Using InDesign

Working with PSD files in Quark/InDesign

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 08:55:42 PDT

Quark heralds their PSD Import options as

"the best integration with Photoshop’s PSD file format of any layout tool available today."

Yes, you read that right. This appears in a free PDF on their website, QuarkXPress 8, Xperience Design. So, I thought I’d test the waters and it turns out that the statement is pretty accurate.

There are limitations to what Quark’s PSD import feature can handle so in the help files, there’s a section on preparing PSD files. The key thing is, don’t use any layer styles. If you do, you’ll get the following warning:

Quark will effectively flatten the file and you won’t have access to the layers if you include any effects. You can get around this by converting your effects into layers. Quark also recommends converting Shape layers to Smart Objects for maximum compatibility.

So what can you do with PSD files, once they are imported into Quark? You can turn layer visibility on and off and change the blending mode and opacity.

Unfortunately, you can’t change the order of the layers, add layer masks, or effects to them. However, you can view and work with Channels and Paths that are saved in the PSD file. For example, you might have a Spot Color channel in a file. Let’s say that you decide you want to change the spot color. You don’t have to go back to Photoshop to do that, just double click on the Spot Color channel and choose another color in the palette.

Any changes you make to the PSD file outside of Quark will be indicated by a Red circle in the lower right-hand corner of the PSD Import palette. You won’t need to go to the Usage dialog to update the file, just double click on the red circle.

InDesign has a feature called Object Layer Options for placed PSD files. There’s two things you can do with this, turn layer visibility on and off and choose a Layer Comp, if they are in the file. Here, again, you can’t change the order of the layers but more so, you can’t change the opacity or blending modes on the fly. You can’t get to the Channels or Paths, but InDesign does handle them. In the case of that Spot Channel, the color is added to the Swatches panel and Paths can be used in the Text Wrap panel.

So, as you can see, Quark does have a little bit of a leg up here on the PSD thing, with potentially less trips back to Photoshop for edits. Is it a tighter integration than InDesign? Hmmm. What are your thoughts?

The End of the Road for Quark

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 11:54:24 PDT

The desktop publishing software wars have been going on for about two decades now and there still isn't a clear winner. In fact, there are more tools to use now than ever before to get a project printed, including Apple's Pages, and Corel's CorelDRAW Graphics Suite. With the addition of multiple artboards, Adobe Illustrator CS4 can now be used the way everyone wanted to use it - for page layout and print jobs.

But the two giants in this category are QuarkXPress and InDesign. Quark had a long hold on the industry with little competition for the longest time. So long, in fact, that they didn't really do a major upgrade from Quark 4 (1997) to 5 (2002) for a period of 6 years. At that time, Apple was transitioning their operating system to the Unix-based OSX and Quark refused to recode their application until Quark 6 came out in 2003.

It was during that long stretch that Adobe, who had limited success with PageMaker, decided to scrap the application they bought from Aldus and start all over, inventing the "Quark Killer", as it was then Called, InDesign. With a list of features that every designer was pining for - transparency, effects, creative suite integration, InDesign 1.0 (1999) came out like a lion with rave reviews. Technical glitches and bugs in the program hampered the experience for some and Pre-press providers and printers couldn't output all those glorious transparencies accurately.

Adobe quickly regrouped and came out with subsequent versions, InDesign 1.5 in 2001 and InDesign 2.0 in 2002 (Still not integrated into any Suites yet), gently massaging out all of the product bugs. Adobe also did a good job in listening to its core user base in adding features that drew the attention of long-time Quark users, such as Nested Styles, and true PDF output, somehting Quark still has difficulty with.

Finally, in 2003, Adobe introduced the first version of the Creative Suite, updating all of its core programs (after the purchase and migration of Macromedia) into a powerful suite of application programs that are tightly integrated. The end result, clearly a better workflow solution for any designer. Instead of moving back and forth between Photoshop and Quark, InDesign users could actually place native Photoshop files into InDesign, make edits to the original Photoshop file, and then simply update the link. Quark users would have to make extra trips to Photoshop, save out static versions of their files as TIFF or EPS and replace their content.

Like the other InDesign releases, InDesign 3.0 offered more and more features that drew more users away from Quark. Now Adobe was gaining momentum. Adobe InDesign User Groups started forming all around the country and industry professionals also began migrating to Quark.

Other factors that kept Quark at bay for many users was its price point. InDesign - integrated with at least five other applications in the Creative Suite, was selling for a price that was still less than Quark. Quark 8's current cost is $799. InDesign is $699, by itself. Educational prices are better for both, but the clear winner in the price category is InDesign.

So what's keeping Quark afloat? A deep user base and a lot of investment on the part of those organizations who bought the app and are not willing to let it go. Call it loyalty or a desire not to lose out on an investment, but Quark was deeply rooted in the publishing industry for so long. Pariah S. Burke tells it best on his site Quark Vs. InDesign:

"Quark is dying, fast. The thing that’s keeping it alive at this point is the inherent nature of the relevant markets: Switching such an integral tool within a fast-paced, tight-margined production workflow is costly in terms of licenses, training, and lost productivity for learning. In this arena InDesign has the upshot of being very similar in user interface to already established tools like Photoshop and (especially) Illustrator. While that fact doesn’t do much for layout-only artists, it does help significantly with migration expenses and issues with artists who use multiple products."

QuarkXTensions also may have a play in whether it stays or goes. XTensions are like InDesign plug-ins that extend the functionality of Quark in terms of what its capabilities are. A lot of pre-press vendors and printers have invested heavily in these extensions, which perform tasks like pagination, output procedures, preflighting, and conversions. It's another part of their original investment which is hard to part with.

Recent rumors and announcements have suggested that Quark will move away from making its desktop software and go to an enterprise server-side solution. Enterprise software isn't cheap and this product won't be for the masses. It's a serious paradigm shift for Quark, one that can only indicate imminent defeat.

I spoke with a print vendor recently to get his thoughts on Quark's demise. Carl Feren of Feren and Co. has been in the printing industry for over twenty years. As Feren points out:

"In the past three – four years I have only had ONE client who used Quark. My other clients use either Corel, Illustrator or InDesign. I can’t think of anyone who prefers Quark over InDesign. The one person who does use it simply does not want to invest in additional software."

Even with the release of Quark 8, the reviews have been a little lackluster. MacWorld Magazine sees it as a dilemma for any Quark owner to actually upgrade to this version:

"QuarkXPress 8 poses somewhat of a dilemma. Because it offers very few new functions—and none that have broad utility—it’s hard to make the economic case to upgrade from the previous version. The most significant new capabilities—those derived from Quark Interactive Designer and the free XPert Tools—can be had for just $49 if you stick with XPress 7.3."

This in comparison with InDesign CS4, which - comparitively - has a slew of new features like Cross-References, SWF export, Page Transitions, Spread Rotation, etc.

Personally, I see Quark winding down as indicated here. I haven't used it outside of the classroom for any major projects and can't see why I would ever switch to Quark for a number of reasons. This battle though, kind of reminds of Freehand vs. Illustrator. Depending on which program you used first, you became fiercely attached to it and the separate camps fought openly about feature sets and capabilities. In the end, Adobe killed off Freehand and they'll probably be able to do the same with Quark.

QuarkXPress to InDesign Conversion Guide

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 08:00:53 PDT

Pariah S. Burke, author and member of the InDesignSecrets website, has recently come out with a guide for anyone moving from QuarkXPress to InDesign. According to the guide:

This booklet was created specifically
to help users of QuarkXPress version 3, 4, 5, or 6 make the switch to InDesign as quickly and smoothly as possible.

The 58 page guide is free and can be downloaded at the Quark Vs. InDesign website.

Placing Images in InDesign

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:19:11 PDT

Adobe InDesign CS4 allows you to place multiple images (files, in fact), we all know that. But there's a cool feature called Contact Sheet Cascade. What is it? Well, let's say you wanted to place multiple images in a grid format on the page. The idea, is to be able to quickly create a contact sheet in InDesign, but you can use it for other things as well. Just hold down Command (Control) + Shift and drag. As you are dragging (keeping the mouse key held down) hit the left and right arrows to increase/decrease the amount of columns, or hit the up and down arrows to increase/decrease the number of rows. When you're ready, just let go of the mouse and all of the images are placed.

Layout Zones

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Tue, 05 May 2009 09:15:53 PDT

QuarkXPress has a feature called Composition Zones. This feature allows you to export portions of a document so that other individuals can edit them. The portions in the original document are automatically updated after a save. This means that sections of a publication can be farmed out to different parts of a team and the final publication can be put together on the fly.

InDesign, up until now, didn't have this feature. But thanks to Layout Zones, you can now do all of this and more. After installing the script, you can select sections of a page and assign them as a Layout Zone. This exports that section as a native InDesign file that then gets re-imported to the original document. You can then put that file on a server or in a public location so that it can be edited. The original file will be updated when the Layout Zone is saved.

You can also export selected Layout Zones as SWF, PDF, or IDML. This is a very exciting script and could possibly take some thunder away from Quark, yet again.

InDesign CS4 Seminar

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 09:24:27 PDT

On June 22, at Bunker Hill Community College, her geekness, Anne Marie Concepcion will be doing the InDesign Seminar Tour. If you haven't heard Anne Marie before, check her out at InDesign Secrets. She's the co-host of the InDesign Secrets podcast with David Blatner and she's a riot.

The line-up looks really good and the cost is right, only $100. Everyone who goes gets a free subscription to the InDesign magazine.

Quark's Guide to CS4 Integration

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 08:57:58 PST

As Quark struggles to stay alive, they release a new Guide to Integration with the Creative Suite.

InDesign v Quark: Toolbox

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 11:07:13 PDT

Quark

Quark's Toolbox hasn't changed much over the years (except v.8). Accessing tools in the Toolbox involves clicking on them. Yes, I know, that's the way it's supposed to work, but InDesign's toolbox (see below) allows you to select tools via a keyboard shortcut. Not to say there aren't keyboard shortcuts for Quark's Toolbox, they just aren't as easy to remember. Just in case you forgot, here are all of the shortcuts for Quark's Toolbox:

Display/Hide palette = F8

Select next tool = Option + F8 or Command + Option + Tab

Select previous tool = Option + Shift + F8 or Command + Option + Shift + Tab

Keep a tool selected = Option + click tool

Open Tool pane of Preferences = Double-click item creation tool or Zoom tool

Switch between item and Content tool = Shift + F8

The biggest problem with Quark is the two main tools: the Item tool and the Content tool. Depending on which one you have selected in the toolbox, you can access different items related to the box you are working on. This is both nearsighted and farsighted as you would think that all of the options should be available for whatever you have selected. Sometimes, it becomes a real problem when the Item tool is active, for example, and you are trying to work on the content - or vice versa. In InDesign, when you want to work on content, it really doesn't matter much what tool you have selected. If you have the selection tool active and you double-click on a text frame, the Type tool becomes active so you can work on the content.

Finally, some of the tools on the Quark toolbox seem negligible, including the Starburst tool.

InDesign

InDesign's Tools panel is chuck full of familiar tools from Photoshop and Illustrator. Each tool has a single keyboard shortcute associated with it. T activates the Type tool, V activates the Select tool, P activates the Pen tool, and so on. InDesign's Tools panel also includes selectors for Fill and Stroke colors, viewing options for Normal, Bleed, Slug, and Preview, and transformation tools as well, making for less trips to dialog boxes to get your work done.

Significance

There's nothing wrong with Quark's Toolbox, it just seems to require more attention than InDesign's. Some people don't like shortcuts and they would be fine using it the way it is. For productivity and shortcut geeks, especially who have crossed over from other Creative Suite apps, Adobe makes it much easier to access tools on the fly and tries to make efforts to keep the same keyboard shortcuts for similar tools across the entire Suite.

InDesign v Quark: Runarounds/Text Wraps

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 13:43:17 PDT

Quark

Quark has no way to ignore runarounds on a text box. Even text boxes placed on layers or master pages will react to runarounds created by picture boxes above them.

InDesign

In the Text Frame options dialog, there is a check box to Ignore Text Wrap.

Significance

Here's an example: A large text box with a text logo was placed on a Layer. Other layers with picture boxes was created above that. The text moved in reaction to the picture boxes. If the text box with the logo in it was placed on the Master page, the same result occured. There's no way to ignore runarounds in Quark. They seem to be inherently on. In this case, since the large text was behind everything else, it's extremely important to keep the position of that text in place. Locking the text doesn't work either.

InDesign v Quark: Type Stroke

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:22:32 PDT

Quark

You cannot apply strokes to type in Quark.

InDesign

As in Illustrator, InDesign allows you to add a stroke to type by selecting a text box, and in the Swatches panel or Toolbox, selecting the Type option, with Stroke fill in the front, and choose a color. You can then change the stroke weight in the Stroke panel.

Significance

It may seem trite, but again, we see more creative flexibility on the part of InDesign here in comparison to Quark. Would Quark greatly benefit from adding a feature like this? Probably not, but at least a designer using InDesign doesn't have to step outside of the program to do something like this.

InDesign v Quark: Type on a Path

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:29:13 PDT

Quark

Quark has 4 type on a path tools: The Line Text-Path tool, Bezier Text-Path tool, Orthogonal Text-Path tool, and Freeform Text-Path tool. You can draw lines with these tools - straight, curved, and freeform. Switching to the Content tool will place an I-beam at the beginning of the line and then you can type text on the path.

To control text on a path, you can choose the Text Path tab of the Measurements palette or go to Item > Modify and choose the Text Path tab. There are 4 orientation options: Curved text (default), Warped text, 3-D Ribbon text, Stair Step text. You can change text alignment options and the way the Aline with Line, and also flip the text. You can alter the path and the text will follow it.

InDesign

InDesign has a Type on a Path tool but you don't draw with it. In fact, you can apply Type on a Path to just about any object drawn in InDesign - it could be a text frame, picture frame, or any path. Simply click on the edge of the path with the Type on a Path tool and the path will be activated for Type.

To control Type on a Path, choose Type > Type on a Path > Options. You can change the Effect to Rainbow, Skew, 3D Ribbon, Stair Step, and Gravity (which is almost completely useless). You can flip the text, change the alignment, change the text alignment on the path and alter the spacing value (which is kind of like kerning).

The type can be moved along the path by using the Direct Selection tool and clicking and dragging on the center, In, and Out handles on the path. If you drag any of these handles across the line, the text will flip over.

Significance

InDesign is the clear winner here. Not only can you create type on a path, but you can manipulate that type in a variety of ways. Plus, you can apply type on a path to just about any object that you create in InDesign. InDesigns type on a path model is identical to Illustrator's which makes it really easy to use and adapt.

InDesign v Quark: Master Page Items

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:03:48 PDT

Quark

Items placed on Master Pages in Quark are no longer locked on regular pages, as in previous versions of Quark. For example, if you place a picture or text box on a master page and then go to page 1, you can manipulate that box with either the Content tool or Item tool. These 'local' changes are ignorant of the Master page. There is a Preference (Print Layout > General) for deciding what to do with these 'local' changes. You can either Keep the changes or Delete them. When you have Keep on, and you replace the page with the Master, the changed item remains. If you have Delete on, which is preferable, the changed item is deleted when the master replaces the page.

InDesign

Items placed on a Master page in InDesign are inherently locked on regular pages. This keeps those items away from you while you lay other elements on top of them. A Master page item can be accessed and changed by Command (Control) + Shift clicking on it. There's also an option in the Pages Panel to Hide Master Items on a selected page or range of pages. This effectively removes master page items from a page.

Significance

In my humble opinion, Master page items are placed on the Master pages specifically to add consistent items that will appear throughout a publication with little variation and change. Once the items are in place, having the flexibility to change those items is great, but I can see potential issues with Quark's approach. It's too easy to accidentally select a Master item on any page and delete or move it. I like the fact that InDesigns Master items are not accessible unless you make them so.

Indesign v Quark: Picture Control

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:03:17 PDT

Quark

An imported picture in Quark can be sized in the Measurements palette, with the X% and Y% fields. There's no way to link those fields, you have to address both to size an image. Another way to scale an image and its picture box is by holding Command and dragging the corner of the box to scale both. Oddly though, adding the Shift key doesn't constrain proportions in the image, but forces it on the box, so the image gets distorted.

Finally, you can scale the picture to the size of the box by right clicking on the box and choosing the command Scale Picture to Box. Adversely, you can fit the box to the picture by choosing Fit Box to Picture. You can crop an image by changing the size of the box and move the image within the box with the Content tool. To center an image in a picture box, you can use Command (Control) + Shift + M.

InDesign

A placed image can be manipulated separately from it's picture frame in InDesign with the Direct selection tool. You can scale the image with the Direct selection tool. Clicking and holding on the placed image for a few seconds will reveal its total size beyond the boundaries of the picture frame. You can control the percentage of the size of the picture in the Control panel and link the horizontal and vertical aspects.

InDesign has several Fitting options. You can Fit Content to Frame, Fit Frame to Content, Center Content, Fit Content Proportionally, and Fill Frame Proportionally.

Significance

Quark feels clunky when it comes to placing and sizing images, whereas InDesign offers so many ways to deal with placed images. There's more room to change your mind with InDesign, more opportunities to experiment and alter them. Again, I think Quark's mindset is that the designer should already know the size of the imported image beforehand.

InDesign v Quark: Linking

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 11:03:24 PDT

Quark

Quark has two tools for linking: the Link tool and the Unlink tool. You can automatically flow text into a new Project that has automatic text boxes created in it. To manually link, you need to select the Link tool and then click on an text box that has an overset symbol on it, then click on an empty text box to flow that text into it.

To break a text link, select the Unlink tool and click on a text box that is linked. An arrow will appear that indicates the link between the text boxes. Click the tip of the arrow to break the link.

InDesign

InDesign offers three ways to link text: manual, automatic, and semi-automatic. There is no link or unlink tools in InDesign for linking text frames. Every text frame has an In and Out port. When text is overset, the Out port will have a red plus sign in it. Click on the red plus sign and now you will have a loaded cursor. To manually link, click on an empty text frame. To semi-automatically link, hold down Option (Alt) and click on multiple text frames to continue the thread throughout a document. To automatically link, hold down the shift key. Click on a column and new text frames will be created to accomodate the entire story.

Another thing about InDesign is that you don't need to create a text frame to begin flowing text through a document. Once you Place a story and the cursor is loaded, you can then click on a column to flow that text.

Significance

Again, Quark is expecting you to plan ahead and have all of your text boxes in place before you flow text. The advantage in InDesign is that you don't need to have text frames in place to link or use special tools to do it.

InDesign v Quark: Guides

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 10:21:41 PDT

Quark

Quark has a utility called Guide Manager under the Utilities menu. You can add a number of horizontal and vertical guides with this tool. You can also remove guides that have been added in the same utility. What's odd about this tool is that you cannot use it on a master page, which would make the most sense. You can add the guides to All Pages or All Spreads, but as soon as you add additional pages, those guides are not on the new pages.

InDesign

Under the Layout menu, go to Create Guides. You can specify the number of Row and Column guides and fit them either to the page or to the margins. This tool can be used on master pages - where it probably should be used.

Significance

If grids are really important to you, then creating a logical set of guides to help you during the design process is very helpful. However, if your design does not neatly fit into a specific grid or only requires a few grid lines, then neither of these tools are anything to gain from.

InDesign v Quark: Eyedropper

noreply@blogger.com (alemieux3) — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:49:34 PDT

Quark

Quark doesn't have a color picker or eyedropper tool to select colors. Even when you are creating new colors, there's no way to select colors from imported images.

InDesign

InDesign has an eyedropper tool in the Toolbox. With the eyedropper tool, you can select colors from a placed image. Click once to hold a color. Option click to select again. then you can go to the Swatches panel and choose New Color Swatch from the options menu.

The eyedropper tool does more than just color in InDesign - it can select formatting attributes. With the eyedropper tool selected, click on some formatted text and those attributes will be held. Click and drag over some unformatted text with the eyedropper tool and now that text will be formatted.

Significance

Yes, I suppose you should know the colors that you will be using in a given project ahead of time, but there are those times when you need to reference a color within your layout program without having to go back to Photoshop to find out it's CMYK or RGB values. Apple has a utility called Digital Color Meter that you could use while in Quark to pick out values, but you'd still have to write them down and make new colors. Not as easy as InDesign.

Update

This is a real ass-backwards workaround, but you can get color sample/eyedropper functionality in Quark:

http://www.quark.com/service/desktop/support/techinfo/knowledgebase.html