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QuarkXPress 8: A Suite Response

Now use any language edition of QuarkXPress 8 to open and output a project created in any other language edition of QuarkXPress 8, without re-flow due to hyphenation. QuarkXPress 8 natively supports all languages of QuarkXPress Passport with a few others thrown in for good measure.

 

If you're using the East Asian files, you must have a compatible language edition of QuarkXPress 8 to apply, remove, or modify certain text attributes that were added using the East Asian edition.

Of course, when you down-save a QuarkXPress 8 file to a QuarkXPress 7 file, you need to understand that you will lose any functionality or effects applied that are not supported by QuarkXPress 7. Keep an eye out for (and be prepared to adapt):

• Hanging punctuation.
• Design grids.
• In the case where multiple baseline grids are defined in a layout, the first-used master page grid will be defined as the baseline grid for the entire layout.

No Passport Required

QuarkXPress Passport, the multi-lingual version of QuarkXPress, is gone for good, and in its place are editions — with appropriate editions distributed regionally. The European West PLUS edition is the most inclusive with full UI support for all available languages, and that does not use region-sensitive validation codes. If you really want to have it all, this edition is for you.

Install me

When you receive your brand-new and newly designed box, you'll find the QuarkXPress application on a card and the backside of your card contains the validation code. This should resolve the issue of your validation code becoming separated from the installation CD at exactly the worst possible moment. If you are a QLA user, you will have an additional CD with those installation files.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

Quark developed a whole new approach when it comes to licensing. With QuarkXPress 6.5 they announced dual licensing. This meant that you could install QuarkXPress 6.5 on your home computer and on your office computer — without risking jail time for violation of the end-user licensing agreement (EULA). With QuarkXPress 7, they went even further and eliminated platform specifications (this was call system independent). Users could simply order QuarkXPress and make decisions later about where it would be installed. With QuarkXPress 8, they've become even more generous. You may, with this version, install the same copy on both your Mac and your PC! (We've come a long way, baby!) Here's the 411 on exactly how those machines should be configured:

• Mac OS X 10.4.3. (Tiger) to Mac OX X 10.5.X (Leopard).
• DVD drive for physical-media installation.
• G5 PowerPC-based processor recommended (G4 minimum) to Mac Intel-based processor recommended (G4 minimum).
• 1 GB available RAM recommended (256 MB minimum).
• Windows® XP® Service Pack 2 (SP1) to Windows Vista® 1.0 (Vista Certified).
• DVD drive for physical-media installation.
• 1 GB available RAM recommended (256 MB minimum on Windows XP, 512 MB minimum on Window Vista).

Some functionality is not yet supported on the 64-bit platform (e.g., Flash Plug-in).

It's not just me

If you're in a workgroup and there's more than one of you, you may be using Quark Licensing Administrator (QLA). You'll be comforted to know (or maybe not) that this application has undergone no functional changes. For physical shipments, there are different CDs available; depending upon the version you are using, but nothing new to learn.

Activation is essentially the same as well and affected (as we said above) by edition, geographic region, and IP address.

Help me

Quark's documentation department executed a complete overhaul of the entire documentation and manual set for QuarkXPress 8, but in the process they abandoned the printed set. For most of us, we prefer the electronic version, but I'll miss the smell of ink and the feel of the paper.

Access these PDFs from the original installation DVD, or if you downloaded the installer, in the installation pack.

The HTML-based help system has also been completely re-written and is available using the help menu when you launch QuarkXPress. For the East Asian languages, Polish, and Russian, the help files are available as PDF.

LEARN IT

Quark educational materials have undergone the same rewrite as other help offerings. This includes new end-user training materials and a new teacher's resource kit (curriculum) — all are completely free to download at http://www.quark.com under the support menu option.

ORGANIZED EFFORTS

If you're a training facility or freelance trainer, contact QuarkAlliance to become a recognized training provider and take advantage of one of the trainer events led by Quark's own training department. These events are peppered throughout the year and throughout the world. You will also receive the new best-practices documents to help you master the more difficult topics and bring extra value to your training offerings.

The wrap up

As I told you at the outset of this article Tim Banister thinks this is the best version ever. Me? Well, I'm a big fan of QuarkXPress 7 and I didn't think they could out do the over 150 new features — including my all-time favorite, composition zones. QuarkXPress 7 is a hard version to beat. The cool thing about QuarkXPress 8 though, is that it builds on the foundation of QuarkXPress 7. 8 just couldn't be 8 without 7. So, yeah, I like 8 and I think the product-management team did an outstanding job of addressing the streamlining goal. As a very senior user of QuarkXPress (an authorized trainer at 1.0), I'm happy. In my world, that's all that counts.

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