QuarkXPress 9 Software Review

After being away from QuarkXPress for about six years it was interesting to try a state-of-the-art descendent of the page layout software I once used daily. On my iMac i7 QuarkXPress 9 took about 10 minutes to install from DVD. The installation was easy and straightforward and required a reboot upon completion. Opening the application, the initial panel offers several options, including access to training and what's new in QuarkXPress 9. I clicked on "Create a Project" and was prompted to enter a layout name and type, which includes the options Print, Web, Interactive and App Studio.

Back in the days, QuarkXPress was THE application for print-media design. This version goes beyond print projects and provides powerful tools that enable the user to create iPad e-zines and other apps. It's Mobile App Interactivity palette facilitates the creation of slideshows with sound, buttons and HTML within XPress documents. Projects can be exported directly to an XPS file using a simple tool.

There are several interesting tools in this release. A "Cloner" Tool can be used to copy items or content of pages to other locations or documents. For example, you can have a multiple page document containing business forms, and then quickly allow each page to be cloned to its own unique single page document. — A "Story Editor" is another helpful tool, allowing you to see a complete story without chasing it from page to page through the document. I used to move a story to another editor for a proof read or to make changes. The Story Editor provides a clean way of performing this function. With this version of XPress, you can also import a .docx Word document and it will retain the bulleting and numbering. — "Shapemaker" is another feature that allows the creation of complex shapes and those shapes can be applied to a text box. For those wanting to create an e-book, which is very different than exporting to PDF (an e-book is a continuous flow of text and images). QuarkXPress 9 offers this capability with "Reflow View." — An "ImageGrid" Function (see image) allows you to quickly create catalogs of images. Many layout and labeling options are available and images are automatically pulled from the folder you specify. This tool could be a big help for those publishing a catalog of homes, autos, etc.

Another feature I discovered was "Composition Zones" that allow multiple people to work on different parts of a document simultaneously. I sometimes work on magazine layouts and this feature would allow me to focus on magazine content while exporting the "Composition Zones" to be used by the ad designers. The designers return their ads by placing them in the proper folder and my layout is automatically updated with their new advertising content. As the ad designers make corrections and changes, my workflow isn't disrupted because their changes are immediately reflected in my document.

I frequently use Step & Repeat. XPress offers a "Super" Step & Repeat (see image) with some nice added functionality. Along with horizontal and vertical offset settings, you can rotate and scale relative to Top-Left, Top-Center...to Bottom-Right, and the Box Shade can be set to vary by percentage from the first through the last box.

I found this software fairly intuitive and easy to use, much different than the tough learning curve of the early versions. I was even able to import a Photoshop PSD file into a picture box, albeit with the warning "the image contains layers with effects that are not currently supported by psd Import, and a composite image will be imported." Overall, QuarkXPress 9 should be fairly easy to learn and use for those already familiar with InDesign and other professional page layout applications. As I discovered, the newest XPress offers many powerful and unique features and is an impressive and powerful page layout application for both traditional print and some of the newer digital media formats.

Reviewed by IMA Member JohnLobban — December 2011

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