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The Designer's Transition to Mac OS X
Choosing a Page-Layout Program for Mac OS X
by John Cruise
Created: April 26, 2003
Modified: June 15, 2003(This report is based on the first part of a presentation by trainer and author John Cruise made at our Designer's Transition seminar. John has a long history with QuarkXpress, including an extended tour of duty with the developer. He has also worked with InDesign since its introduction. He is the co-author ofThe MacWorld Quark XPress 4 Bible and InDesign Bible and the author of the September, 2002 MacAddict article, Is It Time for InDesign? John trains organizations on both QuarkXPress and InDesign. He is based in Colorado and can be contacted at cruisejohn@qwest.com.
-Fred Balin]
What Are Your Options?
InDesign 2,
QuarkXPress 3, 4, or 5 running within the Classic Compatibity Environment, or
PageMaker running within Classic.
QuarkXPress 6, just announced
Or, if you prefer to keep waiting...
InDesign 3.
This presentation will focus on current shipping products InDesign 2 and QuarkXPress 3-6, while incorporating public information about the future release of InDesign 3.
So, Which Option Is Best?
That is for you to decide.
The purpose of this session is to explain the page layout options available for designers who are considering switching to Mac OS X and, more specifically, to explain the pros, cons, and implications of using QuarkXpress versus InDesign under Mac OS X.
If you are currently using QuarkXPress 3, 4, or 5 with Mac OS 9 and decide to switch to Mac OS X, you are probably going to have to decide between upgrading to QuarkXPress 6 or switching to InDesign 2 (or maybe InDesign 3).
To
Switch or Not to Switch?
That is the Question for QuarkXPress Users
If you are thinking about switching from QuarkXPress to InDesign, your decision will involve several factors.
•
Feature Comparison
Which program has the advantage when comparing features?
If you are currently a QuarkXpress user, does InDesign lack
any critical features?
(See feature comparison tables below for
details.)
•
Impact on Workflow of QuarkXpress Users
If you decide to switch, it will take some training and time
to get your QuarkXPress users up to speed with InDesign. The
more ingrained your QuarkXPress habits have become, the more
difficult it is to learn InDesign. If you made the switch
from PageMaker to QuarkXPress back in the late '80s or early
'90s, you have an idea of how it will feel to switch from
QuarkXPress to InDesign.
•
Rock-the-Boat Factor
It may be that for your site, the day-to day demands of
meeting deadlines makes changing page layout programs
impossible, at least for the time being.
•
Pioneer Factor
Some creative professionals are not comfortable unless they
are on the leading edge. They understand that a little
bleeding sometimes goes along with the territory.
•Who
Treats You Better?
Do you care? Is customer support an issue for you? It may
depend on your personal experience with Adobe and
Quark.
•
The Future
Adobe and Quark have both been around for a long time.
Neither is likely to go away soon. Who should you hitch your
wagon to?
•
Budget Considerations
What is the cost of upgrading to QuarkXPress 6 versus
switching to InDesign
What are the software costs?
Current cost of QuarkXPress
Version 4: ~$600
Version 5: ~$800
Version 6: ~$900Ugrade to QuarkXPress 6 from
Version 3: ~$399
Version 4: ~$299
Version 5: ~$199Current cost of InDesign
Version 2: ~$700
Version 3: ~???
Upgrade from PageMaker to InDesign: $299
Adobe Design Collection: $999 (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat)Crossgrades:
None currently available
What
are the hardware and other costs?
What program will save you money in the long run?
For information on the return on investment of switching to InDesign, see the Pfeiffer Reports InDesign: ROI and Migrations Strategies and The InDesign 2.0 Productivity Benchmark.
QuarkXPress vs. InDesign Comparisons
I.
Major Distinguishing Features QuarkXpress
5 InDesign
2 Custom
stripe and dash styles Transparency: Multi-ink
colors Typography: Modify
kerning and tracking tables Multiple
undos* Merge
and shape options Multilingual
support Third-party
Xtensions: Integration
with other Adobe applications: Hi-res
display of imported graphics* Preflight
feature Built-in
PDF export* Mac
OS X native*
Asterisk
(*) below indicates that the featurehas been
announced for inclusion in QuarkXpress
6.
Opacity
Blending modes
Drop shadow
Feather
Optical margin alignment
Optical kerning
Paragraph-based text composition
OpenType support
Many more available for QXP
Shared interface and core technologies
Place native file formats (Illustrator, Photoshop.
PDF)
II. Minor Distinguishing Features
QuarkXpress
5 InDesign
2 Auto
page insertion when manually entering
text Parent/child
masters Rotate
text within box Stroke
and fill text (edit stroked text) Custom
fraction, price, and underline styles Multicolor
gradients Super
step and repeat Multiple
windows for a single document Text
wrap around anchored objects Menu
for inserting special chartacters HTML
form objects, rollovers, and image maps Overprint
preview Edit
contrast of TIFF and JPEG images Change
case of text Create
lists from style sheets Link
to text files Web-based
Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)
support Drag
and drop editable vector graphics (from
Illustrator) Eyedropper
tool for copying/applying text and object
attributes Naviagation
palette Crash
protection
Analysis: In head-to-head, feature-to-feature comparison, InDesign 2 offers more than QuarkXPress 5 or 6.
For more comparative information, see Is It Time for InDesign? by John Cruise, MacAddict, September 2002, QuarkXPress versus InDesign by David Blatner; MacWorld 2002.
III. Comparative Strengths
Area QuarkXpress
5 InDesign
2 Web
page layout HTML
form objects (radio buttons, menus, etc.). Typography Paragraph-based
text composition Freehand
Drawing One
tool for working with freehand shapes. Tables Import
formatted tables from Excel and Word Interface Old,
but for most people, familiar. Consistent
with other Adobe graphic applications, but
palette-intensive Color
User
interface for working with color is simpler. Display
Options Options
for optimized, typical, and high-quality User
Base Lots
of QuarkXPress users around the world. Still
the new kid on the block even though it has a
mature parent. File
Import/Export Place
native Photoshop and Illustrator files, Word and
Excel tables, PDFs and SVGs. Acceptance QuarkXPress
documents are universally known and
accepted. InDesign
documents not nearly as well known. Customer
Support Adobe
has a better track record when it comes to
listening and responding positively to end
users.
Rollovers
Image maps
Convert text to picture
Optical margin alignment
Optical kerning
OpenType support
Numerical control over handles and control
poiints.
Merge/split options
Change shape options
Supports multi-ink colors.
Overprint previews
High-res images
Multiple document widows
Up to 4000% zoom.
More books, classes and trained users.
IV. Comparative Weaknesses
QuarkXpress
5 InDesign
2 Interface Could
use a nip and a tuck, if not reconstructive
surgery. Lacks
cohesion, long on palettes Hardware Requires
a high-end computer to run efficiently Story
Editor None None* Tech
Doc Features Limited Limited Web
Features Limited Limited Illustration/image
editing Limited Limited
Asterisk
(*) indicates feature announced for inclusion in
InDesign 3
(as
in PageMaker)
(á
la FrameMaker)
(á
la GoLive, Dreamweaver)
(á
la Illustrator, Freehand)
V. Overall Similarities
QuarkXPress
5 and Design 2 Word
processing features
VI. New Features To Be Included in QuarkXPress 6 and InDesign 3
QuarkXPress
6 InDesign
3 High
resolution image display* Improved
PDF support: embed video/audio Direct
export to PDF (Distiller not required)* Story
editor Multiple
undos Custon
keyboard shortcuts Save
as XPress version 6 or 5 Separations
preview Additional
XML features Control
strip with contectual settings and
variables Additional
Web features Text
wrap enahncements Runs
native under Mac OS 10.2, but will not run on
earlier versions of Mac OS X or in Mac OS 9 or
earlier. Additional
color features Improved
table features: link cells, apply none-colorerd
background, define tabbing order, link to text
box Documents
are now projects.
asterisk
(*) indicates feature is implemented via
third-party technology
Runs under Windows 2000/XP
A project is a collection of layouts that can
include print pages, web pages, or different
versions of either, in varying sizes and
orientations.
Layout spaces facilitate the conversion of
print-based designs to Web-based designs and back
within one file.
Synchronized text within a layout.
For more
details on QuarkXPress 6, see:
Quark Enters the Land of OX X, MacWorld article,
June, 2003 and/or
Quark announcements at
http://www.quark.com/products/xpress/mac_osx.html
InDesign 3 features as per 4/14/03 eWeek article,
Sources
Fill In Adobe Roadmap.
What If You Choose to Use Quark XPress 3, 4, or 5 Within Classic Mode?
1. You will need to deal with these special issues:
• Configuring Classic to match your current Mac OS 9 Quark environment (i.e., system extensions, control panels, etc).
• Managing Mac OS X as well as Classic fonts.
• Configuring printing from Mac OS X as well as Classic
•
Addressing QuarkXPress 3 and 4 display issue. You should
download and install ClassicDraw
XT.
2. You will need to watch out for:
• Problems and/or isssues with all of the above.
•
Switching back and forth between Classic applications and
Mac OS X native applications; it is more problematic than
running a single operating system.
On a dual-boot system, you could also startup with Mac OS 9,
but what's the point if you have Mac OS X? (Apple is phasing
out Macs that boot into Mac OS 9 as well as Mac OS X;
Currently only one PowerMac G4 offers this
option.)
• Limitations running Mac OS X on an older Mac.
The Bottom Line
At best,
running any version of QuarkXpress in Classic mode is a
clunky solution that should be used only if absolutely
necessary and as a temporary fix.
John Cruise, cruisejohn@qwest.com
MacResolutions
3790 El Camino Real, #2005
Palo Alto, CA 94306
650-565-8120
info@macresolutions.com
©2003,
Fred Balin, MacResolutions
All rights reserved.
Apple, Mac, and Macintosh are registered trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.