Extending QuarkXPress
QuarkXPress® is the most powerful and versatile page layout and design software on the market — and by extending it, you can make it even more powerful.
There are three main reasons you might want to extend QuarkXPress.
- First, you may need to add additional functionality that is specific to your business.
- Second, you may want to automate some aspect of QuarkXPress at an individual level to increase productivity.
- Third, you may want to implement enterprise dynamic publishing capabilities to provide a design foundation to non-designers who need access to rich, branded layouts — or add enterprise-wide automation and collaboration to your publishing process so you can reduce the time it takes you to complete a project.
QuarkXPress supports all three of these goals, through XTensions® software, AppleScript® scripting, and integration with Quark enterprise software.
XTensions: Add New Functionality to QuarkXPress
XTensions software lets you add completely new features and functionality to QuarkXPress through software add-ins. You can choose from the hundreds of XTensions modules that are available now (some free, others available for purchase from third parties), or develop your own to fit a specific need.
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Extend QuarkXPress on Your Mac with AppleScript
AppleScript lets you control applications such as QuarkXPress with scripts. AppleScript is an intuitive, easy-to-learn scripting language that has been built into Mac OS for more than fifteen years.
You can write a script to do anything from simple formatting tasks to complex database publishing. For example, you could easily write a script that alphabetises paragraphs or formats texts. With a little more work, you can write a script that merges addresses from a database into a QuarkXPress letter template. It’s even possible to produce an entire catalogue automatically by linking a QuarkXPress layout to a database of pictures and text.
The Mac OS version of QuarkXPress includes many examples of scripts that perform useful functions. These are available from the AppleScript menu in QuarkXPress. You can modify these scripts to suit your own purposes, or run them as-is.
Quark Enterprise Software: Extend the Power and Reach of QuarkXPress
To gain the full power of dynamic publishing, Quark offers several enterprise products that work with richly designed templates created in QuarkXPress. By combining such templates with content created by knowledge workers, you can allow content experts to focus on content and speed up the publishing process.
- Quark Publishing Platform: This is a complete system for dynamic publishing that allows users of Microsoft® Word to contribute content in unstructured or XML form, automatically populate richly designed templates created in QuarkXPress, and automatically produce publications in print, Web, digital, and other electronic formats.
- QuarkXPress Server: This is a server-based version of QuarkXPress that auto-populates design-rich QuarkXPress templates in an unattended, fully automated system. QuarkXPress Server is typically used as the foundation for publishing systems from third parties that are targeted to specific document types such as newspapers, magazines, books, financial reports, catalogues, marketing collateral, and similar material.
- Quark Web-to-Print System: This system is for marketing departments and printers who want to use QuarkXPress to create templates that can be customised by others through a browser-based tool. When building templates, designers can set up rules that prevent changes to design elements that should not change, such as colours, logos, positions, and fonts.