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Publisher's release date has already been pushed out many times before so expecting early 2018 is a bit optimistic. I personally can't wait. I have my credit card ready and waiting for the release date. Skip the beta testing phase and just release it – bugs and all. Give me a discount as a launch deal and fix everything in the first update... I won't complain, promise.

 

(It must be the implementation of the 'impossible' arrow heads that's holding up its release... :13_upside_down: )

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Sure publisher is not gonna be the hit designer and photo was (I mean how many home users need this?), but it can have a good halo effect with designers, I have spoke with a lot of other designers about affinity programs and all told me they are waiting for publisher to get them all together and try to switch from adobe (most of us in that discussion work with the holy trinity photoshop-illustrator-indesign).

I personally don't need much from publisher, I mean most of what I do with DTP software can be covered from scribus anyway, but I could love an affinity program that can play well with designer and photo so I can have a faster workflow (like drag n drop from each program to the other).

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Yup, me too.

In fact, when I started out out, the trinity of apps was Photoshop-Freehand-QuarkXpress.

 

Apart from changing from InDesign back to Quark, what real choices do I have? (and Quark costs a small fortune compared so a professional, sub-$100 layout app will be a winner)

 

I actually think that the average home user would be better off with a Publisher-Photo combo rather than the current Designer-Photo combo  – there are a lot of overlapping features.

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2 hours ago, Stephen_H said:

Apart from changing from InDesign back to Quark, what real choices do I have? (and Quark costs a small fortune compared so a professional, sub-$100 layout app will be a winner)

 

I actually think that the average home user would be better off with a Publisher-Photo combo rather than the current Designer-Photo combo  – there are a lot of overlapping features.

 

QuarkXPress boasts 'competitive upgrade' pricing, and they regularly have special offers like last month's bundling of callas pdfToolbox; I've just seen that the pdfToolbox offer is available again this month. However, although pdfToolbox on its own normally costs more than the competitive upgrade price for QXP, this isn't exactly a low-cost option.

 

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16 minutes ago, Alfred said:

 

QuarkXPress boasts 'competitive upgrade' pricing, and they regularly have special offers like last month's bundling of callas pdfToolbox; I've just seen that the pdfToolbox offer is available again this month. However, although pdfToolbox on its own normally costs more than the competitive upgrade price for QXP, this isn't exactly a low-cost option.

 

 

Yep, it was a popular deal and so got extended. When one adds up the normal total cost for both, it's what, about $1300 USD? So the deal is relatively inexpensive (and broad in scope as regards what qualifies for the deal)...but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that. Thereafter, upgrades are about $175 USD (in the past, I don't know if that will come down now that Quark has moved to a (roughly) year cycle.

 

The imposition works well in pdfToolbox aside from the other obvious benefits.

 

But, do note that there is a magazine in Germany that is giving away QXP 2015 with the magazine this month.

https://shop.heise.de/katalog/ct-kreativ-arbeiten-2017

 

At least that's what I'm told. No idea about the veracity of the offer nor the magazine itself so buyer beware and all that.

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I enquired about QuarkXpress about 4 months ago. It was a huge mission to just get a 30 day demo. I had to deal with a local sales rep and the price I was quoted did not match the online price in Dollars. (it was about 50% higher) This makes me doubt whether I'd be able to take part in the online specials.

That German magazine offer is interesting. Though it seems to be a 2015 version, not the current one so I'll be in for an upgrade cost. I also wonder if the software will be in German or English?

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If you want to take up the current version offer, I can put you in touch with someone at Quark via email that can keep things straightened out.

 

I would suspect that the copies from the magazine are upgradable but I don't know that for a fact. If anyone goes for the giveaway and desires to upgrade I would check with Quark to make sure the offer is legit and they are not student licenses or promo copies that cannot be upgraded. 

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3 hours ago, MikeW said:

...

 

I would suspect that the copies from the magazine are upgradable but I don't know that for a fact. If anyone goes for the giveaway and desires to upgrade I would check with Quark to make sure the offer is legit and they are not student licenses or promo copies that cannot be upgraded. 

Well on the heise c't website they say about that QuarkXPress 2015 version, which comes along as a give away with that "c't work creatively" magazin issue...

Details about the full version of QuarkXPress 2015

  • Professional layout and desktop publishing software for designing magazines, books, brochures, flyers, business cards, CD covers, posters, and more.
  •  Suitable for professional pre-press, PDF / X-4 and e-book export (ePub and Kindle).
  • Full 64-bit software, supported on macOS Retina resolution.
  • You get an unrestricted right of use (registration required).
  • System requirement: at least Windows 7 SP1 (64 bit) or macOS 10.9 (it also runs under 10.8 and 10.13, but is not certified for this.) In macOS High Sierra, cosmetic export inaccuracies may occur in a few export dialogs.).
  • Fully upgradeable to the latest version until at least the end of 2019.
  • Including 60 days of free support.

Further they claim ...

  • Each buyer can download an unlimited full version of the professional layout program QuarkXPress 2015 worth 800 euros for free and use it on up to two computers. It can be installed both under Windows (7 to 10) and under macOS (10.9 to 10.13).

So it sounds like an upgradable QXP 2015 full version. Also AFAIK, the QXP software is always already localized for different languages and thus it should more depend on the used host systems language, aka where you are going to install it.

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ok time to check if any of my friends live in Germany to get me that issue :P

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QuarkXpress + PDFToolBox is pretty much the whole reason/solution I can't/can leave Adobe completely. I haven't found decent [yet affordable] replacements for InDesign & Acrobat (purely for it's preflighting features).

 

I hope the guys here at Affinity are watching this thread and see the lengths we're willing to go to in order to get off Adobe. The longer we wait for Publisher, the more business Quark is going to get from us. I'd even be prepared to put my money where my mouth is and pay as pre-order (I'm willing to fund it as a "Kickstarter program" if they are struggling with allocating staff resources)

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18 hours ago, MikeW said:

If you want to take up the current version offer, I can put you in touch with someone at Quark via email that can keep things straightened out.

 

 

Thanks for the offer to help, but I just found a simple work-around to my problem... I browsed Quark's shop through Opera browser. It has a free, built-in VPN so the shop didn't recognize me as coming from South Africa. It thinks I'm in Germany so it let me in. Everything was in German but it allows me to select a different language. My point is: it let me in and will accept a purchase. :D

 

The €399 competitor upgrade option is looking very tempting. It even looks like the PDFToolBox offer might still apply to this offer...  

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BTW, someone let me know that there is an electronic version (a PDF I believe) you can buy of the magazine that also contains the code. As I cannot really read German much, I used Google to translate the page. Here's the link to the German page...

https://shop.heise.de/katalog/ct-kreativ-arbeiten-2017-pdf?pk_campaign=ctmish17&pk_kwd=t1-pdf

 

Use Google Translate for translating the page if your German is as rusty as mine

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Yes there are also digital versions of that magazine available, either as PDF or via an App (iOS, Android) for €8,99.  When you buy a digital version, let's say the PDF magazine issue, you get a direct PDF magazine download link via email and a seperate email with the instructions (another email address and email subject code) how to get the QuarkXPress software version.

Then you follow the instructions of the seperate Email which tells you how to get the software. - Steps you have to perform to get the software are...

  1. send a special indicated Email personal code (a given to you code number) as the Email subject to a given magazine related email address.
  2. in return you will then get another Email with an exchange code and a special link to a form on the Quark website.
  3. you have to fill out the form with your personal data (name, email address etc.) and the exchange code from (2.).
  4. in turn you will then get confirmation emails from Quark with the Mac + Win software download links and a software serial number and validation code.

That's in short the procedure how to get the Quark software and license code for the accompanied magazine!

 

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BTW, in that above mentioned c't magazine issue there are also some articles which deal with some Affinity Photo tasks (though of course in german language), like for example...

  1. Basics of Affinity Photo
  2. Optimize coloring with Affinity Photo
  3. Fix exposure errors with Affinity Photo
  4. Affinity Photo: reduce blur
  5. Eliminate interference with Affinity Photo

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On 09/11/2017 at 1:29 PM, MikeW said:

{snip}

 

But, do note that there is a magazine in Germany that is giving away QXP 2015 with the magazine this month.

https://shop.heise.de/katalog/ct-kreativ-arbeiten-2017

 

At least that's what I'm told. No idea about the veracity of the offer nor the magazine itself so buyer beware and all that.

 

22 hours ago, v_kyr said:

{snip}

 

Further they claim ...

  • Each buyer can download an unlimited full version of the professional layout program QuarkXPress 2015 worth 800 euros for free and use it on up to two computers. It can be installed both under Windows (7 to 10) and under macOS (10.9 to 10.13).

So it sounds like an upgradable QXP 2015 full version. Also AFAIK, the QXP software is always already localized for different languages and thus it should more depend on the used host systems language, aka where you are going to install it.

 

At about ten bucks it seemed worth buying a copy of the PDF version of the magazine, and I can confirm that it all worked as expected. I got several emails in German when I took up the offer yesterday, with one of the links taking me to a Quark page in English; today I received my validation code, and when I ran the installer which I had downloaded yesterday it was all in English from the get-go.

 

21 hours ago, MikeW said:

Thanks for the clarification. Can't beat the price. 

 

Do note that the upgrade to 2017 carries a larger fee Than the upgrade one version back. But the pdfToolbox deal would still apply. 

 

Yes, there's 'quite' a big difference! The 2017 upgrade from QXP 2015 is £345/€399, whereas the upgrade from the 2016 version is only £159/€185.

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Yep, Quark uses a 2-tiered upgrade pricing scheme.

 

That also applies to any previous version going back to v.3, so it is capped. I.e., once one is two years back, they pay the same as a person upgrading from v.3. But, like the pdfToolbox offer, there is most often an incentive for folks more than two versions back (also applies to "current" upgrades anyway).

 

May I suggest that if anyone gets the magazine deal or upgrades to the current version, please consider joining the closed FB group for aid? It is the quickest means of support from both other users and various Quark personnel (the developers and some management).

https://www.facebook.com/groups/quarkxpress/

 

There is also the Quark forums, but most of the activity has moved to the closed group.

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19 hours ago, Alfred said:

 

...and when I ran the installer which I had downloaded yesterday it was all in English from the get-go.

 

Supported languages in the user interface and with spell checking and separation are usually these here. - The Mac version showed during installation the by the Installer itself supported languages, which I recall were these...

5a06f0711acf0_Assistent2017-11-1012-44-45.png.5b9f9f978879110188c1462b5e1cac0c.png
 

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