Page Layout & Publishing | News

QuarkXPress 9 Adds ePub Export, App Design Studio

• By David Nagel
• 04/26/11

Quark has released a major update to QuarkXPress, its flagship page layout and publishing tool. The latest release, version 9, adds an app design tool for building iOS apps and supports exporting to e-book formats, including the popular ePub format.

QuarkXPress is a design and page layout application that's been used widely in the print publishing industry for decades. More recently, it's adopted technologies to help build publications for online and mobile reader consumption. With the latest release, Quark is expanding further into digital publishing with the addition of several new features to support electronic book readers.

Among these is the new App Studio for QuarkXPress, which lets users create iPad apps using familiar tools and without manual coding. It includes the ability to build slideshows, create distinct layouts to match the device's orientation, add video and audio, create pop-ups and hyperlinked text, and test and publish the app. It also includes an online App Studio portal for managing apps. App Studio for QuarkXPress isn't available at the time of the initial release; instead, it will be available within 90 days as a free enhancement for those who purchase QuarkXPress 9, according to the company.

For mobile publishing, QuarkXPress 9 also includes support for exporting to the ePub format (compatible with a wide range of e-book readers) and developing interactive, graphics-intensive publications for the Blio eReader and submit them to the Blio Bookstore.

In addition to electronic publishing enhancements, other new features in QuarkXPress 9 include:

• Enhanced callouts, with text boxes that flow with the main article;
• New bullets and numbering features, including support for pre-defined bullet styles and indentations;
• A new word processor view for editing copy;
• Enhanced styling rules for applying conditional formatting (such as automatically styling the first three words in a paragraph that follows a subhead);
• A new polygon tool that can create editable shapes;
• An image grid builder;
• Support for importing XLSX files; and
• New table tool, which offers, among other things, the ability to break up a table and flow it across multiple pages.

QuarkXPress 9 is available now. The Education Edition runs $199. (The full retail version sells for $799, while the retail upgrade from version 8 sells for $299.) Proof of educational status is required for education pricing. A 30-day trial is also available. QuarkXPress 9 requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later or Windows XP SP2 or later. Further details can be found here.