Quark nightmare... need help quick!!!

wicky

wicky

play thing
We've just changed over to OSx on the work machines, and are up against a tough deadline.... Quark is misbehaving BADLY!!!

Using Quark 6.1 on 10.3.3.....
• Firstly, when importing older v4.1 files, it keeps randomly making changes to colour, fonts, etc.
• Secondly, Quark is distorting the shapes of some of the more complicated Illustrator files (logo's, etc.).

OK, I'm thinking that the changes to colour could just be version 4 to version 6 weirdness/ incompatability (but unlikely). The changing fonts might be system differences between OS9 and OSx (again unlikely).... but changing the proportions of part of a logo??? What's going on?

This is a real problem, because we've got some tight deadlines based on work from last year. There's no time to redo the work, only to make changes to the old document.

Has anybody heared anything about this, or more to the point, got any ideas how to resolve it?

Thanks

=)
 
wicky said:
OK, I'm thinking that the changes to colour could just be version 4 to version 6 weirdness/ incompatability (but unlikely). The changing fonts might be system differences between OS9 and OSx (again unlikely).... but changing the proportions of part of a logo??? What's going on?
Click to expand...

Is it safe to assume you also have new machines? The color changes could be from having a different profile under the new OS. The changing logos could be from slightly different versions of the same font between the OS versions.

Those are two things that pop into mind, but I'm not for sure. It may be a good time to call Quark's customer support and see if they have any ideas, esp. if you have pending deadlines.
 
No. The machines have not been changed in any respect. 2 x G4's (1 x original Quicksilver 1Ghz, plus 1 x the previous Blue model, not sure 'bout the spec). Both using Apple TFT flat screens.

The company I work for employ a "bloke" to come and sort out their computers. On both machines, he's simply installed the new OS over the top of the old version, without zeroing, or even re-formatting the drive. Based on weirdness that I had when installing Jaguar over the top of 10.1x, I reckon this could be the root of the problem .... but who knows!

The Quicksilver machine was pretty temperamental before the upgrade, and I think it's very bad practice to install over the top of a known bad system! Both machines seem pretty slow to me, compared with Jaguar 10.2.8 on my home system.

When I said that it had "changed the colour", I don't mean a slight shift in hue. I mean changing it from red to black, or from black to white. These are single colour tiff images, saved in Photoshop in bitmap mode (so that the colour of the background and foreground can be independently edited in Quark).

The fonts I think are identical. Well.... they're not very well managed, but they were dragged over from the old OS9 system folder (still there, on the system), so they should work OK.

Obviously, I can point out the errors with how the upgrade has been done, but the important thing is to try and find a way of resolving the issue. If it was left up to me, I'd bang another H/D in to the box, put a fresh copy of the system onto it, and transfer the working files across..... but a./ it's not up to me, and b./ there's no time.

Have you ever heard of Panther/Quark being this weird?
 
Quark being weird? YEA... It would seem that the new Quark is not to happy with the old files...weird but not unheard of.

I'd second the notion on it being a bad idea with the way things were installed.

On the images, have you tried relinking them from the originals? Maybe try one and see if that fixes the problem.

If all else fails, it might be wise to load 9 on one of the machines to get the deadline issue resolved. After that you could try talking with Quark to find a solution, or better yet since you may have to do some major reworking of files, send it back (Quark) and apply the money to a better program, InDesign.
 
Well, personally I'm a InDesign fanatic, through and through. However, I seriously reckon Adobe need to address the speed issue. InDesign can be pretty slooooowww, especially on long documents with transparency, etc! (Any advice on speeding it up would be greatly appreciated).

But some designers are resistant to change, and my employer is a true Quark head. I already feel that I'm in the firing line, for insisting on an upgrade that has caused problems. So, I don't want to now start insisting that he change from his favourite app.

I reckon the only way to be sure and confident in the system, is a clean reinstall... but how to break the news with such a tight deadline?

Ahhh well.... we shall see.

Thanks for the advice

=)
 
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