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Is there anyone who has used the two and can tell me if there's anything in Quark to justify the many hundreds of dollars in price difference? I've used older versions of Pagemaker and a really ancient version of Quark but that was many years past.

Well, here is my take.

I loooove Quark XPress.



I love it because I have cut my teeth on it and I use it daily.  All of my personal projects make it into Quark.

I have also used PageMaker in my job and it is nice as well.  Being an Adobe product, it functions well with Illustrator, Photoshop and Acrobat.  But so does Quark.  

Depending on your end result (PDF, print or both), you can go either way.  Quark 5.0 I believe allows you to embed hyperlinks in a TOC for a PDF, something that Pagemaker did back in 6.5 and continues in 7.0.

Another plus for PageMaker is that Adobe sells a bundle of PM, Photoshop and Illustrator.  Not hideously overpriced either, just high for those who are first time buyers.

Here's my advice.  Go to your local Barnes and Noble (or similar bookstore) and peruse the Using manuals for each.  I suggest B&N for cushy chairs and coffee.  Don't necessarily read in-depth, but get an idea of how each one works.  Then decide which one is easier for you and go that route.

Alternately, I could throw Adobe InDesign into the mix and really start screwing with you, but I wouldn't suggest going that route until you are comfortable with PageMaker.

I know this isn't a big help, but as someone who has used both, it's really six of one half dozen of the other.  Both do the job and when used correctly, both can do the job well.

You should know that you are cracking open a hideous holy war.  I've seen this conversation many times in many places.  This suggests to me that each program has its advantages and disadvantages, and that the best idea is to pick the one that has the advantages that you want and the disadvantages you can live with.

Personally I have PageMaker.  That's primarily because it is an Adobe product (and therefore should be good with PDFs) and because it was much cheaper than Quark.  But, again, that's when I was looking at software.  It's been 18 months or so.  It could have changed by now.

And Junk was laid out using MS Word, so I can't speak to the success of Pagemaker on an actual project.  All I can say is this:  don't try to lay out a 112-page book using Word.  Just don't do it.  On that I think we can all agree.

Seth Ben-Ezra

This subject has been discussed before, if you haven't searched the archives. Most recently in the Layout and DTP thread, but certainly in others throughout the history of the Forge.