new projects can be started from an existing Job Jacket.Īnother interesting feature is the support of PPML (Personalized Print Markup Language), an XML-based industry standard to allow the creation of customized output when printing to digital devices. Generally, the printer or production manager will supply the Job Jacket specs to designers. Job Jackets are based on the XML-based JDF (Job Definition Format) and allow the user to check the QuarkXPress project against a predetermined set of construction rules that can check items such as page size, improperly bolded or italicized fonts, style sheet use, and many other settings. This will likely be a big feature, especially with newspapers and magazines that have many different articles in the same layout.

Of course, you can break the link if desired. When an external zone is updated, all “links” to the zone are updated, too.

The shared content can be saved inside the file/project or exported as an external file. The process is surprisingly simple: select the objects and create a new Composition Zone under the Item menu. You can share parts of a layout or the entire layout itself. Of course, space and time doesn’t allow this review to be an all-inclusive comparison.Ĭomposition Zones, simply put, can allow multiple QuarkXPress users to work on the same document, or to import the same shared content into multiple documents. There could be some readers using Quark who get the magazine for the other Adobe content, so I’ll compare the features to InDesign’s when appropriate. Some areas still need improvement (I’ll discuss these areas later) and Quark will have to overcome the momentum of the Creative Suite pricing, but this version is a good start.īecause this is a magazine about Adobe software, most users will have some familiarity with InDesign’s features, so the focus will be on the new QuarkXPress features. If Quark keeps the updates/upgrades coming on a regular schedule, it may even regain some of the market share lost to InDesign. Plus, version 7 has a couple of very interesting, unique features not found in the current InDesign. While many of the new features are playing catch-up to InDesign CS2, which has been out for more than a year (I’ll mention some of those features later), they could be enough to stop current QuarkXPress users from thinking about switching. How does the new QuarkXPress compare to Adobe InDesign CS2?įirst, let me say I’m very impressed with QuarkXPress 7’s new features.

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