PageMaker, InDesign, or Quark?

[myatia]

Hi,

I'm a web designer about to undertake a new design project. My company is going to be putting out a series of 32-page magazine-like programs which will include the content that we provide and ads which will be submitted by various businesses. My question is this: what program should I use to create the programs?

I have the following concerns:

1. I have a fairly extensive background in PageMaker 6.5, so that would be easiest to hit the ground running with. However, I've also been using Illustrator for our one page ads, and I really like a lot of its features (especially its text capabilities). Will upgrading to PageMaker 7.0 make a big difference, or does InDesign bridge the gap more?

2. If I do go with InDesign, is it hard to pick up, given that one has experience with the rest of the Adobe suite? At the same time, if I go with Quark, would it be a horrible experience for me to try to learn it as I go?

3. I'm going to have people submitting ads in god only knows what format (the ad specs were sent out without anyone even asking me about it), and I want as much compatibility as possible.

4. I want to work with something printers can work with. Is InDesign commonplace now? Also, I'm working on a Windows machine, but a lot of printers have Macs. Are Quark, InDesign, and PageMaker all pretty compatible between the two OSs?

5. I've done a lot of ads and tickets and other print projects, but I'm not a print designer, and I don't know much, if anything, about prepress. Which program is best in this area?

I know this is a massive question and that there's no definitive answer; I would just like to get your opinions and any other info you can provide.

Thanks!

Misty

 

[jimoblak]

1) the only real gap with 6.5 and 7 is if you upgrade to WinXP. XP does not like 6.5. The feature set is similar but if you are accustomed to 6.5, you will see buttons rearranged.

Overheard at Adobe one late night between Marketing and R&D:
"Hey, even though we don't support PageMaker on the web site anymore, let's dress it up and issue 7.0 so people think it's still a viable product"

2) If you have never used Quark, stay away from it. Quark enjoys a legacy following. If you are not part of that legacy, there is not much reason to join it. InDesign picks up nicely from PM and you can more easily adapt than to Quark's methods.

3) If you are accepting ads, you may have some folks that submit Quark files. ID can open these but you may want to require submissions to be in EPS/PDF format only.

4)

http://partners.adobe.com/asn/partnerfinder/search_service.jsp

You can also export press-ready PDFs from InDesign. This is the growing trend since you package everything (fonts, graphics) in one package for your printer. I send many PDFs to a momNpop shop that cannot invest in InDesign. They use the freeware Acrobat Reader 5 to print flawlessly to their up-to-date RIP.

5) Quark 4 is most popular yet ID2 is best. go figure...


Make sure you ask these questions in the Quark forum to avoid bias.

- - picklefish - -