...and so it begins...

[born2print]

[DigiCorn]

Anyone else besides me using the FontWizard XT XTension?

No. You are the only one. :tongue:

It makes .eps and .pdf from the q that actually "work"

[edit] if anyone interested, it's available here: http://www.jolauterbach.com/products/fontwizard.htm

It's $69 for new users (uh, huh huh... sixty nine), $49 for an upgrade from an older version. Just had to upgrade today.

I've been busy and didn't see this until now. We used this at the last shop but never ever ever was I able to output anything from Quack with working transparency. I ALWAYS had to fuck with it in Rampage. Did they fix that yet?

They have added some transparency functionality. Whether it "works," as intended is probably up for some debate. In my case, there is some color alteration...

in all actuality, it was probably wrong 2 years ago when I last worked on it, and it's correct now... but now I have to match something from before, so it's a real fly in the ointment.

[hotmetal]

this was posted on Macintouch today:

http://www.macstrategy.com/blog.php?17

               
                                               

[frailer]

Seriously, I don't think I'd have the energy or motivation to go through those Quack installation/licensing charades again. I think I'd end up blubbering in the foetal position in a corner.

[Joe]

The activation code is enough to sway me away from it.

We had one customer considering moving back to Quark. They've fallen silent since they first asked me about. Hopefully that means they have decided against that.

[Slappy]

this was posted on Macintouch today:

http://www.macstrategy.com/blog.php?17

               
                                               

Jesus, I only skimmed that page for about 45 seconds and that green has burned my retinas so badly my monitor now appears to have a magenta-ish cast to it. :blinded:

[Fontaholic]

Jesus, I only skimmed that page for about 45 seconds and that green has burned my retinas so badly my monitor now appears to have a magenta-ish cast to it.

You too...?

 :shocked:

Cheers, John the Fontaholic

[David]

and what's with the "must accept cookies" disclaimer?

stupid websites

[Joe]

and what's with the "must accept cookies" disclaimer?

stupid websites

That is the new European Union cookie law.

[Slappy]

The only cookies I'm accepting are the ones we used to get in the parking lot a Dead show! amirite??

[hotmetal]

Jesus, I only skimmed that page for about 45 seconds and that green has burned my retinas so badly my monitor now appears to have a magenta-ish cast to it.

You too...?
 :shocked:
Cheers, John the Fontaholic

Sorry, I wasn't thinking. British designers an' at. I don't know how to link to a specific post in the Macintouch comments threads, so I gave you the guy's blog URL.

Try this straight text version from Macintouch, which had me rolling on the floor and laughing (but maybe not you guys, I guess?)

There's also this list posted on Macintouch today of "other software" you might start getting files in from your favorite customers in the coming months: 

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showpost.php?p=7591918

* * * * * * * *

(meanwhile, as Graham Needham wrote the other day on Macintouch:)

In line with the need to test alternatives to Adobe (Creative Cloud) products, we decided to purchase a QuarkXPress 9 upgrade with its potential to replace InDesign. This is our (now laughable) experience of trying to do that:

With the need to look at and test alternatives, we attempted to buy, install and update QuarkXPress 9 for Mac, taking advantage of a Quark offer to upgrade from any previous version. We dug out our legitimate copy of QuarkXPress 4 and started on our journey. This journey was so awful, we just had to document it - hence this blog post. This really happened - it's so bad, we're not sure you'll believe us? 20 years ago, Quark were bad. 10 years ago they were truly awful. And now they are atrocious...

The Quark Saga

- Quark currently has a special offer on at the moment where you can upgrade from any previous version of QuarkXPress but it's only available online from the Quark store so we click on the offer link which redirects us to the Quark UK online store (as we're in the UK) - https://shop.quark.com/uk/

- To buy something you need to create a user account (#1) so we create this and make the purchase (this part, the part where the company takes your money, is unsurprisingly really easy)

- At the successful purchase page we're given a link to download the QuarkXPress 9 installers (this is actually Quark 9.5.0.0, ~850MB in size)

- We download the software which takes a while

- We install QuarkXPress

- A restart is required

- We launch QuarkXPress

- So far, so good. We should be using Quark in a minute or two now. We can't wait to take a look at it compared to InDesign.

- The software informs us that an Activation code is required and provides a link to a web site for us

- Sigh, the pain and misery starts?

- We click on that link which takes us to a web site (https://store.quark.com/) whereupon the web page informs us that not only do we need an Activation code but we also need a Validation code too. What are all these codes? (thankfully Quark provides a page explaining it all here https://quark.parature.com/ics/support/kbanswer.asp?deptID=30029&task=knowledge&questionID=1242)

- To get a Validation code you need to register your software so we try logging in to the site with user account #1 - that doesn't work, we need a new/different account so we create one (user account #2)

- We then request a Validation code whereupon the web site asks us for our QuarkXPress 9 serial number. We enter it - it doesn't work (this is because we're currently on the Quark USA web site - remember the software took us here automatically and there's no indication that we're on a USA only web site and there's no information telling us that as we're in the UK/made our purchase in the UK we should actually be on the Quark European web site)

- So, as we're used to 20+ years of Quark's idiosyncrasies, we try going to the Quark European web site (https://eurostore.quark.ch/)

- Once again, to get a Validation code we need to register our software so we try logging in with user account #1 - doesn't work so we try user account #2 that we just created on the Quark USA web site - that doesn't work either, we need a new/different account so we create one (user account #3)

- We then request a Validation code whereupon the web site asks us for our QuarkXPress 9 serial number. This is finally accepted!!! But then the web site tells us that it's an upgrade and we need to enter our original (older version) serial number. We try to enter that but it doesn't work. Hmmm?

- At this point there's not a lot we can do but call Quark so we hunt around their multiple web sites for a European/UK customer service telephone number and come across one under a section "Customer Service" where it says "Use the contact information below for assistance with the following topics: Registering products in cases where immediate support is needed" (http://www.quark.com/en/Buy/QuarkXPress_Sales/Customer_Service/) there is a normal London telephone number and an 0808 number (it's confusing in the UK because that number might be free to call or it could cost us up to ?2 a minute or something). So we opt to call the London number.

- There's no answer and it goes straight to voicemail - WTF? We leave a voicemail message explaining our situation.

- So we call the other number and go through the usual press 6 then 6 then 6 to sell your soul to the devil and speak to a human

- We finally get a human on the other end of the telephone line (support guy #1) but they barely speak English and they have difficulty understanding us (are we actually in hell? Did we actually just sell our soul to the devil?). We ask to speak to someone who speaks and understands English and they say that's not possible. We try and get an activation code from them but take 20 minutes just trying to spell our name, company name and email address to them (maybe all this is deliberate? We may well be paying ?2 a minute for the call afterall and Quark are pocketing the profit?)

- 21 minutes into the call our mobile phone rings because the "Sales Director" of Quark Europe is on the telephone returning our call from the voicemail we left on the London telephone number (btw that number isn't actually for support or customer service or anything useful - we're told that number shouldn't be on the web site and it's a mistake). Anyway, we quickly ask support guy #1 on the other telephone to please hold while we speak to their Sales Director. After a few minutes speaking to the Sales Director support guy #1 just hangs up. Nice!

- We have a long conversation with the Sales Director (which we won't go into here) and he promises that our problems will get resolved as soon as possible. We give him our contact details and state that the best way of contacting us is our mobile number or email address but best not to use the landline number we've given (because we're not sitting next to that phone at that time/on that day)

- We sigh and decide to have some lunch

- Amazingly when we get back a support ticket email appears in our inbox from support guy #1 that was originally on the telephone - he must have finally got our email address spelled right - the email contains an activation code but he's created yet another user account (#4 - on https://eurostore.quark.ch/) to obtain us that code (support guy #1 refers to me as "Brian" even though my name is "Graham" - I guess they sound similar if you don't speak good English - that's the name that is now registered on user account #4 but guess what? You can't edit those personal details on your own account so I'll be stuck being called Brian! - a life of Brian eh?)

- But also there's an email from our voicemail system where another support person (support guy #2) has called our landline number (you know, the one we told the Sales Director not to call us on) and he's opened a second support ticket asking us to provide some more information about our problem (even though we explained it all to the Sales Director who promised this problem would get resolved - and now I'm called Graham Kneedham, you know, because if you don't speak proper English the first part of my surname could be construed as being spelt that way)

- We activate the software using the activation code from support guy #1. Woohoo! Success!

- But it's Quark v9.5.0 though and we know there's a Quark 9.5.2 so we run the built-in Quark updater software (from the QuarkXPress menu) and it says we need to download and install a 9.5.1.0 "update" (~170MB)

- We click through the necessary screens to download and install the update and after the download and at the start of the installation process the installer and updater just quit - no error message, nothing. Try a few more times - same problem. Hmmm?

- So we decide to click on the support ticket link(s) in the emails so we can tell Quark the latest problem - the link takes us to a support web site (http://quark.parature.com) requesting that we login so we try logging in with user account #1 - that doesn't work, so we try user account #2 - doesn't work, so we try user account #3 - doesn't work, so we try user account #4 - doesn't work, we need yet another new/different account so we try to create one (user account #5) but as we're security conscious the 20+ character password we use is not accepted (oh goody, we're informed by the web site that the password must be 16 characters or less!)

- So we finally get user account #5 setup (with a poor password) and we update our support tickets with the requested, relevant information and also state we can't update our paid for, installed and activated software

- Support guy #2 comes back to us via the support ticket stating "Since QuarkXPress 9.5.1 is an installer only, you'll need to uninstall QuarkXPress 9.5 first and then install 9.5.1 directly." - this is patently false as the built-in Quark updater has already shown us a 9.5.1.0 "update" (~170MB). And? didn't we install v9.5.0 from the very installer that was downloaded from the link when we purchased the product from Quark themselves? Yes we did FFS! Grrrrr?

- In addition Support guy #2 gives us instructions on how to manually uninstall QuarkXPress 9 - these are not right and have incorrect paths to files/folders that need deleting - as we know what we are doing (thankfully, but god help anyone that doesn't) we get all the necessary files deleted and click on the link to download the full Quark 9.5.1.0 installer (http://www.quark.com/support/downloads/Details.aspx?fid=243) provided in the support ticket

- We locate the Quark 9.5.1.0 installer and click the download button - no go, not allowed, we need to login before we can download anything so we try logging in with user account #1 - that doesn't work, so we try user account #2 - doesn't work, so we try user account #3 - doesn't work, so we try user account #4 - doesn't work, so we try user account #5 - doesn't work, we need yet another new/different account so we create one (user account #6 at http://euro.quark.com/en/Support/Downloads/Login.aspx) and download the software (another ~768MB download)

- We install Quark 9.5.1.0 and run the built-in Quark updater again which now tells us we need a Quark 9.5.1.1 "update" (~9MB)

- We click through the necessary screens to download and install the update and after the download and at the start of the installation process the installer and updater just quit - no error message, nothing. Try a few more times - same problem again. Hmmm?

- This time there is no 9.5.1.1 "installer" to download from the Quark web site but there is an "updater" available for 9.5.1.1 so we download that and try installing the update manually. We open the downloaded disk image and double click the installer which results in an OS X warning message that "'QuarkXPress 9 Updater' can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer" - WTF? Quark can't even sign their own updaters properly? Now that's probably why the built-in updater didn't work because the downloaded updates aren't signed properly and won't work

- We install 9.5.1.1 ourselves as we know how to bypass Gatekeeper, then discover there is a 9.5.2.0 update from the built-in Quark updater, download that manually too and install that (also not signed properly)

- Finally we have a working QuarkXPress 9.5.2.0 software package on our computer and we can start testing it against InDesign

[hotmetal]

The only cookies I'm accepting are the ones we used to get in the parking lot a Dead show! amirite??

heh!           

[Farabomb]

Watch the Moroccan episode of the new Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown for a recipe fo yummy ganja balls.

I went through that list of alternative programs. Guess what one I didn't see on there.

PAP.

[gnubler]

LOL. I read that entire link, green & all. Thx for reminding me why I hate quark so much, even beyond the UI.

[StudioMonkey]

Cheeses what a palaver.  I think I'll stick with Adobe.  I am certainly NOT going to start using Corel products.  I have actually used Freeway to build websites and its brilliant if you're a designer and don't do HTML.  I did a fairly big website for a photographer http://www.j-leightaylorphotography.com/ and he got someone else to optimise it - he pulled it to pieces.  I got the impression I had been using the web equivalent of Publisher which was not a good feeling.