What is QuarkXPress 3.1?

With version 3.1, Quark has upped the price of QuarkXPress from $795 to $895, but most users will find the program’s enhancements make this version worth every penny.

The QuarkXPress Data file is dead, and no one is likely to mourn its passing. No longer does QuarkXPress create a separate file for kerning, tracking, hyphenation exceptions, and custom frame information that must be included with the documents you send to service bureaus — version 3.1 saves this information in the document files.

Many interface features formerly included in the Freebies XTensions are now built in to the program, including the page-grabber-hand tool and custom settings for pasteboard width.

Floating palettes for Style Sheets and Colors (an idea that originated in PageMaker) contain functions that were inconveniently scattered among a variety of menus and dialog boxes in the previous version. In addition, the Colors palette lets you specify a two-color background blend for text and picture boxes. However, although the Style Sheets palette is a great improvement. QuarkXPress style sheets aren't as easy to use or modify as PageMaker's.

Another improved interface feature lets you continue to view objects as you drag them across the screen, as you can with PageMaker — the previous version of QuarkXPress displayed only dotted outlines of objects as you dragged them. You can also select an object that’s hidden behind another, a feature that PageMaker has included for years. In addition, enhanced layer control lets you move an object forward or backward a single layer at a time rather than simply to the back or front layer. Finally, the new Accurate Rulers feature is a very useful tool for dragging and resizing objects accurately, regardless of screen magnification.

Version 3.1 includes a variety of type enhancements. You can display a document’s baseline grid and opt to snap objects to it and convert all your fi's and fl's to proper ligatures as you type them. And even though the character pair displays and prints as a single-character ligature, you can still click your insertion point between the characters and split them. You can even delete backward over the i or l, and QuarkXPress won't delete the f! Em-space width is modifiable, and you can justify a line comprising a single word.

For high-end users, QuarkXPress 3.1 provides superior trapping controls. Automatic trapping has been enhanced, and the Process Trap setting subtly traps each process color (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black) differently. Best of all, the new Trap Information floating palette lets you override settings on an object-by-object basis.

Although QuarkXPress3.1 still doesn't separate RGB, TIFF, or PICT files, it can process CMYK TIFFs created by programs such as Photoshop 2.0. In addition, high-end publishers will be delighted with version 3.1's ability to import and separate Scitex CT image files, a feature that PageMaker and PrePrint currently lack.

QuarkXPress 3.1's System 7 support includes Balloon Help and the ability to subscribe to PICT edition tiles. As with PageMaker, you can modify files within a document by launching the source application, but QuarkXPress lacks PageMaker's slick hot-link implementation with FreeHand ColorStudio files. Like PageMaker 4.2, QuarkXPress is 32-bit clean and Quadra-compatible.

Taub, Eric. (July 1992). PageMaker 4.2 and QuarkXPress 3.1. MacUser. (pgs. 56-57).

Download QuarkXPress 3.1 for Mac

Architecture

Motorola 68K

System Requirements

From Mac OS 6.0 up to Mac OS 9.0

Compatibility notes

Emulating this? It could probably run under: Basilisk II