Clunky is as clunky does

Designers love to say that compared to Quark XPress, the big pagination systems are too "clunky," requiring too many steps between the blank screen and the finished page.

So we made up a simple test: Lay out a two-column story with a headline, picture and cutline, and package them all in a hairline box.

We asked Eddie Rossi of the Arizona Republic to list the steps needed to build this package in CCI LayoutChamp, while we navigated through our own copies of Quark XPress and Harris NMP pagination.

The results, given below, don't include any text formatting, because that can be automated in formats on Harris and CCI, and in tags in XPress.

They also don't take into account how much faster or more simply an experienced user -- in any one of the three environments -- would be able to accomplish this fairly mundane task, thanks to deftness acquired through practice, and customized set-up (such as defaults tailored to the task).

Admittedly, not all facets of a user interface reside in the number of steps needed to build a page element -- they're just the easiest to evaluate side-by-side. In that evaluation, it's noteworthy that the sequences are not identical, with Harris ending with the package being boxed, a step taken earlier in the other two programs.

Similarly, a designer using CCI's LayoutChamp can completely build an article, including all other shapes (head, deck, cutline, etc.), and then apply the article margin (in XPress lingo, the text inset). Layout Champ simply recalculates the new column measures for all elements depending on the dimension given in article margin.

All that said, could it be that "clunkiness" simply is in the mouse of the beholder?

-- JB

Quark XPress:
1. Draw a text box.

2. Change to two columns.

3. Modify text box to inset text 12 points.

4. Apply hairline rule to text box.

5. Draw picture box.

6. Apply hairline rule around picture.

7. Place picture.

8. Scale and crop picture.

9. Draw text box for caption.

10. Flow in caption.

11. Draw text box for headline.

12. Flow in headline.

13. Flow in story.

14. Adjust spacing of all elements as needed.

Harris
1. Establish a special, boxed grid.

2. Select story.

3. Place headline.

4. Square story off to two columns.

5. Place art.

6. Scale and crop picture, refit and compose.

7. Place cutline, refit and compose.

8. Compose (flow in) story.

9. Adjust spacing of all elements as needed.

10. Switch back to normal grid.

11. Draw box around package.

CCI
1. Using Article Tool, draw a two-column article on page.

2. With the article selected, activate the More button in the Element Palette.

3. Access Article Margin field in the "More" box. Type the amount of space (text inset) you want for the margin.

4. In the Element Palette's line thickness field, apply the weight of the rule on the outside of the article.

5. Drag shapes from the Shape Library (headline, image with caption) into the article.

6. Adjust spacing of all elements as needed.

7. Click on the image name in the component list of the page and drag the image onto the image shape.

8. Crop and scale the art.

9. From component list, click on story name and drag it.

From THE COLE PAPERS, May 1997, Copyright © 1997, All Rights Reserved.