New Quark five times faster on Intel-based Macs

The major upgrade to the ‘fight-back’ version of Quark also claims substantially faster general layout manipulation for layouts that use images with clipping paths and flattening of layouts that use transparency is faster than it was in version 7.02.

The problems associated with the length of time to print, export as PDF or save as an EPS in the previous version have been resolved. Other common problems experienced by those using QuarkXpress 7 – such as the slowness of text editing, zooming and scrolling when displaying a clipping path with a large number of points or layout and low-resolution drop shadows which printed with a different resolution when they occurred over high-resolution images are among the other issues which have also been resolved.

QuarkXpress 7.1 is available now as a free download for existing users of QuarkXpress 7 and QuarkXPress Passport 7 in Australia and New Zealand from the official Quark calendar website.

John Biviano, Regional Director of Quark Australasia, believes that this updater is a significant extension to QuarkXPress 7. “QuarkXPress 7 was a very strong release for us,” he says. “7.1 demonstrates our commitment to quality products. It addresses several issues reported by customers since the release of QuarkXPress 7.” Biviano notes that this updater improves the performance of the application in areas such as: text selection, images with clipping paths and gradual deterioration and flattening.

With 7.1, each of the features has received a “performance boost”, making production times faster. Quark reported that this universal upgrade has allowed for performance improvements throughout the program, and in some cases QuarkXPress 7.1 is up to five times faster on Intel-based Macs than PowerPC.

Biviano said that he would have access to traffic figures for 7.1 at the end of the month.