Advice on QuarkXpress 4.1,please!

[Raven]

As a freelance designer, QX 3.32 has served me well for  the past 7 years or so. Didn't want to spend the  bucks to upgrade until now. (Quark offered a good deal!)

Anything I should know when I upgrade this week?  I remember reading somewhere that there were some complaints. Hope they have been rectified. Obviously I'm not moving on to v5 yet.

What are the biggest differences/advantages you found between 3.32 and 4.1?

[Highmac]

Hi Raven
As I recall, 4.1 did have problems, particularly on output, but 4.11 seemed to solve many of them. However, 4.x does have the option to save documents as a 3.3, so you do have a bit of versatility. Afraid, however, I'm getting a bit rusty on Mac version since we use 3.32 for Win95(!!) at work. I'm sure others on your side of the pond will be along with more help when they wake up  
 
 [ 03-07-2003, 02:24 AM: Message edited by: Highmac ]

[Paul.Tait]

Hi Raven

I've used 4.1 for sometime now without problems. It's so long since I used 3.32 that I can't actually remember what the differences are. If you've been offered a good deal, then I'd say upgrade - I'm sure you won't regret it.

It's never failed to amaze me how a company such as Quark, with such an appalling record for customer service/ripping people off/working to their own agenda (how come everyone else has managed to ship their products to OSX except Quark?), can actually produce such a reliable, stable piece of software.

That said, I don't think I'll upgrade to 5 or above. I think it will be InDesign for me.

Good luck.

Paul

[tacit]

I have 4.11 and 3.32, and still use 3.32 for 85% of what I do.

Quark 4.11 offers several new features,including a new Bezier (freeform pen) tool, a way to convert text into picture boxes, and more flexibility with text (for example, the ability to flow text along a bezier path).

It also has a completely redesigned Print dialog, which I am not at all fond of.

When you install Quark 4, make sure you update to 4.11 and install the Quark 411 Fixit XTension, which fixes a bug where Quark will mark all the linked graphics files as "open" to the operating system, preventing you from modifying or deleting them.

[Raven]

I received a 4.1 upgrader CD that I have yet to load. Does it override 3.32 or can I have BOTH on my system?

I'd like to be able to learn 4.1 without holding up my current projects that are in 3.32 at the moment.

( I also wondered why Quark sent me a 4.1 upgrade offer instead of a 5?)

[Paul.Tait]

Probably so they get you to pay for the 4.1 upgrade and then bombard you with offers for 5.0. Like I said...

[themphill]

The 4.1 upgrade CD will only modify an existing XPress 4 installation. Version 4 and 3.32 can happily coexist on the same computer, and even be run simultaneously.

Like tacit, I prefer 3.32 and favor it when I have the choice. Version 4 can save files as version 3 but any special features, such as Quark picture clipping paths, will be lost. Be on the lookout for more subtle changes as well. For example, any custom traps set in version 4 will be lost and reset to default values.

Printers and output bureaus should accept files in either version, but you way want to inquire in advance their preference.