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QuarkXpress 7 news

First public viewing of the beta version of QuarkXpress 7

fish illustration from quark web site Quark Inc., has released a public beta of the latest incarnation of its page layout software, QuarkXpress.

Freely downloadable from the Quark web site, Version 7 will function until March 31st, 2006 and contains a number of the new features slated to appear in the final version of the program - although it has far from a complete feature set.

New features include transparency, a much requested feature that will bring it into line with Adobe's InDesign. QuarkXpress' transparency features will include color opacity, alpha channel masks for TIFF and PSD file formats and soft drop shadows.

There are also a number of other graphic file enhancements, including background transparency for PSD files, support for raster EPS files and non-destructive mask manipulation. There are also enhancements to a number of pre press and color management features, including automatic monitor profile detection and easier soft proofing.

Typography is not ignored either, with added support for Unicode and OpenType features, a glyph palette and an Insert Special Character menu.

QuarkXpress 7 also introduces a few interface changes, a rarity for Quark. The measurement palette has been enhanced. Palette groups have been introduced and it is now possible to identify layer items with layer colors.

There are also a number of workflow and productivity enhancements - via the Job Jackets system. These include synchronized design and color settings among multiple users, customizable preflighting and JDF (Job Definition Format) support, which is an industry standard designed to simplify information exchange between different applications and systems in and around the graphic arts industry.

The final version of QuarkXpress version 7 has now been released, as has the Universal binary edition of Quark.

10 January 2006 (updated 23 May 2006)