Quark on Monday announced the launch of Quark Publishing System 7 (QPS 7), its next-generation collaborative workflow system. Designed with a new open, standards-based architecture, QPS 7 integrates with existing business systems and a variety of publishing solutions to help simplify editorial, creative and production processes. QPS 7, announced at the ifraExpo and conference in Vienna, brings support for QuarkXPress 7 and QuarkCopyDesk 7 using a re-engineered Java-based core. It features an updated roles-based user interface that simplifies daily tasks; brings certification with HSQL and Microsoft SQL; delivers advanced Web-based editing features; offers more export options (including PDF and XML); and features full-size previews and thumbnails of QuarkXPress layouts and QuarkCopyDesk files.
"We are very excited about the new architecture of QPS7," said Michael Sweet, vice president of operations, PCI, a developer located in Broomfield, Colorado. "By integrating Scriba, our XML-based rules engine, with QPS7, we can offer our magazine, newspaper and book publishing clients a complete XML solution for both print-to-web and web-to-print workflows."
The company said that the service-oriented architecture is built on Java Spring framework and enables systems integrators and developers to rapidly develop and integrate unique solutions for their customers. QPS Server requires 4GB of RAM on Mac OS X 10.4.9 Server and QuarkXPress Server 7.2.1. QPS File Server runs on Mac OS X Server 10.4.9 (or Windows) with 2GB of RAM, while clients must run Mac OS X 10.4.9 or later with 1GB of RAM. The Web-based editor is supported by Internet Explorer 7 or Mozilla Firefox 2 (however, Safari support is not listed). Pricing was not available.