As more and more people are building iPad apps with QuarkXPress, the concepts behind making mobile-friendly content are increasingly valuable. This free webinar from Folio: magazine should offer some important principles and techniques… addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.planetquark.com%2F2012%2F02%2F22%2Ffree-webinar-optimizing-your-websites-for-mobile-devices%2F'; addthis_title = 'Free+Webinar%3A+Optimizing+Your+Websites+for+Mobile+Devices'; addthis_pub…

Meadows Publishing Solutions’ DesignMerge is a suite of XTensions that lets you personalize virtually every aspect of a document, including Variable Text, Graphics, Articles, and even entire Layouts. DesignMerge also includes a number of advanced VDP features, such as automatic…

Longtime readers of Design Tools Monthly or PlanetQuark.com know that I’m a huge fan of FreeHand, the onetime competitor to Adobe Illustrator. On Feb 10, the FreeHand Blog posted an enlightening interview with James Von Ehr, who co-founded Altsys and…

Next Thursday, February 23, font expert Ilene Strizver is presenting a one-hour webinar that explains the current state of using fonts on Web pages. If you want to use anything other than the old “web-safe” fonts on your Web page …

QuarkXPress uses more than one dictionary when spell-checking a document. Here is how to quickly add a list of new entries to the Auxiliary dictionary, perhaps to add proper names or industry-specific terms: To create a new Auxiliary dictionary, choose…

Use QuarkXPress to create e-books from existing print layouts — or create an e-book from scratch and spice it up with interactive elements such as videos and sounds. This seminar shows new users of QuarkXPress 9 how to create e-books…

Recently, I had a chance to chat with Quark’s Nick Howard about their new Quark Brand Manager, which was announced today. Here’s what I took away from our conversation: Organizations spend tons of time and money producing branded collateral…

Most fonts are designed for use in a specific range of sizes — 11 to 13 points is a common average. When used larger, the font may appear thin and spaced too widely. When used smaller, the font may appear…

Yesterday Apple approved the newest version (1.5) of Quark Issue Previewer, which you need to preview iPad Issues (.zave files) which have been exported out of QuarkXPress 9. If you have already installed Quark Issue Previewer, then you’ll get an update…

AthenaSoft’s LayerCraftXT is an XTension for QuarkXPress 8 and 9 that lets you import and export layers from a QuarkXPress layout. Art Directors and Graphic Designers can at an early stage of a project, for example, share a layer to…

Recosoft’s PDF2Office 5 ($70–$129) converts PDFs into fully editable Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint formats, maintaining the original layout and graphics, including tables, headers and footers, endnotes and footnotes, columns and sections. It can also extract text or graphics from…

Each month, the editors of HOW magazine choose 10 websites they recommend for graphic designers. Click this graphic for their list for February: addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.planetquark.com%2F2012%2F02%2F07%2Fhows-top-10-websites-for-designers%2F'; addthis_title = 'HOW%26%238217%3Bs+Top+10+Websites+for+Designers'; addthis_pub = '';…

Quark sent out this invitation today, so I thought I’d share it with you:   Next free QuarkXPress eSeminar: Creating e-books with QuarkXPress 9.2 Thursday, February 16 2012 8am PST | 9am MST | 11am EST Duration: 45 minutes…

There is a problem with recent versions of QuarkXPress and Mac OS X 10.7.3. Quark recommends NOT updating to 10.7.3 until they can work out a solution with Apple. The problem is that after upgrading to Mac OS X 10.7.3,…

Sometimes, you’re working with text that’s formatted with one Style Sheet, but you realize you want to change the formatting of a different Style Sheet. Unfortunately, if you click on the second Style Sheet, your current text will be tagged…

Color management device company X-Rite is offering a series of color management seminars in 10 cities across the U.S. and Canada. If you’re responsible for color accuracy in your organization, be sure to consider their press release below. ———————— X-Rite …

Many designers watch (or record) the Super Bowl just to see the commercials. Thankfully, Mashable has collected many of them online, so you can watch them NOW here. Of note, Honda is bringing back Ferris Bueller: addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.planetquark.com%2F2012%2F02%2F02%2Fwatch-the-super-bowl-commercials-today%2F'; addthis_title…

Based on the number of questions I’m receiving about QuarkXPress 9, there must be a lot of people upgrading! (Yay!) One common question goes like this: “I upgraded Mac OS X and upgraded QuarkXPress, and now my older Quark documents…

Well, THIS sucks: https://www.facebook.com/xpedxstores/posts/322737741089968 Xpedx has announced that they are eliminating their “Stores division”, which means they’ll be closing all Xpedx stores after March 30. Many printers rely on an Xpedx store for their papers, envelopes, press supplies, and various other…

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If you want QuarkXPress to check spelling as you type — especially in multiple languages — here’s your solution: AutoCorrectXT 3.5. This $50 XTension for QuarkXPress 7/8/9 from AthenaSoft uses not only its own dictionaries, but it can also…