Existing users, 
Why won't anyone download the 60-day trial, work with it and then post a review? Why live in the past? Judge QuarkXPress 8 on its merits.
I've been using it for three weeks or so. In that time there have been no crashes or unexpected quits - not that I get many problems with v7.
On a dual-processor G5 running Mac OS X 10.4, the screen redraws are much faster than with v7 - my productivity is definitely up irrespective of the new user interface. Being able to just draw a text box and instantly type into it is a no-brainer - should have been there years ago. And no, Adobe didn't 'invent' this for InDesign as it was a standard feature in PageMaker when I used it back in the early 90s.
The new user interface has allowed me to speed up quite considerably courtesy of instant object rotation, live preview of changes, Adobe-style bezier tools and the easy-to-use measurements palette.
Dragging text and graphics to or from any drag-&-drop-enabled app is also a useful addition, probably more so than some others such as being able to use grids on individual text boxes. But the new hanging characters feature and vertical alignment have their place in day-to-day work. It's also nice to see an end to language problems with QXP handling 30+ languages as standard.
Being able to import Illustrator files as well as Photoshop ones has useful and having Flash creation/exporting as standard makes QXP 8 an all-in-one for design: paper, web and presentation.
Yes, I use InDesign too but given the option I'd rather work in QXP and v8 has enough going for it to convince me to upgrade.
Vic Lennard
Cover disc editor, Macworld UK magazine
QuarkXPress
Page layout and design for print and web.
Version: 8.12
Judge on its merits
Feedback Type: Review
Contributed by: Vic Lennard Monday, August 04 2008 @ 05:49 AM PDT
Product Platform: MacOSX
Used Product For: Less than a month
Recommend Product: YES
Overall Rating:
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Comments
Judge on its merits - dickiedyce
<i>Dragging text and graphics to or from any drag-&-drop-enabled app is also a useful addition</i>Nope, it's ommission would be a crime.
<i>... end to language problems ...</i>
Read - "Not Forking Out For Passport"
<i>Being able to import Illustrator files as well as Photoshop ones has useful</i>
No, for designers these days it's a de facto requirement.
<i>having Flash creation/exporting as standard makes QXP 8 an all-in-one for design: paper, web and presentation.</i>
For that money, it ought to make toast as well. Trouble is, repurposing doesn't really work that way in the real world.
Sorry Vic, it's all too little, too late.
Thursday, August 21 2008 @ 02:37 AM PDT
Judge on its merits - caviafrits
Dear Vic,Come on, Indesign can do everything Quark can, but 2 years earlier. If you want to make Quark better, invest in tools like GREP, that's a serious timeconsuming tool. I wonder if they've ever talked to real DTP'ers. Because, ever since Quark 4 (which i still like very much), i think nothing has really changed in Xpress.
frits
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Saturday, August 16 2008 @ 06:58 AM PDT