Quark, InDesign, or PM 7.0? 1

[hohriver]

I am deliberating purchase of new prepress layout software for print publication(s), and am trying to decide between Quark Xpress, or Adobe's InDesign or Pagemaker 7.0.

I currently run Pagemaker 6.5 on Windows ME edition, but frequently encounter odd problems with the Distiller. I've tried to circumvent this by upgrading to Acrobat 5.0, but this doesn't always provide the workaround. I am tired of these 'last minute' glitches.

InDesign, on the other hand, seems to lack the capacity to output saddle-stitched, or back-to-back pages. This is / was one of the greatest features of Pagemaker, IMHO, and I can hardly believe it's been left out of InDesign.

Quark I know very little about. I have used it on a very superficial level a few times, and it seems to be very robust and accomodate the layout process well. It is expensive ( by my standards), though, and I want to be sure I choose wisely.

My primary use for whichever tool I decide upon will be to prepare books and chapbooks for publication by a literary press.

Can anyone skilled on these tools please offer me their insights or opinions?

 

[kagran]

I use Quark - based on the reommendation of friends who work in printing. One only uses InDesign if the customer supples work created in that program.
You could ask steve@snowdragon.co.uk for his opinion.

 

[Zelandakh]

Pagemaker is fair, InDesign is still too new to be accepted everywhere. Quark is the defacto standard.

That is why is costs what it does.

 

[BVStaples]

Ah the choices we have to make. Each tool has it pluses and minues, and it's best to determine your exact needs (both short and long term) before investing.

I myself own QXP and PM, and use both, depending on my need. I have demo'd InDesign, but am not ready to make the transition, or add it to my toolset. It sitll lacks enough to keep it from being a major player in the publishing arena.

Quark is the defacto for the industry, not because it's necessarily the best, but because they established themselves as such early in the game. PageMaker is the innovator, and for years was the only choice.

For tightest design control, Quark is the one to go with. You can do more with the elements than the other programs, and it has Bezier curve functionality, which is key if you do a lot of graphically oriented design (likes ads, brochures, sell sheets). Where it lacks is in long publication ability. If you do books (about 50% of what I do), you will find its text import capabilities limited and other functionality also limited. For instance, if you do publications with heavy indices, then Quark chokes, even with third party extensions.

For longer publication work, PageMaker is better. It handles text importation and updating better, and its TOC and indexing features alone make it more useful than QXP. It is also (IMHO) better at handling typographic convention. I like the type that comes from PageMaker better than QXP. PageMaker is also better at handling direct placement of files from Illustrator and PhotoShop than QXP, if you do a lot of work in these applications.

 

[GeorgeMack]

As a graphic designer, I have been using Quark for all my design work since I stepped over from Pagemaker 3-5. It gives me tight control over text and graphics, with most features (except tables) that I have any need for. New versions of Pagemaker may address some of the limits I had felt, but I haven't felt the need to go back.

On the Mac, it is also superbly programmable via AppleScript (or Frontier, if you use that). For example, a Chapter of a book that otherwise would have taken meabout 30 minutes to lay out can be produced on the fly via script in a minute or two, aside from the script development time. For repeating jobs, series jobs, or publications such as TVGuide, magazines and newspapers this feature saves time, and therefor money. The possibilities of linking page layout with databases continue to expand as people find new things to do with them.

For non-repeating jobs, I have task scripts that, for example, handle bulleting or paragraph numbering, or building a business reply card with similar time-savings.

I understand that InDesign is also very scriptable, but I haven't seen enough clear benefit to add that to my repetory of Programs.

 

[MustangManny]

My vote is for Quark. All-around and as simple or as complex as you need it to be.