Customer Reviews

Real World QuarkXPress 6

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

 

 

I've been a Quark authorized trainer since 1994, and a Quark-using designer since a couple years before that, and there is no way I could use this program to its fullest extent without a current version of Blatner's QuarkXPress book at my side.

Though Blatner is writing a lot about InDesign now, he is still the acknowledged Quark expert in the field. His book goes into detail on every nook and cranny in the program, with copious, well-annotated screen shots throughout. (And contrary to another reviewers griping about figures seldom being on the same page where they're cited, that's totally wrong -- the opposite is true. Just look at the "look inside" excerpt that Amazon provides right here. I flipped through my copy and found that only once in a while are figures are on the next page. And in that case, big whoop! Don't know what's up with that guy.)

I like how he carries on a conversational tone even in the screen shots, like he's sitting next to you showing you stuff. For example on pg. 265 he goes through a series of 6 screen shots showing the same 2 blocks of text that were set on a master, modified on the doc page, then modified on the master and what happens to them subsequently on the doc page. How doc items can remain "partially" linked to their master page sources -- an item link vs. a content link -- are one of the most difficult things to teach let alone understand. But he takes his time with each shot, explaining what's happening and why (for #4 in the series of 6 shots: "Because I broke the item link for the second box, it doesn't get updated. The first box is updated because only the content link had been broken.")

I think if you ask any seasoned Quark user which book they *must* have, they'll tell you it's Blatner's. There's no "tutorials" as one reviewer mentioned, because the entire book is a tutorial! Egads! Every thing he explains is related to when/why you'd use a given feature for a particular purpose. Many screen shots are of real world projects. If you want a canned tutorial on how to create a fake newsletter or something. (...)

Also, note: Right after the book came out, Blatner notified the QuarkXPress listserv and anyone else he could reach that the publisher mistakenly included an old index with the book, but it was reprinted in late 2003 with the correct index.

I'm not sure how people in summer of 2004 are ending up with a bad index. I bought my copy from Amazon in April 2004 and the index is fine. (...)

Using this book as a reference is a nightmare. As far as I can tell the index has no correlation between itself and the rest of the book. For example if your looking for info on null boxes the index shows you to a page about bezier curves. Or if your looking for information on page numbers, the actual text that deals with them falls between the pages stated in the index. Now if you can find the specific item your looking for there is usaually some good info there. However I find it more frustrating than helpful.

If you have to put up with the quirks in Quark, then David Blatner's book is essential. I don't know him, have nothing to do with his book, but I do know he's a heck of an instructor and writer. Quark (the company) is useless when you need help. Quark is an average software made good by Blatner's book. He's the Lynda Weinman of Quark. Get it. You'll be elated that you did.

I bought this book because I was very happy with Blatner's Real World Quark 4 book. However, when I got this one, the index did not match the book at all. So I returned it to Amazon with instructions for a replacement book with the correct index. I received the second book and its index was incorrect too. So beware! If you are buying this book as a reference book, then you may want to skip this one and purchase another one.

Also received a copy w/ the bad index, but it was replaced promptly, so hard to complain on that front.

The book could be greatly improved w/ more discussion of how to avoid typographic difficulties in the first place, for example, noting that one should set the special command for not breaking a word after keying in a hard hyphen if one doesn't want compound words to be hyphenated (by most standards they shouldn't).

It's also rather ironic that the author complains of the New York Times hyphenating ``doesn't'' after the ``s'' (on pg. 363) when there are multiple instances in the book of hyphenating ``didn't'' after the second ``d'', as well as at least one three word ``stack'' and a fair number of hyphenated words which fall on the bottom of right-hand pages.

First let me say this is a great book of information. One can find it very useful and apply the authors techniques just fine.

Having said that it's very annoying to read and use as a reference.

Fist issue is it's BULK (3 actually 2.98 pounds for my copy) and the size 9.5 x 7.5 x 1.875. With over 900 pages (908) there is a lot of redundancy and extraneous reading.This is a Two Handed Whopper to hold. Which makes it difficult to use at the computer unless you have a big desk to hold it for you.

Next issue is that the author references Figures constantly. They give the reader a great visual of what he's intending you to see however: The page he references you to SEE a figure on is more often than not on the page that the figure is on.

IE on page 441 he tells you to: (see Figure 7-14). You will find Figure 7-14 on page 442 but that figure is on the page behind what your reading. So now your turning the page to look at the figure only to have to go back to the previous page to keep reading. The reader will find this in almost every instance ... notice I said ALMOST ... because there were a FEW instances where the figure was actually on the page I was reading ... but not very often.

So far I'm frustrated with this book because the index was incorrect, if this happens to you go to http://www.moo.com/books/rwqx5/qxbook/updates-rwqx6.html and download the new one or try [...]. For the price it would have been nice to get a CD tutorial. Also I needed help setting up bulleted items and eventually got what I needed looking up tabs and style sheets, but there wasn't much specific information within the book for what seemed like a basic task. I did like the general way it is written in a casual but professional style.

There is one tutorial in the over 900 pages of text. Not good for beginners!!!!