Customer Reviews

QuarkXPress 4 for Macintosh

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am totally new to desktop publishing. After downloading trial versions of PageMaker 6.5, CorelDraw 8, Deneba Canvas 6, and QuarkXPress 4, I found myself with more programs with more features than I knew what to do with. So, I checked out the VQSG series for each of the above programs (except Canvas, which isn't available). When it came down to selecting a program, I went with Quark, due in no small part to Ms. Weinmann's excellent book. Loaded with tips, clear instruction, and objective criticism of some of the program's shortcomings, this book showed me enough about how to use Quark to get me up and running in just a couple of days. I would have liked some more definitions as new topics were introduced, but the book does a good job cross-referencing where additional information can be found in other chapters. This is simply one of the best computer references around for someone who doesn't like, or have time to read, an epic 900+ page treatise about a computer program. I will definitely look for other books by the same author, and continue to return to the VQSG as my first reference.

This book really helped me learn QuarkXPress. The program is very complicated and difficult to figure out for someone who has no previous experience with desktop publishing. This book helped shed some light on Quark and actually made it funtional for me. There is still a lot more to learn, but this book is great for those who are just starting out.

16 years in the graphic arts, as both a service bureau techie and now as an IS support techie...this book rocks! I use it for my personal reference, and I recommend it to all of our designers and admin QuarkXPress users. Don't underestimate how easy it is to reference stuff and how well laid out the book is. A must have for designers as well as support techies.

I bought this book as a last resort because my Computer Graphics professor told us we would need lots of tutoring in order to pass with good grades. I was totally "Quark illiterate" before taking this course and buying the book. Honestly, this book explains a lot more than a tedious 3 week course in class could. The book has taken me step-by-step through all the process of learning style-sheets and type-boxes. This is all stuff I would have never been able to learn if not for the book itself.

Elaine Weinmann's very well illustrated and easy to read/follow excersises are what any student needs to reach their goal in QuarkXPress. My copy is different in color to the one sold here, but it looks exactly like the one my professor uses.
And, because the book is not really that thick, it can fit in either a backpack or a briefcase. The only main problem I have with the book itself is the paper-back style. It will fray and dog-ear pretty fast, so take good care of this "Bible for Quark".

And...for those whom are not too sure of their Keyboard shortcuts, thank God, they put them in the back of the book.
At least I don't have to search my binder for my photocopies! That little extra is a Godsend. Especially when you are being tested on the shortcuts.

Get the book. Hope my review helped you.

I am a graphic design student and so took a class on QuarkXPress 4. This book was one of the resources for the class. I found it to be invaluable. It gets right to the point without using a lot of words that sound nice and don't mean anything. It is an excellent book.

Combined with courses in DTP. This is an excellent reference. Anything you need you can find in a snap. The book is also inexpensive and small enough to take with you. I highly recommend it.

I'm a graphic design student and bought this book to aid me with the learning process of Quark. I found the book helpful and easy to read. There are parts that need more work, but it explains how to do things step by step. A beginner can use this book to guide him/her through the process of making a layout and using all the tools available in Quark.

If you're like me, and you'd rather jump into a manual than sit in a classroom, then this Visual Quick-Start is for you. This is the fourth VQS book I've bought and it doesn't disappoint. Actually, I'm a Quark Xpress power user, but needed to train some non-design trained coworkers on basic Quark usage. The simple step-by-step sections are easily digested and build on each other as you progress. Alternately it serves as a great reference is you just want to learn how to do a single task.

I bought this book as a graphic design student upon a teacher's recommendation and it saved my butt on many a homework project when I needed to figure out how to get something done. I've since gone on to become a professional graphic designer and though I'm up to QuarkXPress 6.5 this book is still valid and has still come in handy for looking up the odd hotkey or some odd paragraph formatting.

The book is clean and concise and very logically ordered. The index in the back makes it very easy to find what you're looking for and if you can't think of the name for something you can find it easily by browsing since the book is so well organized.

Each element is plainly described and accompanied by a picture - don't let the greyscale images fool you, they get directly to the point so you can see exactly how to accomplish something.

I've seen a lot of XPress books out there, many 5-times the thickness of this book but all those other books seem to add superfluous text just to fill pages where this book gets to the point. Of all my books for design and design software, this has by far been my most helpful and most used.

Just what I needed to learn QuarkXPress!