I'm certainly no expert on all the ramifications of using a DTP, but I was a Quark user for about eighteen years, starting with v.3 and finally ending with v.6.5. Both Quark and Scribus have rather steep learning curves, they're not word processors (but make dandy ones if you already know how to use them!) I've found that Scribus will do everything Quark would do, some things are easier, some are less intuitive, but overall, once you get used to using either, that's what you know. A good application is the one you know how to use, and does what you want. I switched because frankly, after buying Quark for something like $700, every year or so I had to upgrade to keep the program current, upgrades cost me about $280. That got pretty old for me, my income has always been rather limited. Scouting around OpenOffice's add-ons one day, I came across Scribus. I've generally been a DOS then Windows user, Quark was originally ported for Mac, later came out with the Windows version. Scribus was originally ported for Linux, but as far as I know, has always been multi-platform capable. I use it - v.1.3.3.14 - in Windows VISTA, and also in OpenSUSE 11.3 Gnome. It works flawlessly for me on either platform.
I do newsletters for specialized groups, and also the color bulletin covers for a local church, and have found Scribus to be just as adept at handling things like text columns, inset pictures, runaround text, all the things I used Quark for, at least equal to Quark. The only thing I really miss is Quark's menu choice of frames for graphics (or text, for that matter). Quark came with a nice assortment of decorative frames, which became the box itself when applied. Scribus requires a frame to be drawn over the object, line frames only apparently, though various corners are available, from using the box draw choice, then the color (default is black) has to be removed to expose the graphic. Line thickness is availble, and I've found that most clients are satisfied with just a black line frame around most graphics, or sometimes no frame at all, as with a faded border. I was fond of Quark's "Greek Key" border. Frames can be any color, I'm not sure Quark frames offer that, I never tried to use it. Scribus is open source software - its totally free, and that's really hard to beat. QuarkXpress is expensive to purchase, and expensive to upgrade. I did some beta testing on their v.7 and found it difficult to use for my applications, so stopped upgrading at 6.5. I especially had trouble loading v.7, and getting file recognition from it. I dutifully reported that to the company, maybe they addressed those issues, I don't know. I think Quark started out as a really neat, tidy program, and over the years became bloated and hard to manage. Seems I recall something about it being completely rewritten, in a newer higher language, but I don't know about that. Scribus is very well managed, this open forum is the best thing since chocolate bananas, questions always get answered and I've met the nicest people here. You have absolutely nothing to lose but your time in going through the steps to learn to use Scribus. QuarkXpress is, I understand, the premier program in this country for publishing magazines and newspapers, and in fact that's where I learned of it, at the San Bernardino Sun newspaper, where I was working in the accounting department, but haunting the typesetting area, fascinated by the various software programs they used. (Disney had some really nice programs for professional use.) I had trained with IBM many years earlier in their MTSC system of computerized typesetting. Heck, live dangerously, take a chance on Scribus, save your money for something you really need. -- ------------------- Michael F. Chamness 618 - 2nd Street Montpelier, North Dakota 58472 (701) 489-3638
