PageMaker vs. Quark Express?

[howard <hb -at- PENCIL -dot- U-NET -dot- COM>]

>If you've got a few extra bucks in your budget and time to learn the
>new software, buy both. Quark has no competitive upgrade policy, but
>if you buy Quark first you can buy PageMaker for next to nothing
>through Adobe's competitive upgrade program. Most graphistes I've
>worked with maintain at least two tools for accomplishing exactly the
>same function... they find that on some days or for some jobs, they
>prefer the second tool, even when most days they prefer the first
>one. Flexibility!

I can (and have) used both to great effect. However, I do find it hard to
get up to speed using PM (need a couple of days and, if possible, a
co-worker who can jog my memory!). It's best summed up as a couple of days
of "Argh! Why don't this work like Quark?".

What did surprise me tho', considering Adobe's policies, is why they didn't
bundle a Quark filter along with the comprehensive set that IS included
with PM 6.0. However I do accept that this could have been a result of
Quark saying "Nah, we don't want you to have it"--NB this is speculation,
please don't take my work for it!

PageMaker wins hands down for macro functionality like TOC building and
suchlike so is maybe better suited to Tech Pubs and our stock-in-trade,
manuals and document sets--long work. Quark can handle it via floating
pagerefs, don't be mistaken, but PM has the edge.

Learning both in tandem (which I didn't) should, IMO, help you to compare &
contrast in your mind-map of the apps. However, one advantage Quark has is
that it's pretty easy to make yourself even more employable still once you
realise that MS-Publisher is incredibly close to Quark in the way it works.
Publisher ain't as flexible or precise (particularly with regard to
typesetting) and is annoying in that new pages seem to need to be created
manually (could be my fault, admittedly) but on the whole is pretty
user-friendly for anyone who knows either Xpress or Word already.

There was a comparative review of the leading DTP tools of the time in
IDeAs, downloadable from the Information Design Association's website in
Acrobat format.

It provides a good background, includes FrameMaker and isn't so long you
can't read it and eat in a lunchbreak.

http://www.ideography.co.uk/library/oldIDeAs.html

howard
mailto:hb -at- pencil -dot- u-net -dot- com

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