Quark, InDesign, or PageMaker???

[myatia]

Hi,

I'm a web designer about to undertake a new design project. My company is going to be putting out a series of 32-page magazine-like programs which will include the content that we provide and ads which will be submitted by various businesses. My question is this: what program should I use to create the programs?

I have the following concerns:

1. I have a fairly extensive background in PageMaker 6.5, so that would be easiest to hit the ground running with. However, I've also been using Illustrator for our one page ads, and I really like a lot of its features (especially its text capabilities). Will upgrading to PageMaker 7.0 make a big difference, or does InDesign bridge the gap more?

2. If I do go with InDesign, is it hard to pick up, given that one has experience with the rest of the Adobe suite? At the same time, if I go with Quark, would it be a horrible experience for me to try to learn it as I go?

3. I'm going to have people submitting ads in god only knows what format (the ad specs were sent out without anyone even asking me about it), and I want as much compatibility as possible.

4. I want to work with something printers can work with. Is InDesign commonplace now? Also, I'm working on a Windows machine, but a lot of printers have Macs. Are Quark, InDesign, and PageMaker all pretty compatible between the two OSs?

5. I've done a lot of ads and tickets and other print projects, but I'm not a print designer, and I don't know much, if anything, about prepress. Which program is best in this area?

I know this is a massive question and that there's no definitive answer; I would just like to get your opinions and any other info you can provide.

Thanks much!

Misty

 

[blueark]

It sounds like InDesign would probably suit you best, even if you have to learn from scratch. I think Quark is more commonplace for now, but InDesign can import Quark documents reasonably well, along with a whole host of other formats. It would also be easier to pick up as, especially as you have some experience with other Adobe applications. As for output, not all printers support it yet, but it has excellent PDF capabilities, which means you can supply most good printers with a press ready job.

 

[Ecaboodle]

I think that you have an interesting question there.

Knowing how the industry is about to change with Quark 6 on the way.

I personal would chose Indesign, even though I have more experenice in Quark, I feel that the cost and some of the issues that Im hearing about with the new version of Quark 6.

PLUS I think you have a massive advange in you have Pagemaker experience, all the shortcuts are about the same as indesign!!! Good luck

If you can't fix it in 20 minutes call someone who can.

 

[artchick]

Quark is the best. It took me years to make the switch from Pagemaker and I am sooo sorry I took so long. I don't have direct experience with Indesign but so far have had no real need or desire. Quark is so solid and now that it's web capability is coming into play, I am even more excited. From a print and prepress point of view, I think it's unbeatable. O, and I just read that 6 uses native image file color info which is even more fabulous. [afro}

 

[jimoblak]

How does one discount InDesign by saying Quark is the best without having direct experience with InDesign?

In regard to artchick's comment about web capability in Quark: yes, the web capabilities of Quark and InDesign are improving but they are not perfect. One should not expect a perfect HTML page to jump from Quark or InDesign. You must set-up your document properly to take advantage of the cross-media capabilities of these programs. Depending on the work flow, this set-up can sometimes be more tedious than creating a web page from scratch in a proper web authoring application.

- - picklefish - -

 

[Pixelchik]

I've just starting using InDesign for my freelance projects since the client doesn't care what application I use. I have been using Quark and Pagemaker for my other clients because they insisted. So far I really like InDesign. The only drawback I can see right now is that the service bureaus do not support it yet. So I have to convert my Indesign documents to PDF for output by those printers. Oh Well...I hope they all get hip to it soon.

 

[thombathe]

Each program has its draw backs
Pagemaker you know well but on the PC can create problems for your printer.
Quarkexpress works well on PC or Mac but you must learn this first its not that easy.
Indesign shold be much easer to learn but ask your printer if they have it (ver 1 or 2)?
In any case any service bureaus you send this to should beable to handle any format Mac or PC.

 

[kylebellamy]

I have InDesign2.0, Quark 5 and Pagemaker 7 and out of all I like Quark the best. But for what you are doing, perhaps Indesign would be better in that you could export to PDF easily. Pagemaker just doesn't give you the control you need, Indesign does but it's web exporting is horrible and Quark is very technical but at least you can control things.

Personally, I do my web stuff in Dreamweaver as the above mentioned programs are really for layout of print work and the web exporting is more of an after thought.

 

[myatia]

I wouldn't dream of creating a web page in page layout software, so web exporting features aren't of much use to me.

We decided to go with InDesign. I'm using it right now. It's going fairly easily, although there are some quirky things I'm going to have to work through.