Graduate to which version of Quark?

[spncity]

Thinking I need to head toward Quark since I need to end up with .pdf files
to send to a print-on-demand publisher.

Do I understand that Quark 5.01 is where I should head (because of rumors of
Quark 6 being buggy) ??

Thanks for opinions,

spncity

 

[JL Paules]

You have already posted this same question twice in the General Publisher
area and I'm going to repeat with you were told over there.

You do not need Quark. There are several .pdf creating software programs out
there that will give you the .pdf file you need. However, if you have the
money and want to learn another program, it's your dime.

(BTW, I use Publisher and Acrobat Standard and they play together quite
well.)

 

[Mac Townsend]

I agree. Quark is not needed.

If you are determined, however...look at what Quark wants for a copy of
version 6!

Of all the copies of Quark being used in all the world I would bet that
fully 60% have not been upgraded beyond version 3. Why? because the REAL
strength of Quark is the Xtensions that can make it do a large number of
really useful things. And some of the really useful XTs are thousands of
dollars. Per seat/user! So when Quark comes out with a new version that
breaks all the old XTs, large users like newspapers and catalog firms tend
to stay with what they have.

Quark 6 is NOT getting good reviews from the user community! But it is the
only version you can buy. As a service bureau, I do not have Quark 6 and
don't expect to get it any time soon.

A properly made PostScript file that is distilled into a PDF using the
correct job options will 99% of the time be no different from that made from
any other application using the same procedures. That 1% is usually a
problem with PostScript driver or with that specific PostScript file.

Note that "properly made" is a loaded description. A properly made PDF is
not rgb images in a document intended for 1 or 2 color reproduction (Kinko's
is famous for this error). A properly made PDF is not one business card
floating in the middle of a letter page. IOW...producing a properly made PDF
requires some knowledge of what is going on and this is no different for
someone using Quark than it is for someone using Publisher.

It is just as easy to make crap with Quark as it is with Publisher. (and
it's EASIER in Publisher to fix most of these problems before making
PostScript.)

The problems noted in this NG where Quarkians are complaining about
"Publisher" PDF are in most cases problems caused by the Quarkian not by
Publisher. They try to open them in Illustrator (which is a practive
condemed by Adobe, but still prevalent) and this destroyes embedded fonts
and changes colors. They import them directly into Quark and often enough
they won't then output correctly. Etc. How to resolve this issue? I don't
know.

 

[°°°MS°Publisher°°°]

Go and get Serif PagePlus 9.0 with CMYK and PDF all built in.

Straight from your desktop onto the press.

Serif PagePlus also has *AWESOME* drawing tools built in.

 

[Mac Townsend]

When you open an Acrobat file, it is usually possible to see what
application and platform created the PostScript from which the PDF was made.

With the file open, File>Document Properties>Summary will "rat on you" and
tell the Quarkians that you used Publisher.

If you don't mind a very minor hack, you could turn the tables on them and
have your PDF tell them it was made with Good Ol' Quart!

First you'll need an ascii text editor. Notepad would do but notepad can't
handle large files. I recommend Textpad (http://www.textpad.com/) but there
are others. Do Not use a word processor, not even in text mode. It will
REALLY screw it up.

then using Textpad, open the Postscript file you made. You'll see something
like this:

%!PS-Adobe-3.0
%%Title: downloadlibrary.usa.cano.pdf
%%Creator: PScript5.dll Version 5.2
%%CreationDate: 4/14/2004 17:20:12
%%For: Administrator
%%BoundingBox: (atend)

Change the text after "%%Creator: " (there's a space in there!) to
"QuarkXpress 7.0 Alpha 0.755" like this:

%!PS-Adobe-3.0
%%Title: downloadlibrary.usa.cano.pdf
%%Creator: QuarkXpress 7.0 Alpha 0.755
%%CreationDate: 4/14/2004 17:20:12
%%For: Administrator
%%BoundingBox: (atend)

Save the file. Make sure it still has the "prn" or "ps" file extension -
IOW, don't let Textpad change it to "txt"

Then distill that file. Open it and check the document properties.. Zap!
You've made a Quark PDF. Without even buying Quark!

Sure, if they're smarter than the average bear they can snoop furtehr and
discover the trick, but since they're not smarter than the average bear,
given the issues, odds are they'll only wonder about the version 7 alpha
version.

How's that for a work around?<BG>

 

[°°°MS°Publisher°°°]

http://www.editpadlite.com/editpadlite.html for EditPad Lite freeware is
awesome as a text editor.