Quark Publishing System 9 intros Collections, ePub features
updated 01:40 pm EDT, Thu July 28, 2011
Remote web interface gets major improvements
Quark has unveiled Quark Publishing System 9, an updated version of its automated publishing platform. Production houses can use QPS to aid work for various media types, including print, web, phones and tablets. The new platform is compatible with both QuarkXPress 9 and QuarkCopyDesk 9; through the latter software QPS now supports things like conditional styles, predefined bullet and numbering styles, and moving boxes and groups automatically alongside text.
A major new feature is the concept of Collections, which bunch together related assets that can share workflows, users, routing rules, Job Jackets and revision options. A Collection can, for instance, have a universally applied due date, and separate article and image workflows that nevertheless allow switching assets between them. Existing workflows can be applied to any asset, and Collection templates can be used to carry settings over to new Collections.
QPS now additionally supports publishing from XML to the ePub format. ePub is a standard employed by many e-books, including those on Apple's iBookstore. Quark notes that XML allows content to be recycled between many different platforms, saving some production effort.
The company has lastly overhauled Web Hub, a component which lets people work on projects remotely via a web browser. The technology now allows browsing through directory structures, and incorporates a WYSIWYG view that merges preview and editing together. Images can undergo edits such as cropping, resizing or substitution, and asset previews finally allow zooming.
QPS supports both Mac and Windows systems, but involves a variety of modules including servers, fileservers, databases and clients, all with different requirements. Interested parties must talk to Quark regarding pricing.
