Quark 7 is now here!!!

[MarcusStringer]

Let me know how it goes.

I think I'll wait for a little while...



Marcus

http://www.midlandtypesetters.com.au

 

[blueark]

I tried the beta version briefly, but I didn't have time to try it out extensively. First impressions were good. I always felt some of the new effects in 6.5 were a bit cumbersome, like the picture effects, but in 7, everything felt very responsive (at least on my machine). Transparency is great, although slightly different to InDesign.

In all, I probably only tried it for about an hour, so I've no idea how it works in a production environment. PDF export seems ok, but that's only a first impression. Time will tell...

 

[apepp]

...i think quark will need a quick release to version 8 to really win back some lost support for the program, they need to rethink the pricing too. They price the product as if they still have a monopoly on the industry, it is a great program none the less and the technical support has been improved a great deal which really needed attention for a long time...

andrew

 

[MarcusStringer]

From what I've seen on the Quark website, it's starting to look and act alot like another program.

While you were testing the Beta, was the image preview of good enough quality to work with (Vista) or was it still that low res crap.

Marcus

http://www.midlandtypesetters.com.au

 

[apepp]

...everything in quark 7 is now anti-aliased, so images preview much better...

andrew

 

[blueark]

It does feel like a new program. Everything previews well, and it seems they've learnt a lot from their past mistakes. I haven't checked the pricing yet, but I presume it's still as bad as ever. That aside, first impressions are very positive, but I'll let someone else try it out in a production environment before I upgrade.

Anyone out there using it with a HP Indigo 5000 press yet? I'd love to know how you're getting on...

 

[MarcusStringer]

Yeah, that's the big problem I think Quark will face...

Everyones going to sit back and wait.

Wait for the price to drop

Wait for the extension makers to catch up

Wait for the Patches to arrive

Wait for the eager beavers to iron out the kinks.

It may turn into a Quark 4.1 situation...where everyone continued working in 4 and no one brough 5 and only brought 6 because they had to when they went to OSX...

I can the majority of sales will be when Apple bring out new G5's with the Intel Chip. Because they will have to buy the Universal edition of Quark 7.

Marcus

http://www.midlandtypesetters.com.au

 

[blueark]

Maybe. We only bought 5 because we were receiving a few files in that version and were feeling bad about constantly telling people to save it back to 4. There were a few nice touches introduced in 5, but not enough to make me want to upgrade.

Quark 7 may be different though. Transparency alone turns it into a completely different animal; it's a feature people will want to have. My only concern is how it will print. To be fair, Quark is usually one of the most reliable packages when it comes to postscript printing, whatever other failings it might have, and I believe non-postscript printers are going to be taken care of properly in this release (at last!). As far as I can remember, it flattens PDFs by default, so transparency should not be a problem with RIPs.

But, yeah, I'd rather see someone else get it working first, especially as I rely on a particular third-party XTension.

 

[jimoblak]

Apple bring out new G5's with the Intel Chip

That will never happen

I'm waiting to be impressed with transparency in another release. Since QuarkXPress can only offer flattened transparency in PDF output, the PDF files are relatively huge.

 

[kimz]

Quark 7 was installed on my machine earlier this week. So far everything has worked, except it really messed up the 68-page membership directory I was in the middle of printing; reflowed the entire document.
All the right-align tabs no longer work if they are set on the exact right margin (example, a box that's 20p6 wide with a right-align tab set at 20p6). When I changed the tab to 20p5 it worked. (Yes, I still work in picas!)
I spoke immediately with a tech support person who asked me to e-mail the doc and screen shots of the problem in v6.5 and v7. I did so within 30 minutes...that was two days ago now and have heard nothing back.
The improved palettes alone are worth the upgrade.

 

[RegistrationMark]

In working with Q7 beta, i found it to be much like InDesign CS, except 4 years behind. IDCS2 I find to be much more user friendly, and versatile.
Say, is quark 7 limited to a page size of 48" x 48" and a .5" pasteboard still?
Mark