Recently I had to take over a huge project that was done in QuarkXpress. Not my forte if any of you have noticed! I’m an InDesign girl through and through. In fact, up until this project, I hadn’t worked in Quark very much at all.
It was a learning opportunity—something that I’ve come to enjoy—even if it was full of frustration and aggravation about the differences between the two layout programs.
I thought I’d put together a little collection of my observations about the basic differences between working in Quark vs. working in InDesign. Hopefully it will help those of you who are transferring from one program to the other. I’m writing from the perspective of an InDesign user picking up Quark, since that’s what I am, but hopefully if you’re going the other way around—Quark to InDesign—you’ll find this useful, too.
Quark Tools
Below I’ve shown the pictures and listed the name of each tool in Quark and what it does (if the name isn’t explanation enough). I’ll be referencing these tools, so best to mention them first.
Item Tool – essentially the Move tool
Content Tool – basically a combination of both the Direct Selection Tool (white arrow) and the Text tool
Rotation Tool
Zoom Tool – you can toggle this tool the same as in Adobe programs, Ctrl+Spacebar+Click for zoom in and Ctrl+Alt+Spacebar+Click to zoom out.
Text Box Tool – used to create new text boxes. Click and hold on tool button to find more text tools
Picture Box Tool – used to create new picture boxes for importing images. Click and hold on tool button for more shape options.
Tables Tool
Line Tool (has the Pen Tool underneath)
Line Text-Path Tool – click and drag to create a link on which to type. Click and hold on tool button for more line options.
Linking Tool
Unlinking Tool
Composition Zones Tool – allows you to create areas that other QuarkXpress users can modify over a network. Complicated and I don’t understand quite how it works.
Scissors Tool – cuts the bounding line of an object, creating two end points where you click with the Scissors tool
Starburst Tool – no, it doesn’t conjure up yummy candy, it just draws a star. Define variables like number of spikes and spike depth by double clicking on the tool button.
Quark Shortcuts
One of the basic and most aggravating differences between InDesign and Quark is the shortcuts. I am an avid shortcut junkie and to not be able to hit T for the Text tool was beyond maddening, not to mention how much it slowed me down. Also unfortunate is that the shortcuts are not only different—and in other cases completely nonexistent—in Quark, there is also no way to change them.
Screenshot of the Keyboard Shortcut preferences from InDesign (shown with Quark shortcut set selected)
Fortunately for any of you moving from Quark to InDesign, Adobe has graciously allowed you to not only redefine every shortcut to your personal preference, but there is even a shortcut set saved that mimics Quark shortcuts (shown above). How’s that for accommodating?
So what handy shortcuts do exist in Quark?
Instead of using Spacebar as you would in InDesign to toggle the hand tool to move around the canvas, use Alt, which is actually what you would use to toggle the tool if you’re cursor is in a text box in InDesign, so perhaps it’s not quite as foreign. Though let me tell you, switching between Illustrator and Quark is disorienting!
Use Ctrl+Alt+Tab to move down the Tool panel and Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Tab to move up it. No, there are no shortcuts for individual tools so quit pouting about it, and yes, your fingers will feel like they are playing a demented game of Twister.
Ctrl+0 will zoom out to fit the page within the screen and is thankfully the same in both Adobe products and QuarkXpress. Ctrl+Spacebar+Click to zoom in and Ctrl+Alt+Spacebar+Click to zoom out are also identical (though in Quark you may not see the cursor change to the zoom icon until you click).
For most other options I needed like Full Resolution preview and Send to front or back I used the right click menu.
Working with Images and Text
I’ve heard many Quark to InDesign users say that getting a handle on how images are treated in the two programs is difficult. I never understood why until now.
In InDesign, you simply import images. There is no step before hitting Ctrl+D to bring up a dialog window where you can choose which image(s) to import. For Quark, however, there is a step before that. You must use the Picture Box tool to draw a content box for the image first. This content box acts as a clipping mask. With InDesign, this step is combined into importing an image; a content box is automatically created for you.
You’ll need to use the Text Box tool to create a text box, too. You should be used to this from InDesign, though.
Resizing Images
There is no on-the-fly or real time transform function or tool in QuarkXpress. You can control some aspects similar to a transform that you’re used to in the Adobe products, but you’ll have to access those through the Modify dialog box, which comes up if you double click on an object (text or image) or right click on it and choose Modify. Find the transform-ish options under the Picture or Text tab, depending on the type of content box. There is no checkbox to preview the changes before clicking ok either, so it’ll be a lot of trial and error (more time wasting).
The other way to resize images is to resize the content box with the Item tool and then right click and choose Scale Picture to Box. This can be very time consuming, especially if you need exact proportions in relation to other items, so if possible, make your images exactly the size you’ll need them in your image-editing (Photoshop) or vector application (Illustrator). When you import the images into a picture box, right click and choose Fit Box to Picture.
Linking Text Boxes
Screenshot of where to click to link text boxes in InDesign
To link text boxes in InDesign all you need to do is click on the blue/red box (a red + indicates overflow text) of the text box and click the box you want to link it to so that the text flows into that box. In Quark, however, there is a special Link tool. The method is still straightforward: click on the text boxes in the order you want them linked. To unlink boxes, use the Unlink tool. See also how to add a new first linked text box from Planet Quark.
More Later
I had so much to tell you that it turned into many more pages than I had originally planned. Next time, I’ll fill you in on the differences between InDesign and Quark regarding paragraph and character styles, master pages, bulleted and numbered lists and give you some further resources for both programs.
Can’t wait to hear you discuss the differences in typographic control between the two. I’ve always found, and continue to find, Quark more straightforward—kerning and tracking period. In InDy there are different types of kerning and tracking—metrics and optical. Unnecessarily involved, I think.
Stephen,
Hate to disappoint, but the differences in the way to the two programs handle text is not my area of expertise. The differences didn’t really stand out to me and this series was really meant to be a bird’s eye view of the differences, just to get someone sort of comfortable transitioning. Would you be interested in talking about those differences here? You’re welcome to write a guest post if you’d like, or take the discussion back to your blog and write about it!
LaurenMarie,
I’m leaning toward guest-blogging for you. I’m starting to prep a few paragraphs. You have a target word cound I should keep in mind?
If I have already flowed the text into my InDesign document with all the text boxes in the correct size etc, how can I then unlink the text boxes? Can I unlink them in InDesign once I have all the text? I remember I could do this in Quark but I’m fairly new to inDesign and have not discovered a way to do this. Your help much appreciated.
Steve,
Oops, missed your comment there, but we’ve already been talking via email about the guest post. For future reference, I actually have a page of instructions for guest authors.
Naomi,
Very simple to unlink text boxes. When you link a text box a blue box with a blue arrow appears in the upper left corner area (actually on the left border at the top). With the Move Tool (V) click on that box with the arrow and then click in its text box. Doing this will disrupt the link chain, though, so you’re really better off just deleting the text box if you mean to remove it (will not disrupt link chain).
The box-arrow icon is also how you would add another text box in between two text boxes or before the first text box. You would click on the box with the arrow then click the text box you want to add to the link chain.
Hi Lauren
I have to admit I tried a more recent version of Indesign and its much better than it use to be (being a Quark user).
In quark you can easily make a picture fit to box using apple apple alt shift and F and then apple alt shift and the left right arrow keys (the ones next to M on the keyboard) this makes resizing much easier. You can scale text in this way too.
Tara,
Hi! Nice to see you again! Even as an InDesign user I have to agree with you that the program as come a long way in the past three versions. Ooo, and thank you for that trick to resizing images and text in Quark. That would’ve come soooo much in handy about a month ago! I should’ve thought to ask you! Even with the trick to use the < and > to resize, it still only does it in increments, though. I needed some very precise resizing (corporate identity standards book). But those shortcuts are still handy, so thank you!
Hi Lauren,
I forgot to say you can also resize picture boxes and text by apple alt shift and then dragging the corner or the box. If you need precse measurements just type them into the measurements panel - Window - measurements.Just in case you are ever forced to use Quark again
I am going to have to teach myself a bit on Indesign and will no doubt be referring back to your recent articles. I know there’s also a book you can buy “QuarkXPress to InDesign: Face to Face” I haven’t got it though.
Tara,
Ah, perfect. Thank you so much!
I think many people (though not all) who try out ID end up liking better than Quark because it is so similar to the other Adobe programs and therefore fairly intuitive. Pretty much everything you need is either in the right-click menu or the side panels, which are tucked nicely out of the way on the right side (no annoying floating bar at the bottom eating into your valuable screen real estate!).
If you ever have any questions about InDesign, I would be most happy to answer them! Even if I don’t know the answer off the top of my head, I’ll look it up; I like learning more about the program. Check out InDesign Secrets for more help, too.
Thanks, I might just do that.
QuakXPress 8 (released July 31, 2008) has revamped the interface and tools to be more user friendly. I encourage you to take a 60 day free test drive and see how much the program has changed, including the ability to create Flash! I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on the new version. http://8.quark.com
Hi,
You just saved my life by teaching me how to link text boxes in InDesign. I am one of those old-fashioned QuarkXPress lovers and it’s just hard to change. I am doing it through learning from people like you.
Thanks! Isabel
Isabel,
Oh I bet it was driving you nuts trying to find the Link tool! I think that once you get used to InDesign, you may find you like it better than QuarkXPress. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask! (I changed your email address and deleted that extra comment. No worries). I would highly recommend the InDesign tutorials from Lynda.com, too, if you can afford $25/month. It’s well worth it.
It was driving absolutely crazy! It is so easy with Quark and its link tool. This one was ok, it did the job.
I am liking InDesign better the more I use it. It is so hard to leave something that was second nature to me. When I use Quark, I just fly! I am very fast with it.
My work provided Lynda.com for me. I can’t believe you just told me that, I could have gone there, duh!
Anyway, your website creativecurio.com is awesome. I really like the design. It has surprises, you never know what’s going to happen next as you scroll down. It is a fun design. If you did it, congratulations on a great design!
Take care, Isabel
Isabel,
I know how it is to start using new software after you are so used to another; they are similar but then again, so different! I feel that way when I have to do the reverse—when I have to work in Quark. Something I found particularly frustrating in Quark was the lack of simple shortcuts for the tools.
Lynda.com tutorials aren’t really great for finding specific things, unless you know what it’s called—and even then, it’s not really for trouble-shooting—so it probably wouldn’t have help you here, at least not easily or quickly. I do recommend the InDesign help files for troubleshooting, though. They are usually very good. And InDesign Secrets is an indespensible source of information (this site is by many of the same people who do the Lynda.com tutorials, as well as official work with Adobe on ID).
I did indeed design this website! (coded by my husband, though) I’m always pleased to hear that people enjoy the look and style of it. Thanks!
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