Inside Digital Design - Product Profile: QuarkXPress 8

Product Review: QuarkXPress 8

Posted by Scott On June - 7 - 2008

DownloadClick Play to Load Audio and Listen NOW!

Industry Analysts and Quark Beta Testers, Gene Gable and Jay Nelson join Scott Sheppard for a lively discussion on the “state of the world” of Quark, an update on the many organization changes, and share their first-hand experiences beta testing the features of the new version of QuarkXPress® 8.

Jay Nelson, Publisher of Design Tools Monthly and Host of the Design Tools Weekly Podcast, has been actively involved with Quark for many years and has seen the impact of many “hidden” features that were introduced in QuarkXPress® 7. As some of these features have matured in this version, Gene and Jay point out that now many of the new functionality brings these tools to the designer with subtle changes to the interface.

Many designers have been using QuarkXPress® for years and have fallen into a routine of workflow habits rather than take the time to better understand how the program’s updates could save time and make them more efficient. Some QuarkXPress® users have made the transition to Adobe InDesign and are very happy having done so. Jay explains solid points on why designers should give QuarkXPress® 8 a thorough testing including the ability to maintain full compatibility with the “millions” of pre-existing QuarkXPress legacy files and the inclusion of multi-language support. Jay also shares some tips on how easily QuarkXPress® 8 can take your designs to multiple platforms, including print and web without having to learn the intricacies of new applications such as Flash and Dreamweaver.

Their conclusion is that QuarkXPress® as a design application is here to stay and competition among the leading layout applications is healthy and can only continue to promise time saving features and functionality for designers who are willing to take the time to learn about them and try them in their projects.