QuarkXPress 9.0 on Windows 7 |
|
| Developer(s) | Quark, Inc. |
| Initial release | 1987 |
| Stable release | 9.1 (2011-09-01) [±] |
| Operating system | Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows |
| Available in | multilingual |
| Type | Desktop publishing |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | QuarkXPress |
QuarkXPress ("Quark") is a computer application for creating and editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) environment. It runs on Mac OS X and Windows. It was first released by Quark, Inc. in 1987 and is still owned and published by them.
The most recent version, QuarkXPress 9, allows publishing in English ("International and U.S."[1]) and 36 other languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, German, Korean, Russian, French, and Spanish.[2]
QuarkXPress is used by individual designers and large publishing houses to produce a variety of layouts, from single-page flyers to the multi-media projects required for magazines, newspapers, catalogs, and the like. QuarkXPress once dominated the market for page layout software with over 95% market share among professional users. While one publisher estimates that share has fallen to below 25% and Adobe InDesign is now the market leader, QuarkXPress still has significant marketshare.[3] There are open source competitors in the page layout space, the most notable of which is Scribus.
Contents |
Quark Inc. was founded in 1981 by Tim Gill (born October 18, 1953), an American computer software entrepreneur and LGBT rights activist, with a $2,000 loan from his parents. Gill announced in 2000 that he sold his 50% interest in Quark, Inc., citing his growing involvement in his philanthropic and activist endeavors. The first version of QuarkXPress was released in 1987 for the Macintosh. A Microsoft Windows version followed in 1992. In the 1990s, QuarkXPress quickly became widely used by professional page designers, the typesetting industry and printers. In particular, the Mac version of 3.3 (released in 1996) was seen as stable and trouble-free, working seamlessly with Adobe's PostScript fonts as well as with Apple's TrueType fonts.
Early on, QuarkXPress incorporated an application programming interface called XTensions which allows third-party developers to create custom add-on features to the desktop application. Introduced in 1989, Xtensions, along with Apple Computer's HyperCard, were among the first examples of a developer allowing others to create software add-ons for their application.
Having gained a marketshare of approximately 90% in the 1990s, Quark attempted a hostile buyout of Adobe in 1998, which was rebuffed.[4] That action, as well as criticism that Quark had overly long innovation cycles and was too expensive, encouraged Adobe to launch InDesign in 1999.
The release of QuarkXPress version 5 in 2002 led to a conflict with Apple's user base, as Quark did not support Mac OS X, while InDesign 2.0, launched in the same week, did. At the same time the Quark CEO Fred Ebrahimi exclaimed that "the Macintosh platform is shrinking," and suggested that anyone dissatisfied with Quark's Mac commitment should "switch to something else."[5]
Quark started to lower its pricing levels in 2004. In December 2006, Quark licensed the Windows version of QuarkXPress 5 to be distributed free of charge on the cover of a UK computer magazine, Computer Shopper, with the idea of enticing consumers to upgrade to later versions.
Having arrived late with a Mac OS X version, Quark took a different approach to porting to Intel-native applications on Mac (Universal Binary), and released its Universal Binary version 10 months before Adobe ported InDesign.[6]
In addition to the basic functionality of font, alignment, spacing, and color, the package also provides its users with professional typesetting options like kerning, curving text along a line, and ligatures.
A QuarkXPress document contains text and graphics boxes. The boxes can be reshaped, layered, and given varying levels of transparency and text alignment (runaround).[7] Both box positioning and graphic or text positioning is allowed within a box with an accuracy of one-thousandth of an inch.
Color control allows the full-use of printing-press standard Pantone or Hexachrome inks, along with a variety of other color-space options. Draft output can be printed on conventional desktop printers. Process color (CMYK) separation films can be produced for printing-presses. QuarkXPress also offers the ability for composite work-flows, both with PostScript and PDF output.
QuarkXPress offers layout synchronization, multiple undo/redo functionality, XML and web page (HTML/XHTML) features, and support for direct PDF import and output. Documents can be verified (pre-flight) before printing. This high-level print preview automatically identifies conflicts and other printing problems. Since then Adobe has implemented a similar feature in InDesign CS4.
Composition zones feature makes it the only desktop application with multi-user capabilities by allowing multiple users to edit different zones on the same page. Composition Zones pushes collaboration a step further than just simultaneous text/picture (as possible with QuarkCopyDesk since 1991), as it allows layout and graphic elements to be edited outside the layout application.
User-defined rules, output specs and layout specs can be used for intelligent templates and enable resource sharing (for example, server-based style sheet definitions).
Version 6.5, released at the end of 2004, added enhanced support for the Photoshop format (PSD). The PSD integration and picture manipulation features led to QuarkXPress receiving a number of awards, such as the Macworld Editor's Choice for 2004.
Version 7 added support for OpenType, Unicode, JDF and also PDF/X-export. QuarkXPress 7 also added unique features, such as native transparency at the color level.
QuarkXPress 8 introduced a completely new user interface, support for drag and drop, PDF 1.7 import, AI Import and a global file format. Design grids can be assigned to pages and boxes to allow unlimited baseline grids. Hanging characters can be applied and customized by character and amount to hang outside the box. This is the first version to include built-in Adobe Flash authoring. Designers can create Flash content including sound, video, animation and interactivity without programming. QuarkXPress 8 is available for Mac OS X v10.4 ("Tiger"), Mac OS X v10.5 ("Leopard"), Mac OS X v10.6 ("Snow Leopard"), Windows XP SP2, Windows Vista and Windows 7, 32 and 64 Bit. The Mac version is a universal binary which runs natively on PPC- and Intel-based Macs. In October 2008, QuarkXPress 8 won the MacUser Award for Print Publishing Software of the Year.[8]
In the beginning of 2003 Quark released a server version of QuarkXPress,[9] called QuarkDDS. This enables page editing and page layout in a web browser. QuarkXPress Server is often used for web-to-print in corporate intranets to enable customization and ordering of printed materials, advertising automation workflows in advertising agencies, catalog generation for retailers and variable digital printing for personalized marketing. It enables companies to print copies digitally when they need them, often with customized content. The system relies on XML. The server is often embedded in print on demand software.
In 2006 Quark renamed QuarkDDS to "QuarkXPress Server".[10]
Newsletters:
Conversion tools with InDesign:
QuarkXPress Tutorials:
XTensions for QuarkXPress
|
|||||||||||||||||