Where the industry is heading... GDF research!

So I sent out an ad to a Magazine Publisher in Quark 6.0. He emails me and says I need to save it down to version 5.0. So I do and ask him if he's still on OS9. He says yes. So I ask if he is planning on upgrading to Adobe CS or is he going to get Quark. Guess what he says... he's planning on getting Indesign CS and then they'll all be upgrading to Mac OSX. They publish at least 5 other magazines here so this lets you peak into what the future of the industry is headed.


Here is a snippet of what he wrote:

We are currently still on OS 9 here in the office but
> we are eventually going to have to switch over to OSX. When we do the
> conversion, our software of choice will be InDesign CS because it is more
> closely compatable with Pagemaker which is what we currently use. When that
> will be is still being debated because many of our editors' Macs are not
> capable of running OSX.

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'Adventure, Excitement, A Jedi craves not these things.'
'Anger...fear...aggression. The dark side of the Force are they.'

[defjoe]

Once again... like I said before Benjo I blame alot of design places for not going to OS X cause they are cheap. Eventually they wil have to. OS 9 is a dying breed. Quark is as well. but that is their own fault.

'I will become the most powerful Jedi ever!'

[D-Frag]

I have heard (around here anyways) that Adobe CS still has a TON of issues, so I have been waiting to upgrade.....anyone else heard this? I was specifically told very Boldly 'Do not upgrade to CS, unless you want alot of color problems, and other issues' he didnt dwelve into the other issues, but this is coming from a pc based printhouse that I deal with.


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Actually I haven't heard much about CS but one this is for shore we'll be finding out on this forum and it looks like Quark future is in question.

http://www.cbcamerica.com/images/webshots/banner-design.jpg
'Adventure, Excitement, A Jedi craves not these things.'
'Anger...fear...aggression. The dark side of the Force are they.'

[PrintDriver]

Check around D-Frag. Some print vendors are really 'reluctant' to use CS, especially InDesign CS. I haven't heard any particularly bad rumblings from the Boston/NYC area vendors I use. Just the usual 'Oh F**, ANOTHER upgrade,' complaints. Allof these guys are large format though and are used to coming up with all kinds of incredibly crazy work-arounds for color problems.

I'm still waiting at work to get totally up to OSX. Only one comp has it for fielding anything that comes in. Lots of our peripherals will need upgrading too which is part of the slowdown on funding. It is a big layout and it's not that IT is cheap, it's that they gotta keep everyone happy, from designers to drafters to us lowly production guys... I've learned patience. Sorta.

Specialization is for insects...

R.H.

[Magnus]

I've heard all good stuff from one other print shop in my area, and a Registered Graphic Deisgner that we do work for. From what I've seen of it, it's snazy, and I'm looking forward to the flexibility of CS and OS X. (I have it, just haven't had time to familiarize myself with it...been too busy at work)

- There is a difference between knowing the path, and walking the path.

Thats great new Magnus. So they files they produce are excellent for printing? I was wondering about this because Adobe developed PostScript so they should be able to develope a good layout program.

http://www.cbcamerica.com/images/webshots/banner-design.jpg
'Adventure, Excitement, A Jedi craves not these things.'
'Anger...fear...aggression. The dark side of the Force are they.'

[DeleteYourself]

I have mixed emotions about the industry switching to InDesign. I recently had to learn it, in order to make a piece for a client. It's easy enough to figure out if you're familiar with other Adobe software, granted, but re-learning terminology, keyboard shortcuts and other quirks is a pain in the ass.

On the other hand, saving money is fun. Quark is just too damn expensive (not to mention strict on piracy, but that's another story).

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I use it at home and it's pretty decent. Not only that it's about twice as flexible as Quark. Let me put it this way the integration alone with Illustrator and Photoshop make it a must have for anyone seriously considering blazing a few designs.

http://www.cbcamerica.com/images/webshots/banner-design.jpg
'Adventure, Excitement, A Jedi craves not these things.'
'Anger...fear...aggression. The dark side of the Force are they.'

[DeleteYourself]

I guess another reason I'm skeptical is because I've been having trouble with PDFing (per my post in the software forum). Assuming Adobe gets it to the point where bugs are not a factor, I'd have no problem switching over completely. It is nice to be able integrate all the Adobe apps and have them work in harmony. Peace, love, and all that...

Damn, I think I need to go home...

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DeleteYourself said...
I guess another reason I'm skeptical is because I've been having trouble with PDFing (per my post in the software forum). Assuming Adobe gets it to the point where bugs are not a factor, I'd have no problem switching over completely. It is nice to be able integrate all the Adobe apps and have them work in harmony. Peace, love, and all that...

Damn, I think I need to go home...


LOL at the peace love and harmony. But yea they do have alot of bugs and so does Quark. We are on version 6 and I still find that once you apply a style sheet you have to recreate the document to change the dam thing. Indesign once you change the style sheet it updates all the content that was using it. Yes in theory Quark should do this, in theory!

http://www.cbcamerica.com/images/webshots/banner-design.jpg
'Adventure, Excitement, A Jedi craves not these things.'
'Anger...fear...aggression. The dark side of the Force are they.'

[DeleteYourself]

I thought Quark updates content when you update style sheets also. I know did it previous versions. I'll have to check on that.

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It's supposed to but the only automated feature that works for me is the Master pages. Style sheets only work the first time I use them. I have no idea why?

http://www.cbcamerica.com/images/webshots/banner-design.jpg
'Adventure, Excitement, A Jedi craves not these things.'
'Anger...fear...aggression. The dark side of the Force are they.'

[DeleteYourself]

Hmm.. I just checked, I'm using QX 6.1 and my text updates as I update the corresponding style sheet. I don't know why yours doesn't.

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[casedsgn]

Long live ID..... I've never had ANY problems with printers in St. Louis or Dallas using my ID files. And the streamlined integration with Photoshop and Illustrator is frickin great! Quark can just go out of business for all I care...and that seems to be the general opinion of the shops I've worked with. Rather than upgrading to the newest Quark, they're upgrading to Adobe CS instead.

[DeleteYourself]

Has anybody seen any published articles on industry standards changing from QX to ID?

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No I haven't seen anything on it. Most printers my way don't even except ID let along Quark 6.0. But like Case said and as I will be doing once I purchase a new Mac I'm only going to get two suites the Adobe CS Publisher suite and the Macromedia MX 2004.

That my friend is all we need.

http://www.cbcamerica.com/images/webshots/banner-design.jpg
'Adventure, Excitement, A Jedi craves not these things.'
'Anger...fear...aggression. The dark side of the Force are they.'

[casedsgn]

Here's a pretty decent article comparing ID CS / QX 6 -->www.creativepro.com/story/feature/20604.html (http://www.creativepro.com/story/feature/20604.html). It doesn't really talk about 'industry standard', but it wouldn't suprise me if Quark takes a huge hit in the next year or so.

[DeleteYourself]

Thanks, case, great article! I've used ID a little, but now I'm thinking that I may need to give it more of a chance.

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That was a great article and I love it when an actual user of the software rights a review.

But no auto-page numbering for ID, com-on Adobe what the heck are you thinking this should be a basic feature. Even Word has this.

But I like how he touched on the fact that both programs need the auto bulleting feature found in Word. LOL I can't believe MS beat them to this.

This also explains that question in the forum some where that the guy asked on how to embed an image so it behaves as a character in a text box with text. The answer is ID can't do this yet.

The only thing I disagree with is the Align feature in Quark. I love that thing. The one in ID is easier for a beginner but I couldn't live without this feature I need everything aligned and I need it now! So am I the only person that uses this feature in Quark?

http://www.cbcamerica.com/images/webshots/banner-design.jpg
'Adventure, Excitement, A Jedi craves not these things.'
'Anger...fear...aggression. The dark side of the Force are they.'

[casedsgn]

I think ID does a great job of aligning....It handles it the exact same way that all the other adobe and macromedia programs do now.

[DeleteYourself]

I agree on the aligning. I use it all the time in Quark. It's just not as purty-looking as the Adobe version, no big deal. Also, I liked the author's idea for object style sheets. Or at least an eyedropper tool. That's one plus for ID.

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Oh yea I guess you can say that it's the standard way of aligning. I'm just saying that I use the align feature in Quark just as much as in any other program. I really wish Photoshop had an align option. But with ID importing raw Photoshop files I guess that limitation has also been overcome.

You didn't see the menus I did Case. All ID and the cover in Illustrator.


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http://www.cbcamerica.com/images/webshots/banner-design.jpg
'Adventure, Excitement, A Jedi craves not these things.'
'Anger...fear...aggression. The dark side of the Force are they.'

[casedsgn]

WOW! Frickin nice man....please tell me that's in your portfolio!! BEAUTIFUL layout!

Photoshop does have an align feature...just link all the layers you want to align. Select the move tool (V) and the align panels show up in the top info bar.

Thanks Man!

I have to print the picture out cause they didn't give me any extra covers. Sucks!


Thanks for the Photoshop tip. I did not know that. What I was doing was using guides and aligning things by zooming in alot. LOL!

http://www.cbcamerica.com/images/webshots/banner-design.jpg
'Adventure, Excitement, A Jedi craves not these things.'
'Anger...fear...aggression. The dark side of the Force are they.'