Is QuarkXPress still in the game?

[MacMission]

A newbie told me today she wanted to learn QuarkXPress. I dogmatically suggested she spend the time learning InDesign instead. Was this good advice?

[MacArtist]

Good question.

I use both Quark and InDesign. The more I use InDesign; the more I like it.

I am curious how much of the desktop publishing market has switched to InDesign.

[Shakes]

I give a lot of my work in Los Angeles to one of the largest printers in the US and asked that same question last year. My salesperson tells me they rarely get Quark files anymore. Mostly InDesign.

Many large corporate companies still use Quark because of their investment in the program and longtime employees don't what to learn something new. On the other hand, a lot of Ad Agencies here have switched to InDesign.

[jdc]

doesnt matter?

i bet if you ask your printer in LA what kind of files he gets -- but add PDF to your list -- then PDF would be on top by a ton

more like 95% PDF, 4% ID and 1% Quark

i havent sent a native file to a printer in at least 5 years

FWIW, i send magazine files to TrendOffset printing in LA, also a huge outfit http://www.trendoffset.com/

i use quark 7, totally stable, fast and i find simple things far more simple to do

[Shakes]

Magazine ads, yes. That's all I ever send. But car books and fashion need many rounds of patch color corrections before it ever gets to press. So pdfs don't work in that area.
http://www.cenveo.com/company/

[jdc]

ahh, cenveo, they have come knocking on my door...

not magazine ads, but entire magazines -- and flyers, brochures, cards, posters, postcards, newsletters -- basically anything that gets sent to a printer

[JoeM]

>>Many large corporate companies still use Quark because of their investment in the program and longtime employees don't what to learn something new.

I would agree. We are still using Quark 7 and like it. I also agree with jdc - it's simple and pretty fast and fine for what we do for basic corp communications and catalogs. I have ID CS3 and other than editing jobs I've received that were done in it, haven't had time or need to move to it.

[spacescape]

What's InDesign?

I'm stilling using Quark at work... I've played w/ ID 1 at work and like it but have yet to learn it. My dad who is the biggest procrastinator was forced to buy ID 2 and soon ID 3 because his client moved over and he's actually starting to like it very much.

Myself, I will be buying a Student copy of CS 3 to learn ID 3, PS 3 and Flash to relearn my skills a little bit.

[blooz]

The place I was laid off from recently, a newspaper and periodical publisher, was making the switch to OSX and InDesign in the periodical dept where i worked. I got to use InDesign pretty well for what i had to do, mostly ad design and layout. Still nowhere near the level i know Quark.
Prepress there wanted PDF files becuse they worked best with the Prinergy direct-to-plate software.
Big ads we go for the periodicals all came in PDF.

The crafts co. I'm doing some temp work for uses Quark to do their packaging material.

So I'd say it will just be a personal choice at some point, because for most print options, either can make a good PDF.
Personally, I still don't see a big advantage of one or the other. My preference for InDesign is that it's cheaper, and i think that will be a deciding factor for a lot of people.

[tuqqer]

Great thread. I too would be fascinated to learn how many companies have switched over to ID.

Personally, I tell any new person who asks to go with InDesign. I think it is the future. I certainly wouldn't suggest a new person go out and buy Quark.

Whenever I work with designers, they fall into 2 camps: those that have been around for a decade or more all use Quark. Those that are newer, or love to innovate, all use ID.

We've switched everything to ID files. I don't own that program that allows you to switch Quark docs to ID, but I've got a friend who does them for me on the rare cases where we need it.