QuarkExpress or Pagemaker?

["Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA>]

Jennifer O Neill <<... is going to outsource a user manual... We want a good
looking manual, in colour, that's easy to
use. It'll be translated into several languages. It'll have less than 30
pages and have a TOC and index.>>

Both Quark and PM can easily do the job for you. However:

<<We produced out first colour manual in-house recently using Pagemaker. We
don't have time to do this manual ourselves.>>

But you may have time (and desperate need) to periodically update it without
paying agency fees if it's done in PM: you already have the expertise to do
this. If the agency does the job for you in PM and sends you the files (make
sure that's part of the contract!), you can make changes whenever you want
for no extra cost, and no delays other than your own time. However:

<<My question concerns Quark. The agency uses  it and my collegue is keen we
do the manual in it. I'm cautious as I don't see what advantages it has over
Pagemaker.>>

Quark is currently much more powerful software than PM because it's more
extensible and gets far better support from its publisher. (Development
support, that is. Quark still has a reputation for user-hostile tech
support.) You'll also find it much easier to find skilled designers who can
work in Quark; PM has lost much of its user community due to Adobe's
shameful neglect of the product. If your colleague currently has a copy of
Quark, and is willing to use it as necessary to update your manual, then you
can ask the agency to do the initial work in Quark. Provided they give you
the final files, you can still update the manual as required without paying
the agency.

<<Unlike leaflets, the files for manuals move around between many people for
reviews, reuse & translation. Consequently all our sales offices and
factories have Word and Pagemaker. Only the 2 people who do leaflets have
Quark.>>

Which brings the wheel full circle and suggests that you should probably
stick with PageMaker unless someone's willing to convert your offices and
factories to use Quark ($$$). Now the issue becomes disruption of an
established workflow, not a matter of which software can do the job. If the
system works fine now, ask yourself the tough question: why change what's
working?

<<We print all manuals in pdf format so does it matter if we use Quark or
not?>>

Only for the sake of revision. Which, if you're willing to centralize
production and revision of the files, may make Quark a good choice anyway.
But that's not your current workflow.

<<Am I right to be cautious?>>

Yes, but not because there's anything wrong with Quark as a product; in
several ways, it's actually a better tool than PM. (Not so much better that
you have to upgrade.) The real issue is what disruptions this will have for
your workflow. You'll also have to work with your translation/localisation
people to confirm that they're able to work as effectively with Quark as
they do with PM. If there's a learning curve at their end, you may be paying
for this in $ and time.

--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca

"When ideas fail, words come in very handy."--Goethe

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