Venerable page-layout giant Quark is shipping its latest version of QuarkXPress 9. The new version focuses on publishing to electronic formats such as ePUB, the new Blio eReader format and iPad.
For designers both print and electronic, QuarkXPress 9 offers:
Conditional Styles: Allows multiple style attributes to be set based on the text content rather than “tagging”; allows designers to automate specific style elements that occur throughout a project
Bullets, Numbers, and Outlines: Create dynamic ordered and un-ordered lists that are preserved and editable in QuarkXPress
Callouts: Boxes and groups move automatically with text as determined by the designer; callouts can be positioned relative to the page, spread, text box, paragraph, or character
Story Editor: Provides a word-processor-like view within QuarkXPress, which is most helpful when text within a layout is difficult to read and when reviewing stories that span multiple pages
Cloner: The smartest and most efficient way to clone design elements, Cloner allows designers to copy items or pages to other pages or layouts and can be used to combine layouts or split them apart
Linkster: Enables designers to unlink and relink text boxes that already contain text, to unlink stories spanning multiple pages, and to link or unlink boxes without disrupting existing text
ShapeMaker: A wizard for easily creating or modifying hard-to-draw shapes such as waves, polygons, stars, and spirals, ShapeMaker also allows designers to create unique corner effects
ImageGrid: Allows designers to import and automatically build grids of images with a variety of layout options; also supports image captioning
QuarkXPress 9 is available to purchase now for US$799 (US$299 upgrade) from Quark directly or through one of its authorized resellers. The Mac version of the software requires a user to have Mac OS 10.5.8 (Leopard) or later on an Intel processor. The PC version requires Windows XP (Service Pack 2 or 3) or later.
A 30-day test drive is also from the Quark website.
