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I'm a graphic designer and use both programs. I used to just use Quark and resisted learning indesign for soooooo long as I thought Quark could not be bettered, but in the UK the industry standard software moved to indesign so I was forced to learn it. What a revelation! indesign is soooo much better, more shortcuts, more compatible with other adobe products like photoshop etc. I would definitely say indesign 100%. You can download a 30 day free trial from the adobe website and see for yourself!
I don't use either of the ones you mention but thought I would mention that you could try scribus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scribus) it's a desktop publishing program like InDesign but it's free and works on a variety of operating systems(Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, OS/2,). I haven't used InDesign or Quark so I don't know personally how they compare but the wikipedia article says that it is comparable and since it's free it might be worth trying.
I did stumble across Scribus at one point but ... a free to download program? what's the catch? :)
CienDragon, have you ever used Publisher? How does Scribus compare to that?
I use both Quark and InDesign at the office (I work in publishing). I wouldn't honestly call either of them easy, as there's a bit of a learning curve, but I'd vote for InDesign in terms of versatility and features, and I do think it's a little more intuitive. It'll certainly serve all your newsletter needs.
In terms of design and layout for more graphic-intensive stuff for the wedding, though, I'd actually recommend Illustrator, which I find much more flexible. If you only want to buy one program, get InDesign - Illustrator won't be a particularly efficient choice for newsletters - and use other software to do most of your graphics work (you could use Inkscape for vector manipulation and GIMP for bitmap files; both are open source).
I have to admit I'm a bit surprised by the Pages hate - I still use Word for word processing, just for purposes of cross-platform compatibility (most people in the office are on PCs), but I found Pages a lot more user-friendly once I got used to it. lol.
It may be a lack of familiarity, but I haven't found a simple way to rotate, flip, color manipulate, etc images or text in Pages. With Publisher it was so easy to just pull up an image toolbar and manipulate the images right there, but with Pages, I find myself going into a photo editting program, reworking the photo there, and then re-inserting it. Am I missing something?
I was surprised by how simplistic Pages is, because everyone raves about it. Maybe it was just a matter of unmet expectations....
This is for Pages '09 - the adjust images button in the Pages images toolbar takes care of my basic image manipulation needs (sharpness, saturation, etc are all editable through there); then for rotating it's just command+click and drag; to bring up the flip options, if you have your Inspector window open, just click on the little ruler icon (metrics) and the flip options will be at the bottom.
I too was dissatisfied with Pages at first when I first switched over to the Mac but when I really sat down and forced myself to learn it (the Inspector window is critical for everything) I really started to love it. I used that is combination with Photoshop Elements to do most things for my wedding.
Hmmm... considering how user friendly mac usually is, I've just been surprised with how clunky Pages is. I mean, open another window to flip a photo? when I could just click and twist it in a Microsoft program? seems... counter-intuitive.
Have any of you InDesign lovers seen/used this freeby, Scribus? Free is hard to turn down, especially when we're pinching every penny, but I don't want to waste time learning ANOTHER program if I'm only going to hassle with it for a month and then give in to buy InDesign, you know?
Not to mention I'm full time in school, so it's not like I've got oodles of time on my hands to just play around with software for hours on end. Maybe I could make my homework uber pretty, haha...
Well, I don't think of it as opening another window, since I always have the Inspector open when I'm doing anything other than straight text work in Pages - a lot of properties are easily manipulated through there, and it's much faster for me than working with MS toolbars and options. I don't find it clunky at all.
If you really find the Inspector counter-intuitive, you may not like working with Adobe programs (or Quark, for that matter) - the setup's rather similar, since you do have to open quite a few of those little windows. It really lets you customise your workspace, though.
I use Illustrator, Photoshop, and Flash like they're nobody's business. I'd recommend those guys. :)
(I actually sketch in flash. Weird? Yes).
daydream- Nope, sorry. I've used linux for years so I tend to not use a lot of mainstream/closed-source software since I usually have to run them under a windows emulation program. That and I don't do a whole lot of layout stuff except in LaTex(used for math and science research journals) which is more like writing code then using a normal publishing program.
However, I did find this post . ColoradoBride12 asked for a layout program after switching to a mac since she used to use Publisher and someone mentioned scribus. She ended up using scribus and said it worked great so you might want to try contacting her for a comparison of the two?
Mrs. Dahlia also posted on scribus.
Edit: There's no catch! :-p It's just open-source, there's a lot of free open-source software out there. I suppose the only catch with open-source software is that sometimes the documentation can be iffy, but there's usually a good community that you can go to for help if you need it. Scribus has an IRC channel and mailing list(info on both on their website) and I believe there's forums somewhere if you need to ask questions about it.
There is one downside in that it doesn't support pantone because pantone is proprietary so there are licensing issues since scribus is open-source so if you use pantone a lot that might be a problem.
@fifty - I loooove doodling little icons and things in Flash! For some reason they come out way cuter in Flash than in Illustrator, lol.
thanks CienDragon :) I just sent ColoradoBride12 a PM asking for her experiences with Scribus. InDesign sounds amazing, but if Scribus can do basically the same thing for free... I may have to stick with that for the time being. Budget really is stretched thin already!
Yay - a new Mac owner - it always makes me happy to hear people buying macs! Anyway - I was trained on the adobe creative suite and honestly and can say it's the best program ever. Yes, it takes some fiddling around with to get the knack sometimes but InDesign is INCREDIBLE. I use that and Illustrator liket he world depends on them!
@alishaneva - I've considered myself a closet mac user for years :) hehe... never could afford it before though.
I'm considering this one an investment, since I live in Asia and most PCs are fortunate to last 2 years here, but Macs have a life span of 5-6. So even though it was more expensive, it should last me a lot longer. It's just such a hassle dealing with buying a new computer and then switching over... it'll be nice to stick with macs from now on - let the Mac store switch it all!
Honestly part of it was J; he was here visiting when I needed to buy a new laptop, and had just upgraded his own MacBook (one of his middle schoolers DROPPED his old one-I would've been pissed if I were him) like a month earlier, so he ordered me the same one he'd gotten, and bought it refurb to save me money, blah blah blah... he's great like that. I didn't have to think about it at all, which was fanTAStic since I was in the middle of finals and stuff and REALLY didn't have time to shop around.
Yes, I am a happy Mac user; I just really really reeeeeeeeally miss Publisher. I used it almost every day.
I am a graphic designer as well and have used both Indesign and Quark. I would agree to either use illustrator or Indesign. In my opinion quark is hard to use and outdated. I use Quark 7 at the office but I doubt Quark 8 is much improved.
That's a LOT of great feedback for InDesign. :) Thanks bees - now I know which way to go if Scribus doesn't work out... I'd still love to hear from more who use that though.
If you're speedy, you could probably download the 30 day trial of Illustrator or InDesign. I've just started learning Illustrator and like it.
yeah, using this software for wedding stuff is secondary for me; I use it to do a LOT of stuff, letters to family, hand outs for teaching, etc. so a 30 day trial isn't really going to cut it. :)
If you are going to be creating layouts with multiple pages I recommend InDesign, for single files - STD's/Invites I recommend Illustrator.
I started out doing design on Quark and truly resisted making the switch to InDesign. However, after 4 years in college with no access to Quark, I converted. I don't necessarily think InDesign is better, it's just that Adobe has completely cornered the design industry. The native PDF support is icing on the cake.
As for Illustrator, I struggle with the damn program and I have formal training. I don't think it's intuitive at all. If you're not creating monograms or illustrations, just use InDesign. The learning curve isn't nearly as huge.
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Beekeeper
Hey ladies - I recently (like, 3 months ago) switched from a MS OS to a Mac, with Leopard (soon to be SnoLeopard.... just waiting for my update in the mail from J! my nerd bf buys me software instead of flowers, hehe... and I don't mind!)
aNYway... back when I was laboring away on Windows, I used Publisher for pretty much everything. eeeeeeeeeevrything. Since Publisher isn't compatible with Mac, and is apparently being discontinued anyway (?seriously?), I'm looking to switch over.
I've been looking at InDesign CS4 and Quark XPress 8 -- both have student prices that put them around US$200, although I'm waiting to hear back from Adobe whether or not I'm qualified, since I'm not going to school in the States.
Anyone use either of these programs? Or better yet, anyone used both? And can tell me which will be an easier/more versatile tool? I do a lot of 'newsletter' layouts, as well as want to DIY most of my wedding paperwork (invites, STDs, etc.)
I've been struggling to use Pages, which I've decided is mediocre even as a word processing program... I'd given up on Word too though by the end, and was even doing all but my most basic word processing in Publisher. Pages isn't cutting it, and I'm figuring on CS4 or XPress 8 being a worthwhile investment.