Does QuarkXPress have only one xtention for publishing data quickly?

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Permalink Reply by David Cardillo on October 7, 2008 at 9:25pm

Sachin, I'm afraid I haven't used Quark since v.4 (and haven't looked back, thank you very much). I just didn't want you to feel you were being ignored.

Going through the literature and help files in ID, I've come across mention of ways of working with XML. Have you tried getting some info from Adobe? Again, I've not done this myself, but I've seen some remarkable things done with scripts (collecting images and text from different databases and laying out a page and styling the type). Adobe has a developer site where you may find someone who's already done most of the heavy lifting for you.

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Permalink Reply by Javier Longoria on October 8, 2008 at 9:33am

Sachin, I also haven't used QXP since 4.32. I used to use XData for our directories. It was a fairly involved process, as I recall. But that was about six years ago... I haven't kept up with new developments on the Quark side. Hope you get the answer you're looking for...

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Permalink Reply by Sachin Ghodke on October 14, 2008 at 11:59pm

Whoa! that was way back Javier. XData and XCatalog are those too old that help to a certain extent but i have not seen any progress in this field. I wonder if InDesign has similar tools on a larger scale to produce pages quickly. There are these automation tools to produce your work but how well are they and what they are i guess another discussion?
And yes, thank you for your honest reply. QXP really has taken the backseat and is declining in usage all over the world.

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Permalink Reply by Sachin Ghodke on October 15, 2008 at 12:01am

umm.... i will check that site up. This is encouraging for InDesign work that i do. :-)

Thank you so much for your reply David.

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Permalink Reply by Patrick Becker on October 8, 2008 at 5:14pm

Obviously I am biased. BUT, checkout SmartCatalog for ID.

http://www.woodwing.com/en/Smart_Catalog

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Permalink Reply by Sachin Ghodke on October 15, 2008 at 12:04am

This is good. Good link.
I might want to try this in the future. But sometimes i wonder if i want to do some magazines would there be tools similar to Smart Catalog to help me achieve this, besides InCopy.

Thank you, and here i thought only Easy Catalog was the only tool.

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Permalink Reply by Pat Bensky on December 2, 2008 at 10:48am

Sachin,
You might like to take a look at our database publishing program, CatBase. I think it will do what you need and it is not too complicated to use :) It works with both Quark and InDesign. Take a look at the info on our web site ... there are some movies that give an overview of how it works. Please contact me if you have any questions!

Pat Bensky

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Permalink Reply by Robin Sherman on December 6, 2008 at 2:23pm

I imagine you've checked all the Quark 3rd party extension developers. I guess that leaves scripting as a solution. I've seen demos of scripts that generate automatic layouts for directories using Applescript and Quark.

Check out Ray Robertson and Scripting Matters in Atlanta, http://scriptingmatters.com/.

Ray can put it together and teach you how to use it. He works with other software, too. From his web site: "He also specializes in database publishing and document-generation solutions using XTensions/Plug-ins for QuarkXPress and InDesign."

Tell him I sent ya.

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Permalink Reply by Sachin Ghodke on December 6, 2008 at 4:36pm

Hello Pat and Robin,

Thank you so much for your feedback. I will be studying this and will get in touch with Ray. The formatting I do with Quark documents is pretty complex. If am able to prove a point to my client, I think i have my battle won.

My goal was to remove the time we spend doing the layouts after we prepare some galley files for text and images. Hope I can get what i want to.

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Permalink Reply by Robin Sherman on January 8, 2009 at 1:47pm

Sachin, have you been to this Web site: http://www.emsoftware.com/products/

They sell Quark and InDesign extensions for data and catalogs.

Robin Sherman
Editorial & Design Services

For Books, Journals, Magazines, Manuals, Newsletters, Internet

— Information Architecture, Content Development, Organization, Improvement
— Developmental, Substantive, Copy Editing
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Small Publisher and Non-Profit Specialist

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