QuarkXPress 9 Specifications

Mac:
OS X 10.5.8 Leopard or later running on an Intel processor
OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard or later for creation of mobile-device apps
2GB drive space minimum
2GB RAM minimum
DVD-ROM drive for installation from physical media
Internet connection for product activation

Windows:
Microsoft Windows XP SP 2 or later with .NET Framework 3.5 SPI
1GB drive space minimum
2GB RAM minimum
DVD-ROM drive for installation from physical media
Internet connection for product activation

Adobe InDesign Creative Cloud Specifications

Mac:
OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard or later running on a multicore Intel processor
2GB RAM; 8GB RAM recommended
2.6GB drive space minimum, plus additional for installation
1024-by-768 display resolution on 32-bit video card; 1280-by-800 resolution recommended
Adobe Flash Player 10 or later for export of SWF files
Internet connection for product download, activation, validation, hosted online services

Windows:
Microsoft Windows 7 or later, Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon 64 processor
2GB RAM, 8GB RAM recommended
2.6GB drive space minimum, plus additional for installation
1024-by-768 display resolution on 32-bit video card, 1280-by-800 resolution recommended
Adobe Flash Player 10 or later for export of SWF files
Internet connection for product download, activation, validation and hosted online services

What the Products Do

QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign support the creation of static, interactive and multimedia publications, including books, magazines, brochures, catalogs, signage and marketing communications. These two applications occupy the leading positions on the list of dedicated page-layout software. Their feature sets enable you to design, lay out, typeset and produce virtually any combination of text, graphics, bitmapped images and vector graphics, including linked external files from other applications. With their output, these applications target commercial print production, digital distribution formats and online presentation.

How the Products Differ

Adobe Systems designed InDesign to function as part of a larger suite of software aimed at print and electronic publishing. Some of its typographic functions and features draw on Adobe's library of typefaces and its long history as a font creator to provide integrated access to new fonts within InDesign. QuarkXPress provides a freestanding publishing application that can hook in to an enterprise-scale platform for large workgroups. Although it supports Adobe's native graphic file formats, including Photoshop PSD and Illustrator AI, it can't export Flash FLV files because the data specification remains proprietary. Instead, it authors multimedia content using HTML5 technologies or -- if Flash must be supported -- the SWF destination format. These two publishing behemoths continue to leapfrog each other in features and depth, with the advantage in market share favoring InDesign as of May 2013.

Competitive History

Before Aldus (later Adobe) PageMaker came on the market in 1985, graphic designers purchased expensive sheets of type from service bureaus that operated proprietary typesetting equipment and used melted wax to paste up their print designs on sheets of cardboard called mechanicals. Just as PageMaker deposed typesetting hardware, so QuarkXPress, introduced in 1987, superseded PageMaker, offering improved support for color, layout and typesetting features. When Adobe Systems introduced InDesign in 1999, demoting PageMaker to "business graphics" use, InDesign began to leapfrog over QuarkXPress courtesy of support for Mac OS X and advanced typesetting features. By the time Quark introduced a version of QuarkXPress that ran under Mac OS X, its market share lead had vanished. That didn't mean that Quark stopped trying to compete, however. With the release of QuarkXPress 8 and 9 in 2008 and 2011 respectively, Quark advanced its support for mobile and e-book features. Although InDesign leads the market in terms of licenses sold, it owes at least part of that market dominance to its integration into a broader suite of applications that can handle other parts of the publishing process, including image editing and vector graphics, without which it can't match some of the features integrated directly into QuarkXPress.

Product Licensing

With the 2013 introduction of Adobe Creative Cloud, or CC, InDesign and the rest of the graphics applications with which it integrates moved to an entirely subscription-based model, with no perpetual licenses for any of Adobe's creative software and no boxed products for sale. This means that you must pay a monthly or annual subscription fee to Adobe to use InDesign, although the software downloads to, installs on and runs from your local hard drive. Without these subscription payments, the software stops running. Adobe will continue to offer the preceding perpetual-licensed version of its graphics applications, including Adobe InDesign CS6, during a transitional period. QuarkXPress continues to be available for perpetual individual or group licensing, with Internet-based activation required at installation time. Quark offers the choice of a downloadable installer or installation disc.

Ideal Users

The ideal Adobe InDesign user works with new or nearly new hardware that can support the application's need for RAM and processor power. Its intended use target includes publishing groups that want to subscribe to a wider range of the CC apps than just InDesign and can afford the ongoing cost of a perpetual subscription. QuarkXPress appeals to users who want their software to continue to operate without paying monthly fees for subscription support. QuarkXPress also offers integrated support for file formats that can transform into mobile apps with a paid subscription to its online App Studio.