The QuarkXpress 4.0 release offers a combination of 75 new features that outshines even its strongest rival, Adobe Pagemaker™, except for one area:
web documentation. This release sees the Denver based company enhance the existing interface by adding superb new features, especially the Bezier-based illustration tools. It can now rival other competitors with the
ability generate long-document functions which allow users to generate books, lists, and indexes.These new features include support for long character-based stylesheets, complex search-and-replace features, and
highly improved text wraps. Since it was written as a 32-bit application it covers almost everything you want in a DTP program, providing you are not concerned with Internet publication. For hard copy production it is
second to none. Others new features are the Character Style Sheets, which allows styles to be applied at the character level; thus avoiding the tedious process of formatting whole paragraphs. Also included are an
800 percent zoom, character styles, advanced text wrapping, custom dash and stripe patterns. The new List palette produces lists of chapters, footnotes and other document components that make the transition to different
parts of a long manuscript simpler.
Functions are accessible through the toolbar which includes several palettes which allow the user to choose specific object attributes. The Layout palette shows the structure of the
document and allows pages to be easily re-arranged. One can jump to specific pages, view or edit, and then assign master (template) pages by dragging and dropping onto a body page.
Though the Functions are easy to
learn, they cannot compete with the more advanced functions of Ventura, FrameMaker and , unfortunately, the third-party Quark XTensions. It also cannot create numbered lists or renumber chapters. Existing index entries
cannot even be shared among other chapters in a book.
The structure of Quark Xpress differs from PageMaker as elements on the master pages are live. These can be adjusted on any body page. PageMaker is confined to
static elements that only allow changes to be made on the master page. The Index palette offers selected text to be added, the scope of an entry defined and a range of formatting options specified (e.g. run-in or nested
entries).
Assembling a book is a very smooth process. In order to achieve this, open File-New-Book, name the document and open the Book palette. This allows the inclusion of all the chapters for the book; this palette
also shows page numbers for each chapter. The book list will automatically update page numbers across chapters. It also offers a powerful synchronization function that ensures consistency throughout the book, by copying
defined styles from a designated Master chapter to all other chapters.
Generating multiple lists, with chapter-by-chapter contents, list of illustrations, and table summaries is produced with precision by Xpress.
After specifying paragraph styles for the list entries, choosing the indent level and page-number format, you can then build the list in a selected text frame. All entries in an index can contain up to eight sublevels,
cross-references, and a specified scope.
One area that has drawn considerable critical acclaim is the new ability to draw Bezier shapes. This tool allows the user to draw lines and text paths with the freehand tools.
For more accuracy you can use the curve tools. These are not meant to generate sophisticated illustrations such as Illustrator does, yet they will assist in editing the Bezier curves.
However, its movements are
restricted to the tangent handles and the symmetrical, smooth, and corner nodes. By using standard geometric shapes and Boolean operators it allows greater flexibility in creating Images can be dropped into a single
column of type with full wraparound achieved. Clipping paths can be added to borders around irregularly shaped objects and directly to images imported from other XPress documents.
