Quark: Running in place
Quark, which is known for being hostile to their customers and still doesn't have an OS X-native version of XPress, is previewing their new version 6. Color me unimpressed.
QuarkXPress software users can look forward to many powerful new features in QuarkXPress 6 including enhanced undo functionality, full-resolution previews, and an intriguing way to manage complex projects, which will be described in a future update.
Let's take these slowly.
- Enhanced undo: InDesign has unlimited undo of anything. Quark? Read the page. First, this isn't unlimited, just "multiple undo" levels. What can you undo? Not just anything; they have a list of what you can undo: "get text", "get picture", "crop to box", "linking and unlinking text", and "many functions in the layers palette".
- Full-resolution previews: If you register, then they give you an add-on to do this. On the other hand, InDesign has an application-wide setting for this, which you can override per-image.
- Complex project management: No details yet. I just can't wait...
And they're not even trying. I'm looking at the screenshot, and it looks like a plain-old carbonization of Quark 5, down to the original, cheezy icons in the Page Layout palette and the Measurements palette.
How many months is this from their last update? If this is the best they can do with all that development, I can't say I have much hope for their survival.