Quark or InDesign?

[:: JJ ::]

I'm thinking of investing in some DTP/layout software and I am currently torn between the latest Quark and InDesign. Does anyone recommend either, I've only used Quark a little before but I've heard that its the best.

[jimking]

Quark used to be the best, but no longer. Adobe struck gold when they offered 3 top products for the price of one Quark. Photoshop, Illustrator and a very stable page layout program with elements of both Photoshop and Illustrator built in which is InDesign. Your poll will show this.

[twogun]

^totally agree, used Quark for a few years, upgraded my illustrator and photoshop to CS, got Indesign bundled in and have never looked back.

personally i feel its the best thing Adobe have done in years, apart form buying out Macromedia that is!

[jimking]

Years ago they also bought out Aldus. Which was Pagemaker and Illustrator I believe.

[morea]

we really try to avoid Quark vs. InDesign debates here, so let's make sure this doesn't turn nasty.

If you do a forum search you will see that this topic has been discussed to death. What it really boils down to a matter of preference.

Personally, I prefer InDesign, for what it's worth, but here is the answer from our FAQ:

"It doesn't matter which software you use, so much as how you use it. The quality of our work is NOT defined by our software."

Here is a link to our frequently discussed topics thread:
http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7892

[twogun]

here here mo!

what about photoshop against paint shop pro??

only kidding before you shout at me agian!!

[jimking]

Or Pagemaker--not stable, that's how I look at software. I still like Quark, but I think they've dropped the ball several times and their coding for new platforms is not up to par. At one time there was a good photo editing program that gave Photoshop a run for its money, it was called "Live Picture". Does anyone remember this application? At the time it had some very good features and it was very fast at that time because when editing you edited a hires pic view, not the live graphic itself. When you were finished you rendered all your edits at once. I believe it was German manufacture.

[twogun]

never heard of live picture im afraid jimking.

i did have the misfortune of using an application called "photdesk" once on an "Acorn". the boss swore by these machines saying they were going to take over form apple, they didnt, i left.

dont learn by your mistakes, learn by someone elses!

[jimking]

I worked with Live Picture around 12 years ago. It really was a good professional program. It had a following in the large format market because of the way you were able to edit very large graphics quickly. But overnight it faded away.

[kerrysmagicshirt]

mm i voted quark - but only cause i am still getting to grips with indesign. they do the ame jobs and yup indesign is much cheaper - grr can i change my vote.

[Gromit801]

Years ago they also bought out Aldus. Which was Pagemaker and Illustrator I believe.

They bought part of Aldus, which included Pagemaker. But Illustrator was always an Adobe product. Aldus used to have Freehand, which was bought by Macromedia, and then in turn, bought by Adobe.

[jimking]

That's it--Freehand. Thanks.

[Logo-Mechanix]

I chisel everything into stone and mail it out through the poney express.

[Gromit801]

I chisel everything into stone and mail it out through the poney express.

Wow! you got the fast service! That dang Triceratops is still lumbering around somewhere out there with my stuff.

[Piscosour]

MS Publisher :eek: :p

[jimking]

MS Publisher :eek: :p
Where's Rickself! :)

[Jimeda Fork]

I voted Quark.

Only because I've been using is for about 15 years. I recently upgraded to CS2, so now I have ID. I just haven't had the chance to use it yet.

[philben]

I vote InDesign; I think it's an excellent program which has overtaken Quark in layout and bitmap handling. I find it convenient; maybe it's because I’m used to it:D.

[style]

indesign because it works so well with photoshop and illustrator!

[aantonsen]

As a designer you should know all the programs you plan on dealing with.Which means learning a little of everything. I know Quark and InDesign but they are not that different.

My first job my boss used pagemaker for all the text layouts so its just preference.
I prefer InDesign. go team.

[lesliegraphics]

My vote goes for Indesign. I used Quark for a long time then finally decided to make the switch. It wasn't hard to learn and I honestly think Adobe is the future. Quark is making a stab at keeping up but I don't think they can.

An interesting note: Each time I am talking to non design people and all, I used to say I use Quark and they would say they never heard of it. Nowadays in the same conversation I say I use Adobe and everyone has heard of it.

[PrintDriver]

I use

what you use.

[Mynock]

I used Quark at my last job and there are small things I like better, but I'm on InD now. It really doesn't matter. It's finacially smarter to get InD in my opinion.

[Lonepine]

I guess I'm kinda of weird. I actually use both. I don't want to get rusty on one or the other so I purposely design some things in InDesign and then others in Quark. I figure if I keep on doing this I won't forget how to do things in the two programs. If I ever decide to leave my current job than I'll be able to take my skill set on to the next place. I do lean toward InDesign more than Quark just because it integrates so well with the other CS2 programs.

[PrintDriver]

With Indesign, why does everyone laud the "integrates with other Adobe apps"?
Are you all really using Bridge?
If you know what you're doing, Quark integrates with Adobe apps too. Always has. (Well. Maybe not so much making PDFs. LOL!)

[lesliegraphics]

On my last job I had over 400 photos and another 112 illustrations and trust me I was using the Bridge big time. It really did make it so easy to find where something was, update and so on. I used Quark up until a year ago and I am telling you I would have been nuts trying to do the same project in Quark. It was just so easy to be in Photoshop and fix something on a photo and then the Bridge is right there asking you to update the graphic in your layout. The way the whole Creative Suite works together is great.

[Lonepine]

Ditto on what lesliegraphics said. I use Bridge on a daily basis. That little program packs a big punch! It 'integrates with other Adobe apps'. ;-)