QuarkXPress 7 will have greater control over transparency than other applications by managing opacity levels for any color element of an object rather than on an object-by-object basis.

Now this is innovative. As I read it, one will be able to specify a single color in a full-color object to be semi-transparent or blend a certain way—currently only available by editing the source image in Pshop or Illustrator. So, for example, using the infamous Ducky.tif Photoshop sample file, instead of futzing with clipping settings, the white background could be removed by rendering the color white transparent. At the same time, Ducky’s yellow body could be set to a blending mode—hard light, maybe—while retaining non-blended, non-transparency on the red beak and black eyes.

Intereesting. I’m quite curious to see this in action.

Having it within Quark will make a workflow one-step more efficient—I’m not belittling that, mind you. Saving any step, especially one that involves a completely different application, is potentially a significant productivity improvement to workflows requiring that functionality. I’m all for the ability to specify JDF wrappers within the layout app instead of external to it.

Cheers for Quark for innovating! As I’ve always said, the only way for QuarkXPress to remain a viable product in the market is through innovation.

My only reservation about this is the fact that XPress 6.x PDF files are unpredictable and often flawed. As a professional Quark instructor, workflow consultant, user, and journalist covering, I see many XPress-generated PDFs that are unprintable and unviewable (not only in Acrobat, but also in OS X Preview and even Jaws’ own viewer). Most XPress 6.x users, in my experience, still have to print to Distiller or do the two-step PDF generation method. Hopefully the addition of JDF functionality means Quark is fixing its implementation of the Jaws PDF engine.

Some good-natured mockery to follow. Please make a note of it!

Janes Mann:

that’s sound really excting.. JobJacket.. hmmmm

So very laconic so suddenly. Better watch out; someone’ll turn a hose on you. Your unbridled enthusiasm could very well lead to dancing.

Robert Iouse (if that’s your real name):

I haven’t gone through the whole article, but i am preety sure we guys are in for a revolution….. No software in publishing domain is boast up of Job Management feature… Quark is really keeping up with the promise… Keep up the good work.. Free Customer support, Dual licensing policy, Interesting feature set…… Welcome back Quark.

Whooh-talk of revolution again…I feel faint. Always get my vapors when they talk of sedition.

Anyway.

“Job Management” is indeed an interesting concept. Not unheard of, but interesting. I get the idea that automating the Job Jacket concept could indeed facilitate better workflow-I don’t really see why it shouldn’t. Of course, the Quark-only workflow has the advantage of it.

So, the question again-will it be good enough to return converted InDesigners to the Quark fold? Depends on how they implement it.

Lisa Collery:

I was about to buy CS2 but this announcement really made me waittt.. This feature set really seems interesting.. i have been on XPress for the last 7 years…. currently, thinking of upgrading to MacOS X… I had a choice between XPress 6.5 & Indesign.. but with 7.0 in store with some of interesting features…. & if quark keep doing a good job on customer support front…. i’ll definetlty think for getting back to XPress ways…. Welocome back Quark

First things first, Lisa. Upgrade to OS X. Don’t wait anymore. There’s no real reason not to. If you’re still on XPress V5.anything, It’ll run in classic environment. You can have your Quark and Panther (or Tiger, if you will).

If you want to wait for V7, no sin there. Lots of workflows, or so I am told, still run on V4.whatever. I think you’re missing out if you can upgrade to V6.5 but don’t. Actually, if you are in a position to and it’s practical to do so, I would suggest you mount both. It seems to be a time of change in layout, and I would humbly put forward that the better layout artists will be the bilingual ones.

In all, this is the kind of word I was hoping for from the Four Quarksters. Nice to see someone putting thier money where their mouths are.

One by one, then:

Job Jackets: Like I said, the proof for this one will be in the pudding. I wait to see how it is implemented. It will be there, but will it be usable? Will it be good enough to make me think of using Quark instead of InDesign? It’s getting much less difficult to find service bureaux lately who serve InDesigners…locally, Oregon Lithoprint in Eugene and Revere Press in Portland accept .indd files without complaint. Will “Job Jackets” be a better bet than simple, clear communication with your service bureau?

Multi-channel Publication
Having what experience I have nearly completely in print I can understand the ability to repurpose assets as a concept but don’t have enough experience with it to competently comment on the nuts and bolts of it. However, in view of Adobe’s acquisition of Macromedia and where it puts Adobe as a multimedia content tool forger, it can’t be too bad a move. I’ve never found Quark’s web toolkit particularly compelling, though.

More design features…
It’s nice to hear that Quark is going to make transparency integral to the program. It’s also nice to see that Quark is looking to make the interface more intuitive…once again, I think the interface is going to be a key battlefield and Quark has been very coy about how it’s going about moving in there.

The idea of soft, on-screen proofing is, as far as I know, something of a Holy Grail. It can be very good if you have a properly calibrated monitor, but still never guaranteeable. And, it’s been available in InDesign for quite a while.

OpenType and Unicode support…Good on Quark, but over due. And InDesign has already done it.

With the exception of the electronic Job Jacket, the goal still seems to be feature parity. For those who like this sort of thing, this should be just the sort of thing they like.

All three of the above comments are from the same IP address and sent within minutes of each other.