Extracted from Quark(tm) Technical Support e-mail service providing technical information about QuarkXPress(tm) 4.04, QuarkXPress Passport(tm) 4.04, QuarkImmedia(tm) 1.5, QuarkXTensions(tm), and other Quark products.

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1. QXP 4: Quark Unveils avenue.quark for XML Web Publishing

Quark Inc. has unveiled avenue.quark(tm), the fastest way to prepare QuarkXPress content for online delivery. Avenue.quark is XTensions software that allows publishers to richly describe their QuarkXPress content in XML. A pre-release version of avenue.quark is available for free downloading from the Quark web site at:

http://www.quark.com/products/avenue.quark/

"Content is currency," said Mark Lemmons, Quark Internet Publishing Business Unit Manager. "Avenue.quark will give the two million plus QuarkXPress users a way to maximize the value of their content. Avenue.quark will allow publishers to add structure and metadata to their print content and significantly reduce the cost and effort required to deploy that information in both print and online publications."

Robert Folaron, Executive Director of Media Industry at EDS E.Solutions, sees the benefits his publishing customers will reap from avenue.quark. "Avenue.quark promises to give our customers editorial flexibility and control that isn't possible when several costly steps separate the Web and print production processes."

Extracting content as XML will allow Quark(tm) customers to greatly automate and simplify the process of integrating QuarkXPress content with existing Web application servers or media asset management systems such as Quark Digital Media System(tm) (QuarkDMS(tm)), Quark's enterprise solution for digital content management. "XML is a key technology and we're committed to leveraging XML throughout our product line," noted Lemmons.

"This is an important move for Quark," said Reid Conrad, President and CEO of Extensibility, Inc., the developer of XML Authority, a graphical design tool that accelerates the creation of XML schemas. "The commitment Quark has made to Web standards is really evident with the pre-release of avenue.quark. It integrates seamlessly with our tools, right out of the box. Quark's efforts will really expand the reach and impact of XML as a medium for information exchange."

Quark expects to begin formal beta testing in the fourth quarter of this year. Companies interested in testing avenue.quark should contact Quark at avenue.quark@quark.com. Quark expects avenue.quark to be released next spring.

QUARK INTERNET PUBLISHING TECHNOLOGIES

Avenue.quark is the first in a suite of new Internet publishing tools from Quark that will provide for the quick, efficient, and elegant movement of QuarkXPress content to the Web. The suite of new Internet publishing technologies on which this and upcoming tools are based was initially demonstrated at Seybold Boston in March.

Reconfirming Quark's commitment to providing viable Internet  solutions, this latest software offering from Quark complements several other standards-based Internet publishing technologies currently in development, including an application to design Web templates using the familiar QuarkXPress interface, and a server to render dynamic content with QuarkXPress precision and deliver the results on the Web -- automatically.

Quark has taken a modular approach in designing its Internet  publishing technologies, so that publishers can use its various components together, separately, or in combination with other tools designed on open standards. Companies interested in becoming a development partner should contact Quark at internetpublishing@quark.com

2. QXP 4: Different Versions of the MS-Word Filters

          --Mark Davis & Roger Spendlove

There are several versions of MS Word filters for QuarkXPress currently available or in use. Here is a summary of the differences between them and the most current version of each. You can easily check the version(s) of installed filters and XTensions in your copy of QuarkXPress by using the XTensions Manager. Just launch QuarkXPress, go to Utilities -> Xtensions Manager, highlight the filter you want to check, and then click on the About button.

Additional information about MS-Word filters for QuarkXPress for Macintosh and MS-Word filters for QuarkXPress for Windows (Japanese) can be obtained from the Downloads page on our Web site at:

Windows version:

<http://www.quark.com/files/?p=QuarkXPress&f=XTensions&o=Windows&l=Japanee&v=4%2E0x>

Mac OS version:

<http://www.quark.com/files/?p=QuarkXPress&f=XTensions&o=Macintosh&l=Japanese&v=4%2E0x>

MS-Word Filter

 [Windows version is 3.21]  (Mac OS version is 3.2)

 (Both appear in XTensions Manager as "MS-Word Filter")

This is an older version of the MS-Word Filter that has been supplanted by the MS-Word Filter version 3.50. If you still have this installed, you should replace it with the newer one.

MS-Word Filter

  [Windows version is 3.50]   (Mac OS version is 3.5)

 (Appears in XTensions Manager as "MS-Word Filter")

This filter allows documents to be imported from (or exported to) MS-Word for Windows versions _prior_ to versions 6.0/7.0. It is an update to (and replacement for) the MS-Word Filter version listed above (3.21 for Windows, or 3.2 for Mac OS).

This version of the MS-Word Filter also allows you to load the MS-Word 6-7 Filter without generating the message "The Microsoft Word 6-7 filter cannot be loaded because an older version of the filter is installed." Which would happen if the MS-Word 3.2 filter was loaded along with the MS-Word 6-7 filter.

MS-Word 6-7 Filter

 [Windows version is version 1.1]  (Mac OS version is 1.04)

 (Both appear in XTensions Manager as "MS-Word 6-7 Filter")

This filter allows documents to be imported from (or exported to) MS-Word for Windows 6.0 through 7.0 (also known as Word 95).

MS-Word 8 Filter

 (both Windows and Mac OS version is 1.2)

 (Both appear in XTensions Manager as "MS-Word 8 Filter")

This filter allows documents to be imported from (or exported to) MS-Word for Windows 8.0 (also known as Word 97 for Windows, and Word 98 for Mac OS).

3. QXP 4: Text Trapping Changes Between 3.x and 4.0x

          --Brett Bohnn

The way QuarkXPress evaluates text objects to determine the trapping method differs slightly between versions 3.x and 4.0x. Prior to 4.0, text objects were considered to be the entire text box rather than just the text characters themselves. This caused what was perceived as erratic trapping behavior. Two seemingly identical blocks of text would print differently if one of the boxes overlapped another item in the slightest.

QuarkXPress 4.0x does a more critical evaluation of text when it determines the trapping method. Instead of using the entire box, QuarkXPress determines the trap based on the bounding area of an entire line of text. In other words, it will only trap a line of text characters if that line overlaps a another object. So, one line of text may have a different trapping relationship than the next line, depending on what they overlap.

In most cases this will not present a problem but it is a good idea to be aware of the discrepancy. For example, you have used two text boxes to create a drop shadow affect in 3.3x, and the foreground text spreads due to an indeterminate relationship caused by an EPS that slightly intersects the text box. This trapping relationship is suited for the drop shadow affect when the document is separated. The foreground text spreads by the default amount specified and so it's Knocked Out of the background text used for the drop shadow.

If you then open the document in 4.0x, the new line by line method will be used. The bounding area of the line dictates an Overprint due to the foreground text color's relationship to the white background color of the box. The EPS in 3.3x was considered because the entire box determined the relationship; but in 4.0x the bounding area of the line is used and the EPS is not detected. The resultant overprint can cause a muddy tint where the two colors mix.

When you run across this discrepancy, check the Trap Information palette and click the question mark to see its determination. Given the text trapping model used in QuarkXPress 4.0x, the stated relationship of foreground to background text object should be accurate.

4. QXP 4: Tips'n'Tricks: Absolute and Relative Page Numbers          

--Roger Spendlove

If you've used one or more Section Starts to alter the page numbers in your document, you'll soon realize the Relative Page Numbers (those relative to the altered starting number you designated) no longer match the Absolute Page Numbers (first page in the document through to the last page).

Then, if you try to print a certain range of pages, or Save Page as EPS, or other such functions, how can you tell which Relative page number corresponds with which Absolute page number?

If you hold down the (Option)[ALT] key while clicking the page in the Document Layout palette, the bottom of that palette will display the Absolute page number, preceded by a plus sign (+). The plus sign indicates the number is an Absolute page, not a relative page. It can be used in any dialog box or field where you would type in a page number, to indicate that you're referring to the Absolute page number.

5. QXPW4: Thanks for Your Help with "Shifting Pages" Problem

We'd like to say "Thank you" to all our subscribers who sent us information about the Shifting Pages problem. With all the information we've received, Quark's engineers believe they are getting close to finding the cause – and perhaps a solution -- for this problem.

However, we've seen different permutations of the symptoms (i.e., pages shifted in different ways or different directions), which could mean there is more than one cause or trigger to the problem. Please continue to send us any information you may discover about this problem, if you should encounter it.