Re: QuarkXPress 7 vs Adobe InDesign CS

["Raj Machhan" <raj -dot- machhan -at- gmail -dot- com>]

HI all,

A big thanks to all, for your meaningful contributions to this discussion.
Things appeared pretty hazy when I started off with this project two days
back. I was apprehensive about the choice I had to make.
As I write this, thanks to Techwhirlers, I feel sure about what I need to do
and have already put a documentation plan in place.

Thanks a lot folks.

Raj



On 6/12/07, Pinkham, Jim <Jim -dot- Pinkham -at- voith -dot- com> wrote:
>
> Hi, Sheila --
>
> Here's what I can tell you. I used both Word import and the table
> feature often in a prior life, but in the interest of full disclosure,
> I'll also admit I haven't worked with Quark daily in a couple of years,
> and I don't have a Quark reference on my desktop at the moment. So a few
> general comments and then I'll point you to some resources.
>
> * Table or not, make sure the Word file you'll be exporting is as clean
> as you can make it. Get rid of unused styles, extra spaces, hidden tabs,
> and similar formatting crud before trying to bring anything over.
> * Quark has been able to handle tables since the advent of the Table
> Tool in QXP 5, and QXP 6 advanced that tool's somewhat basic
> capabilities. As I recall, I spent some time tinkering at the table cell
> level to get the formats that were underlying the table to show up once
> I'd brought it to Quark. You may need to do some upfront style
> definitions in Word, too. I would not be surprised if things were a
> little more straightforward now that QXP 7 versions are available, and a
> little digging should confirm whether this is so. In Quark's own words
> re: ver 7: "In QuarkXPress 7, table features have been enhanced to
> support splitting tables, running headers and footers, and transparency
> controls that extend to individual cells and borders. With the
> QuarkXPress 7 tables features, you can easily combine text and graphics
> and benefit from tight integration with Microsoft Excel for both design-
> and content-driven grids."
> * I found the "Real World" and "Bible" series of Quark books very
> helpful. Check
> http://www.amazon.com/Real-World-QuarkXPress/dp/0321350308/ref=pd_bbs_2/
> 105-2878600-0412452?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1181662794&sr=1-2 for details on
> David Blatner's update of his work for QXP 7. Blatner's version for QXP
> 6 has a significant discussion of tables.
> * Anne-Marie "Her Geekness" Concepcion provides an excellent list of QXP
> resources at: http://www.senecadesign.com/designgeek/quark.html.
> * A post to the QXP list, a search of its archives, or both are probably
> your best bets for the most current answers and/or the ones most
> pertinent to your setup. Again, check out
> http://www.siclist.org/mailman/listinfo/quarkxpress. A search such as
> the following may turn up another useful list or two to query:
> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1
> &q=quarkxpress+list&spell=1.
> * FYI, there's a detailed description of a process for bringing an Excel
> table to QXP at
> http://www.quark.com/service/forums/viewtopic.php?t=6384, at
> http://www.creativepro.com/story/howto/22921.html?origin=story, and
> another helpful article on imports, also focused on Excel, at
> http://www.senecadesign.com/designgeek/dgarchives/designgeek18.php#excel
> tables. I realize we were talking about Word, but some of the process
> should be transferable. Worst case, you could select the table in Word,
> paste into Excel, and import the worksheet. Personally, I never had to
> do that.
> * Finally, you might also consider XTensions, such as the tool suites
> that include table offerings from Gluon or onOne (QX-Tools) software.
>
> Jim
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Reffelt, Sheila [mailto:Sheila -dot- Reffelt -at- alcoa -dot- com]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2007 9:44 AM
> To: Pinkham, Jim; Raj Machhan; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: RE: QuarkXPress 7 vs Adobe InDesign CS
>
> I am currently a big fan of Quark.
> I use it exclusively for publishing applications (instruction manuals
> with graphics and product bulletins), so bias is obvious.
> But tell me, Jim:
> I have never been successful in   "... bringing
> in Word documents, including formatted tabular material,".
> HOW DO YOU DO THAT???
> Thanks.
> Sheila
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pinkham, Jim [mailto:Jim -dot- Pinkham -at- voith -dot- com]
> Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 11:25 AM
> To: Raj Machhan; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: RE: QuarkXPress 7 vs Adobe InDesign CS
>
> With the usual caveats of "depends upon your situation" and "your
> mileage may vary," I think it's safe to say that both are strong
> applications, and either one could likely handle such a task well,
> depending on what you mean by "user guide." Depending on how long and
> complex the documentation, Frame could be an obvious choice, too.
>
> Quark is the older and more established desktop publishing program and
> is widely used in newspaper and magazine publishing. Personally, it
> would be my choice of the two, but that's tinged by the fact that I've
> used Quark and not InDesign. Either can integrate well with Acrobat and
> Illustrator within a workflow. Quark also does a decent job of bringing
> in Word documents, including formatted tabular material, without a lot
> of bumps. If you are already using other Adobe products, such as
> Acrobat, Illustrator, Photoshop, etc., you may find the learning curve
> less steep with InDesign because of similarities within the product
> family.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+jim -dot- pinkham=voith -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
> Behalf Of Raj Machhan
> Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 9:09 AM
> To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Subject: QuarkXPress 7 vs Adobe InDesign CS
>
> Hi,
>
> Has anybody used QuarkXPress or Adobe InDesign to create User Guides? I
> gather these are primarily page layout applications with advanced design
> and typesetting features. I need to make a choice between the two to
> create a design-intensive User Guide. Can anybody tell me which one of
> these is ideal for such a job?
>
> Best
>
> Raj
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