Quark's multiple layout mode

[Tech]

Hi All,
Does anyone have issues working with this type of Quark layouts? Aside from keeping a project within a single file, is there really any advantage? Since we work with live hi-res files, one concern that we have is layout files size getting out of control.

Any feedback on this is appreciated. Thank you.

[jwieder]

One advantage is being able to synchronize text between layouts. That
is, when they share information such as an address block, a change in
one layout can be set to change the corresponding text in another
layout.


Jonathan Wieder | Publication Design
510.559.8930 | design@JonathanWieder.com

[chworktap]

>> Since we work with live hi-res files, one concern that we have is layout files size getting out of control.

I presume you know that In the quark preferences, under Application - display, if you switch Display settings to 8-bit from the default 32-bit, your quark file sizes will be much smaller.

[bluekivi]

One problem we encountered is that if the Quark file corrupts (I know, that never happens) that you lose the whole project, not just one portion of it. If you have a separate Quark files, at least you can get primary font and style information to recreate the corrupt document.

[Tech]

1) Synchronizing text sounds nice in paper but at least with our workflow, it isn't much an advantage. Usually only one designer handles a project from start to finished. This will include making all editorial change as well in the layout.

2) I have never heard/read by changing display preference to 8-bit can reduce a Quark file size. I'll need to run some tests on it. One problem I see from doing this, is that designers tend to prefer seeing hi-rez images on monitor for placing position accurately.

3) Bluekivi's point is exactly why we don't use multiple layout mode. We can't build a 200, 400, 600+ page books and simply take Quark's word that this will work flawless and file won't be corrupted.

In short, all sounds great in paper, but this multiple page mode seems to work better for smaller projects or projects that use FPO.

Edited by: Tech on Oct 28, 2007 11:47 PM

Edited by: Tech on Oct 28, 2007 11:47 PM

[chworktap]

>> 2) I have never heard/read by changing display preference to 8-bit can reduce a Quark file size. I'll need to run some tests on it. One problem I see from doing this, is that designers tend to prefer seeing hi-rez images on monitor for placing position accurately.

Got this tip from the quark support forum. We worked with huge files for years, finally stumbled on this, and then we switched to InDesign anyway. There is also a 16-bit option, images look decent, but even at 8-bit you can easily place images, they just look grainy. Note this only works with new files. If your files were created in 32-bit preview, they will always stay large. Any new files, though, will be much smaller. Try it, plop a big cmyk image on a quark page, save. Close quark, open and switch to 8-bit and do the same, you will see quite a difference.

Edited by: chworktap on Oct 30, 2007 9:36 PM

[pcmodem]

{quote:title=chworktap wrote:}
>I presume you know that In the quark preferences, under Application - display, if you switch Display settings to 8-bit from the default 32-bit, your quark file sizes will be much smaller.
{quote}

This only works when you are placing images into Quark. If the images are already placed, this will not reduce the file size.

Brian

[Tech]

I created a Quark 6 using 8-bit mode, imported 5 images (total of 120mb in size) and created a 32-bit layout using same 5 images. Quark file size didn't change at all.