New Cross-References Plug-in for InDesign Ships
By: Erik Vlietinck
August 17, 2007
0 comments
XChange International, the source for extended technology worldwide, are pleased to announce the release of the new Cross-References plug-in for Adobe InDesign and InCopy. Cross-References, available for both Macintosh and Windows platforms, is a modular system which responds to every referencing need. It is a robust solution inspired by a similar feature in Adobe FrameMaker, utilising paragraph and character styles with XML driven format.
pdf-Office Professional in Version 7.0 Available
By: Erik Vlietinck
August 17, 2007
0 comments
The newest version of the German solution for creating PDF forms, pdf-Office Professional Version 7.0, has been announced for release. The software is compatible with Windows, Macintosh and Linux platforms.
Macware Releases FontLibrary for Creative Professionals
By: Erik Vlietinck
August 17, 2007
0 comments
Macware, a leading Mac software publisher, announced today the release of FontLibrary, a premier collection of fonts in both TrueType and OpenType format for commercial use.
Workflow Rules – But Don’t Overlook the Proofing Basics
By: Editor
August 13, 2007
0 comments
Attentive readers of the industry media may have noticed that editorials devoted specifically to colour proofing do not appear as frequently as they used to. This isn’t because proofing is less of a ‘hot’ topic than before; rather it’s because proofing is now perceived as one component – albeit an important one – of the digital workflow. For every feature dedicated to proofing, there are maybe half a dozen on managing colour within a digital workflow.
Converting QuarkXPress 7 into InDesign CS3 With Q2ID CS3 - It Just Works !
By: Erik Vlietinck
August 04, 2007
0 comments
Q2ID CS3 is an upgrade of Markzware’s venerable conversion plug-in. It converts QuarkXpress 7 files into InDesign CS3 documents, and lives in the InDesign CS3 plug-ins folder. Q2ID CS3 works wonders, although some capabilities of QuarkXPress 7 are not translated at all. The disadvantage of Markzware’s plug-in is there is nothing for reviewers to show: no preferences, no dialogues, nothing to show in screenshots—it just works.
BusinessWeek Integrates Print and Web Workflows Using Adobe InDesign, InCopy and SoftCare K4
By: Erik Vlietinck
August 02, 2007
0 comments
SoftCare today announced that BusinessWeek magazine has fully integrated its online and print workflows using the SoftCare K4 Publishing System and Adobe InCopy and InDesign. All content – print-only, print-to-Web and Web-only – is being handled by the system, and writers, editors, copy desk and art staff are working entirely within K4 to manage the production process.
BusinessWeek is one of the first K4 customers to develop a workflow that includes traditional print content and online-only articles in the same K4 system. This unique production process was possible thanks to K4’s flexible scripting and customization capabilities coupled with its ability to generate XML directly from the SoftCare K4 content database to any site-specific requirements.
BusinessWeek magazine is a leader in its market, with 4.7 million readers each week in 140 countries. Its Web site, http://www.businessweek.com, averaged more than 6.7 million unique users per month in the first quarter of 2007, a 22 percent increase over Q1 2006.
Gradual To Unveil Newest Products at Graph Expo
By: Erik Vlietinck
July 23, 2007
0 comments
Gradual Software, specialist in publishing automation solutions, will have a strong presence at Graph Expo, held September 9 -12th, 2007 in Chicago, IL, USA. The company will unveil its newest product line to the US market, in cooperation with its strategic German partner callas software. The two companies will exhibit together at booth 5358 and demonstrate the synchronicity between their product solutions.
During Graph Expo, Gradual will introduce its SWITCH family of products, including LightSWITCH and FullSWITCH, which enables users to implement workflow automation solutions tailored to meet the production needs of individual work environments. PowerSWITCH provides advanced automation features, such as support for scripting and metadata, together with SWITCHclient, a workgroup client that makes it easy to deploy automation for a complete workgroup.
Layout Reacts to QuarkXPres vs InDesign CS3 Report
By: Erik Vlietinck
July 19, 2007
0 comments
Alistair Dabbs, editor of Layout has kindly pointed out that we made two mistakes in the QuarkXPress 7 versus InDesign CS3 report. Lacking a technical editor is not always a good idea, so we are publishing this addendum with our sincere apologies to Adobe for these two errors. Layout also seems to imply that we have been using beta software --we can assure our readers this has not been the case. In fact, the two errors we made were a direct result of not having done what we did for the rest of the report: re-test with the release version of Indesign everything we had already been testing with the beta.
The first mistake is about the XTensions sets in QuarkXPress and the plug-ins in InDesign CS3. We reported that InDesign’s plug-ins should always be on unless you drag plug-ins out of the folder in the Finder. We reported that an equivalent for the XTensions Manager in QuarkXPress does not exist. This is wrong. In InDesign CS3, when selecting “Plug-in Configuration” from the Application menu, enables users to save the default plug-ins as a duplicate set. The user can then call this set whatever he likes, and turn on/off plug-ins as required.
WARNING! Linotype FontExplorer 1.2 Wreaks Havoc
By: Erik Vlietinck
July 09, 2007
0 comments
On July 7, LinoType released FontExplorer 1.2 with updated plug-ins for InDesign , Illustrator, and QuarkXPress 7. The QuarkXPress 7 XTension crashes QuarkXPress and your machine really hard.
We discovered the crash ourselves, right after profiling our monitor. When starting QuarkXPress 7.2, the application seems to launch fine until after a couple of seconds, the screen starts getting filled with tiny coloured squares. At that point, the machine is completely stuck and all you can do is force it to reboot, using the power button.
MarkzTools Universal Binary
By: Erik Vlietinck
July 02, 2007
0 comments
Markzware announced its Universal Binary version of the ‘miracle XTension,’ MarkzTools which takes advantage of the Intel-based Macs.
This Universal Binary update of Markzware MarkzTools is used to prevent corrupted QuarkXPress documents, overcoming the dreaded bad file format, retrieve text from corrupted documents and view images in gray previews to reduce file size. Additionally, MarkzTools allows QuarkXPress users to do a Save As to Quark 4.1.
IT Enquirer report compares productivity, creativity, and efficiency in QuarkXPress and InDesign
By: Erik Vlietinck
June 28, 2007
21 comments
IT-Enquirer wrote a 34-pages analysis comparing the most important functionality aimed at productivity, creativity, and efficiency in QuarkXPress 7 and Adobe InDesign CS3. The analysis consists of timing results measured for identical tasks performed in each application and of a qualitative assessment of features that can’t be measured in time.
The report is available as a PDF download to Subscribers. Registration here.
The French report can be downloaded direct: QuarkXPress 7 face a InDesign CS3 Analyse
In particular, we tested tasks and challenges in the following application areas:
- Document, setup, collaboration and design consistency
- Working with layouts
- Printing and output
- Miscellaneous other tasks
QuarkXPress Server 7.2 Offers XML and Web-Driven Workflow
By: Erik Vlietinck
June 28, 2007
0 comments
Quark Inc. announced today the availability of QuarkXPress Server 7.2, the new release of Quark’s dynamic publishing technology that combines the typography and graphic support of QuarkXPress with server-based performance to develop and publish on-demand creative communications. QuarkXPress Server powers Web-to-print and variable data publishing (VDP) solutions that automate the creation of advertisements, catalogues, one-to-one, or one-to-many creative material.
The new XML capability in QuarkXPress Server 7.2 eases system integration and maximises a user’s creative assets by repurposing content created in QuarkXPress into other systems, such as an e-mail server, Web server or other content delivery environments. QuarkXPress Server 7.2 supports http, SOAP, .net, ASP, PHP, JSP and includes a Java manager for the rapid development of automated and scalable publishing solutions.
