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General Category => General Prepress => Topic started by: tuff_gong on January 14, 2014, 11:20:20 AM

Title: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: tuff_gong on January 14, 2014, 11:20:20 AM
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/01/quarkxpress-the-demise-of-a-design-desk-darling/ (http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/01/quarkxpress-the-demise-of-a-design-desk-darling/)
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: born2print on January 14, 2014, 11:48:26 AM
Hey mon!  :hello:
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Joe on January 14, 2014, 11:52:05 AM
Good read. One user comment stands out to me and is exactly how I always felt dealing with Quark:

Quotebut holy cow, if you somehow needed to reinstall Quark and misplaced a license key...well, it would be easier to pass an ammendment to the Constitution than to get help from Quark. They treated us like common criminals.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: David on January 14, 2014, 11:54:02 AM
yep, I lived through the conversion and hated Quark for not moving over to OS X faster than they did, that was just a pure stupid move.. or non move as the case may be.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Joe on January 14, 2014, 11:57:13 AM
Quote from: david on January 14, 2014, 11:54:02 AMyep, I lived through the conversion and hated Quark for not moving over to OS X faster than they did, that was just a pure stupid move.. or non move as the case may be.

At the time it didn't seem that stupid as at one point Apple was close to folding up shop and going the way of the do-do bird.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: gnubler on January 14, 2014, 12:07:24 PM
One of the comments:

QuoteBack in 2006 there was an epic thread in the Macintosh Achaea, in which a hilariously transparent shill for Quark, user WizenPub, went on and on about the (forthcoming) awesomeness of Quark 7 over InDesign. He lasted 36 posts before being sent East of Eden for his troubles. Good times!

Sound familiar? Poor Shelly...
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Possum on January 14, 2014, 12:54:25 PM
I see near the end of the article, the writer isn't too fond of Adobe's Cash Cow. Hmmmmm.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: frailer on January 14, 2014, 12:56:24 PM
They are smiling like The Cheshire Cat.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Possum on January 14, 2014, 12:59:25 PM
Quote from: Joe on January 14, 2014, 11:52:05 AMGood read. One user comment stands out to me and is exactly how I always felt dealing with Quark:

Quotebut holy cow, if you somehow needed to reinstall Quark and misplaced a license key...well, it would be easier to pass an ammendment to the Constitution than to get help from Quark. They treated us like common criminals.

Sounds a lot like the time we upgraded the Suite and the case and disks from the previous version had "disappeared." Adobe has a particular phone number to call if you lost your serial number. Guess what? You call that number and tell them you lost the serial but have the invoice and all to verify who you are, and they can't help you.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Joe on January 14, 2014, 01:02:57 PM
I'll bet they would have helped you upgrade to the latest version.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Possum on January 14, 2014, 01:10:54 PM
We'd already bought it, we just needed the old serial for some reason to get it activated or registered or something. I ended up doing a work around.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: David on January 14, 2014, 03:48:34 PM
Just now got the email telling me Quark 10 is now available to install on the Macs here


oh yay    :hangme:
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: born2print on January 14, 2014, 03:56:19 PM
um yeah, us too, then 2 weeks of Quark "service" calls later, QLA server still won't see it and we had to give up and insist on a stand-alone copy
(they even gave us incomplete reg. codes at one point! lolz)
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Possum on January 15, 2014, 09:48:56 AM
Well, when those numbers get too long, you're bound to miss a digit here and there.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: born2print on January 15, 2014, 10:48:13 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlz340oAj8M (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlz340oAj8M)
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: gnubler on January 15, 2014, 02:37:18 PM
Another comment on that article:

QuoteIllustrator vs FreeHand? Completely arcane. There's things about Illustrator that frustrate me to this day. FreeHand 3 was my sh!t. I'd ride or die for that application. I actually like the entire LetraSet Studio Suite of Type(Font?)Studio, ImageStudio, DesignStudio, etc. But nobody cares...

- Because, if you pay close attention to this thread, we've all changed jobs. I'm 40 and getting my degree in electrical engineering so I never have to think about whether I'm using the corrupt version of Gill Sans ever, ever, again in my life...

DCS? :cry:
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Joe on January 15, 2014, 04:45:10 PM
I don't think that is emphatic enough about Freehand to be DCS.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Farabomb on January 15, 2014, 04:50:20 PM
Not enough curses either.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: StudioMonkey on January 16, 2014, 04:34:46 AM
Quark got me started in this business with version 1.0 but since InDesign came out it's been my first choice.  That says it all.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: gnubler on January 16, 2014, 07:38:12 AM
When a business asks if you know quark (or if you like using it), it's a red flag. DO NOT accept employment there.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: StudioMonkey on January 16, 2014, 08:03:45 AM
I have been asked that in an interview.  My reply was "Yes, I know Quark.  That's why I prefer InDesign."  I didn't get the job.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Tracy on January 16, 2014, 09:34:28 AM
Quote from: StudioMonkey on January 16, 2014, 08:03:45 AMI have been asked that in an interview.  My reply was "Yes, I know Quark.  That's why I prefer InDesign."  I didn't get the job.
:grin:
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: born2print on January 16, 2014, 10:13:36 AM
Quote from: StudioMonkey on January 16, 2014, 08:03:45 AMI have been asked that in an interview.  My reply was "Yes, I know Quark.  That's why I prefer InDesign."  I didn't get the job.
:laugh:
"jus' sayin'"
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Fontaholic on January 16, 2014, 11:33:08 AM
Believe it or not, I started out desktop publishing in PageMaker, because that's the program that my college newspaper used for their layout/design.

It wasn't until I got my first prepress job at a mom 'n' pop printing company back in 1995 that I first began using Quark Xpress 3.  Even then, I tended to stick to PageMaker since that's what I was more familiar with.

Then I moved to my present job in 2000, and they used Quark Xpress 4 (then 5) for 90% of their stuff.  However, as time passed and we migrated to OSX and InDesign kept improving, I gradually shifted to InDesign because of its many superiorities to Quark. Now I'd say we're 95% InDesign and 5% Quark, which is fine by me.

Cheers, John the Fontaholic
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: pspdfppdfxhd on January 16, 2014, 12:26:37 PM
Best part of the article?

"Anyhoo, all of that is to tell you that, actually, InDesign does contain an "answer" to the Quark robot. In the Print dialog box, create and save a print preset named Friendly Alien. The settings don't matter. Then, click in the thumbnail preview area at the lower left of the dialog box and watch what happens."

 :drunk3:

Best part of my day!!  :drunk3:

Got a painful ear infection today, and well, this just cheered me up a bit.  :drunk3:
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Tracy on January 16, 2014, 12:36:43 PM
what dialog box? not getting it
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: pspdfppdfxhd on January 16, 2014, 12:37:57 PM
command P (or file-print) to anythiing. I'm doing it in CS6.


Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Tracy on January 16, 2014, 12:39:50 PM
nothing happened over here :laugh:
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: pspdfppdfxhd on January 16, 2014, 12:43:53 PM
Well, I've been dealing with my 84 year old mother's spamware infected pc with various problems with her downloading books from the library to her new KOBO reader...


sooo, I don't have time to deal with this now.  :laugh: :drunk3:
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: born2print on January 16, 2014, 12:47:47 PM
Worked here, capital A, no period
Friendly Alien
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Joe on January 16, 2014, 12:51:56 PM
It works in InDesign CS7 (CC).
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Possum on January 16, 2014, 01:48:08 PM
Sorry, that's just too lame compared to Quark's. You don't even get to shoot anything.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: born2print on January 16, 2014, 01:55:53 PM
Agreed. If you didn't know, if you do the Quark one like 7 times in a row it changes  :cool:
edit: (so you need to make enough elements to keep "deleting")
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: pspdfppdfxhd on January 16, 2014, 02:27:51 PM
Quote from: Possum on January 16, 2014, 01:48:08 PMSorry, that's just too lame compared to Quark's. You don't even get to shoot anything.

So there's one thing Quark has done better.

 :drunk3:
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: gnubler on January 16, 2014, 02:30:07 PM
Quote from: Possum on January 16, 2014, 01:48:08 PMYou don't even get to shoot anything.

You'll feel like it if you use quark long enough... :shootself:
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: DCurry on January 16, 2014, 06:07:12 PM
Quote from: pspdfppdfx on January 16, 2014, 12:26:37 PMGot a painful ear infection today, and well, this just cheered me up a bit.  :drunk3:

Hope you're luckier than me - my eardrum ruptured on Sunday night due to an ear infection I didn't even know I had! Take my advice - if you feel the pressure building in one ear and it doesn't get any better within a few hours, go to the ER! Mine started with a slight feeling of my ear needing to "pop", but it wouldn't and it got more and more uncomfortable. From the first sign til it ruptured was about 7 hours. Now I have ringing in that ear and a constant flow of pink fluid for the past few days.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: pspdfppdfxhd on January 17, 2014, 05:46:15 AM
Holy crap! Glad I went to the walk-in clinic then, they gave me drops and antibiotics. My neck was getting swollen and my jaw was starting to ache.

He told me if it got worse to get to emergency asap. He said my ear drum was inflamed and well, what happened to you could have happened to me.

 :drunk3:
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: DCurry on January 17, 2014, 09:40:26 AM
Now I get to see an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist on Monday to find out if I need surgery. At least the drainage stopped, though!
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Joe on January 17, 2014, 10:56:55 AM
I had ear surgery once where they had to cut through the skull behind the ear. Most painful thing I've ever experienced. Hopefully you won't get to experience that!
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: David on January 17, 2014, 11:07:42 AM
Quote from: Joe on January 17, 2014, 10:56:55 AM...cut through the skull...

new band name
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: born2print on January 17, 2014, 01:18:16 PM
WHAT?
 :tongue:

Dang, sounds horrible!
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: gnubler on January 17, 2014, 02:22:02 PM
So what are you guys sticking in your ears to cause all these infections?
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: DCurry on January 17, 2014, 05:23:04 PM
Quote from: gnubler on January 17, 2014, 02:22:02 PMSo what are you guys sticking in your ears to cause all these infections?

Nothing weird - just penises.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: gnubler on January 18, 2014, 12:01:40 AM
Sounds perfectly natural.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: pspdfppdfxhd on January 18, 2014, 05:40:19 PM
to be perfectly honest  :drunk3: i have a tendency to get excessive ear wax producing and am prone to straightening out a paper clip, looping the end up and yanking and scraping the said wax out.  :drunk3: so the wife finds these tools all over the house and yells at me alot for doing this. when i told her about the infection, she slped me upside the head telling me she told me not to poke about in my ears eith the damned clips.  :drunk3:

just sayin...
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Fontaholic on January 20, 2014, 08:34:25 AM
Quote from: pspdfppdfx on January 18, 2014, 05:40:19 PMto be perfectly honest  :drunk3: i have a tendency to get excessive ear wax producing and am prone to straightening out a paper clip, looping the end up and yanking and scraping the said wax out.  :drunk3: so the wife finds these tools all over the house and yells at me alot for doing this. when i told her about the infection, she slped me upside the head telling me she told me not to poke about in my ears eith the damned clips.  :drunk3:

just sayin...

 :puke:

This is the very definition of TMI (Too Much Information)... :wink:

Cheers, John the Fontaholic
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Possum on January 20, 2014, 09:54:31 AM
Tell your wife that slapping you upside the head is what causes ear infections.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: pspdfppdfxhd on January 20, 2014, 01:00:22 PM
Well, the "upside the head" slapping certainly didn't help the situation.

Apparently she's premenopausal.  :deadhorse: It's all they say it is and then some.   :drunk3:
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: gnubler on January 20, 2014, 01:26:20 PM
Quote from: Fontaholic on January 20, 2014, 08:34:25 AMThis is the very definition of TMI (Too Much Information)...

Someone has to fill in while Corn is away. I can't wait to hear every detail about Baby Corn's early weeks.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Possum on January 20, 2014, 02:00:52 PM
Yeah, like what color is in Baby Corn's diaper.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: David on January 20, 2014, 02:33:54 PM
(http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/633/1234/1600/diaper.jpg)
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Possum on January 20, 2014, 02:45:42 PM
That's what I was afraid of.

The one in the middle reminds me of the sludge that used collect in the bottom of a phototypesetting processor I had to clean.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: David on January 20, 2014, 04:11:43 PM
no doubt
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: gnubler on January 20, 2014, 07:23:14 PM
Fuckin david! :laugh:

I remember you once posted a diapered baby sitting on a chocolate cake or some shit...it was about 3 yrs ago and I had just started a new job. Bossman saw it up on my screen and all I said is "I'm at lunch."
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: David on January 20, 2014, 07:24:27 PM
I didn't do it...

I swear, and I have pictures to prove it...

maybe



 :dev2:
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: gnubler on January 20, 2014, 07:25:13 PM
I think you did and it was prolly in a quark thread.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: frailer on January 21, 2014, 05:07:37 PM
 I particularly liked this comment from an IT support guy.

QuoteI forgot all about this, probably repressing bad memories - but holy cow, if you somehow needed to reinstall Quark and misplaced a license key...well, it would be easier to pass an amendment to the Constitution than to get help from Quark. They treated us like common criminals.

As an aside, head office layout guy had to dig out an old Quack job from '04. Couldn't open it, as no longer running Q. Converted in Q2ID, which I still have plugged into Indy 5.5. It's the plugin that rarely gets used, but when you need it....
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: frailer on January 22, 2014, 05:48:08 PM
Had some time to look back on some of the comments. This one maybe hints at more where peoples' thinking might be headed. Would be a big wrench for many, but who knows, if someone put an Indy-threat out there at the right price?
problem is, Abode invented PDF; bit of an issue. You can imagine the monopolistic tripwires they'd set.
But there seems to be a groundswell of sentiment towards a non-bloated layout app. Having said that, things are headed more 'webby' than 'printy' these days.    :undecided:
Anyone experienced receiving PDFs out of other (maybe freeware), non-MS apps? If so, do they work? I live in a prepress cocoon compared to some here, who are exposed to all sorts of STDs. (Stupidity Transmitted Diseases).

QuoteI use Adobe CC, and it's generally solid, but the prices are outdated. Yes, on the one hand, the main tools I earn my living with cost about £500 a year, but on the other, look how little Apple charge for software nowadays, and once you've bought it from Apple, you've bought it....

If I could buy the equivalent software from Apple for less than a year's rental from Adobe, I'd move over. And I'm pretty sure most of the printers I use who are clinging to CS6 would too.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Joe on January 22, 2014, 06:32:13 PM
The layout app is not the problem. It wouldn't be all that hard to use Quark or even something like Scribus (open source page layout). The problem is that even switching page layout apps you still need software for creating art, editing photos, and fixing jacked up PDF's and that equals ADOBE (Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat). So switching page layout apps does nothing but to cause yourself more expense and problems in the long run. Until someone comes up with a viable competitor to the whole Creative Suite or ahem...Creative Cloud...Adobe has us by the short hairs with no intention of letting you wriggle free. Now there are open  source alternatives to Illy, and Photoshop like GIMP and Inkscape and they aren't that bad if you can work in RGB. The killer though is the Acrobat/Pitstop combo. Which is why I'd like to see Enfocus come up with a reasonably priced stand alone PDF editor. It would be tempting to try to get by without the other Adobe apps.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: pspdfppdfxhd on January 22, 2014, 06:41:03 PM
Quote from: Joe on January 22, 2014, 06:32:13 PMThe layout app is not the problem. It wouldn't be all that hard to use Quark or even something like Scribus (open source page layout). The problem is that even switching page layout apps you still need software for creating art, editing photos, and fixing jacked up PDF's and that equals ADOBE (Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat). So switching page layout apps does nothing but to cause yourself more expense and problems in the long run. Until someone comes up with a viable competitor to the whole Creative Suite or ahem...Creative Cloud...Adobe has us by the short hairs with no intention of letting you wriggle free. Now there are open  source alternatives to Illy, and Photoshop like GIMP and Inkscape and they aren't that bad if you can work in RGB. The killer though is the Acrobat/Pitstop combo. Which is why I'd like to see Enfocus come up with a reasonably priced stand alone PDF editor. It would be tempting to try to get by without the other Adobe apps.


The Elder of the tribe speaks.....
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: frailer on January 22, 2014, 06:49:56 PM
Yeah, I guess finally nudging Quack over the cliff-edge just tightened the scrotum-clutch they already had. Layout was the missing bit.
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Joe on January 22, 2014, 06:55:33 PM
And we all helped! :cry:
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Joe on January 22, 2014, 06:56:19 PM
Quote from: pspdfppdfx on January 22, 2014, 06:41:03 PM
Quote from: Joe on January 22, 2014, 06:32:13 PMThe layout app is not the problem. It wouldn't be all that hard to use Quark or even something like Scribus (open source page layout). The problem is that even switching page layout apps you still need software for creating art, editing photos, and fixing jacked up PDF's and that equals ADOBE (Illustrator, Photoshop, and Acrobat). So switching page layout apps does nothing but to cause yourself more expense and problems in the long run. Until someone comes up with a viable competitor to the whole Creative Suite or ahem...Creative Cloud...Adobe has us by the short hairs with no intention of letting you wriggle free. Now there are open  source alternatives to Illy, and Photoshop like GIMP and Inkscape and they aren't that bad if you can work in RGB. The killer though is the Acrobat/Pitstop combo. Which is why I'd like to see Enfocus come up with a reasonably priced stand alone PDF editor. It would be tempting to try to get by without the other Adobe apps.


The Elder of the tribe speaks.....

That should be "Grumpy Old Man"! :laugh:
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: pspdfppdfxhd on January 22, 2014, 07:00:24 PM
same thing really...
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: frailer on January 22, 2014, 07:34:25 PM
Quote from: Joe on January 22, 2014, 06:55:33 PMAnd we all helped! :cry:

Not that we had any real say. We only came into in-house in early '04; latecomers. Can't imagine what some of you guys went through with Output Blues. Actually, I bought the book of the same name when I was trying to bone up. Taz Tully? Something like that...
Title: Re: "How QuarkXPress became a mere afterthought in publishing"
Post by: Slappy on January 22, 2014, 10:10:45 PM
Quote from: frailer on January 22, 2014, 05:48:08 PMAnyone experienced receiving PDFs out of other (maybe freeware), non-MS apps? If so, do they work? I live in a prepress cocoon compared to some here, who are exposed to all sorts of STDs. (Stupidity Transmitted Diseases).
We don't see much out of the ordinary, but I saw one of the web-based design for printing Beta things the other month so I got an invite. It's called Canva (https://www.canva.com/), looked moderately interesting. I meant to generate a few PDFs to see how they go through the RIPs but haven't had a chance. Anybody wants to give it a whirl, I think I have 5 invites I can throw out. They don't seem to be spamming or anything, probably looking more for feedback at this point.