Mac alternatives to InDesign?

[InuNacho]

Every now and then I have a project that needs inDesign and for those projects I've been borrowing a friend's computer to work on them. I no longer have access to that computer and have a project coming up but would like to stay away from renting any of Adobe's software.
Does anyone know any suitable alternatives?

 

[organicCPU]

Scribus https://www.scribus.net
Viva Designer https://www.viva.de/en/
QuarkXPress http://www.quark.com
Affinity Publisher (soon to be released) https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/publisher/

 

[InuNacho]

Thanks for that information, I'd never heard of Scribus beforehand.

 

[AZhappyjack]

I've been playing with the Affinity Publisher beta and find it to be pretty good...

https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/publisher/

 

[InuNacho]

Just tried out Affinity. Even though it says Mavericks isn't supported, it seems to work fine.
Thanks!

 

[AppleSmack]

A Creative Cloud licence is good for 2 computers at once. Maybe your friend would consider splitting the cost with you.

 

[organicCPU]

A Creative Cloud licence is good for 2 computers at once. Maybe your friend would consider splitting the cost with you.

I'm not a lawyer nor affiliated with Adobe, but I think what you recommend won't be worth the hassle. At least if you don't want to get in touch with Adobe's IP Takedown policies and practices...

Quoted from https://www.adobe.com/legal/terms.html

... 6.2 Misuse. You must not misuse the Services or Software. For example, you must not:
(a) copy, modify, host, stream, sublicense, or resell the Services or Software;
(b) enable or allow others to use the Services or Software using your account information; ...

And from the Software Additional Terms

... Your subscription lets you activate the Software on up to two devices (or virtual machines) at a time, however, you may not use the Software on the two devices simultaneously. ...

I really wish Adobe would give us back a perpetual license. This kind of license was available up to Adobe CS6 and valid for up to two or your devices, too. However, those devices were never allowed to be used simultaneously, as far as I remember.

 

[AppleSmack]

I'm not a lawyer nor affiliated with Adobe, but I think what you recommend won't be worth the hassle. At least if you don't want to get in touch with Adobe's IP Takedown policies and practices...

Quoted from https://www.adobe.com/legal/terms.html

And from the Software Additional Terms


I really wish Adobe would give us back a perpetual license. This kind of license was available up to Adobe CS6 and valid for up to two or your devices, too. However, those devices were never allowed to be used simultaneously, as far as I remember.

Ah yes, I should have realised that I've used it on two of my own computers, and haven't yet managed to design with two hands at the same time!

 

[superscape]

haven't yet managed to design with two hands at the same time!

 

[sublunar]

Quark XPress 2018 has appeared in the Mac App Store guys. $299 or £299. Slightly fewer features than the full version and no eligibility to upgrade t the next major version though. A legendary piece of software back in the day but Indesign stole its lunch.

 

[organicCPU]

Also consider a Competitive Upgrade for QuarkXPress, if you are using Adobe InDesign CS or CC.

 

[opeter]

Also consider a Competitive Upgrade for QuarkXPress, if you are using Adobe InDesign CS or CC.

The problem is, I cannot buy Quark here, where I live. No support either.

So, my options are:
Adobe, Viva Designer or Scribus.

Also Affinity Publisher doesn't support the hyphenation in the language(s) I need/use, only the Western European languages.

Some talk about the languages here:

Is hyphenation language-dependent?
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/68149-is-hyphenation-language-dependent/

UI:
When are language versions coming?
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/67917-when-are-language-versions-coming/

 

[organicCPU]

I see that this is a problem! If it comes to localization, all companies tend to serve the languages with the majority of customers, first. Small companies like Serif might never serve many languages.
I think that Scribus is really a good piece of open source software. If it works for you, you should really give it a chance.

The problem is, I cannot buy Quark here, where I live. No support either.

Are you sure?
From https://www.quark.com/Buy/QuarkXPress_Sales/DistributorSearch.aspx

CHS d.o.o., Ljubljana, http://www.chs.si/ +386 1 475 95 00
FMC d.o.o., Ljubljana, http://www.fmc.si/ +386-(0)592 09333

 

[opeter]

I think that Scribus is really a good piece of open source software. If it works for you, you should really give it a chance.

Yes, you are right.

Are you sure?
From https://www.quark.com/Buy/QuarkXPress_Sales/DistributorSearch.aspx

Thanks, this is new to me. Will check it out.

 

[tizeye]

Also consider a Competitive Upgrade for QuarkXPress, if you are using Adobe InDesign CS or CC.

You have to try had NOT to meet the requirements for the competitive upgrade. It is not limited to InDesign as they have a whole list of qualifying programs. It includes Adobe Pagemaker, Lightroom, Photoshop, Capture One Pro, Corel Draw, and even Microsoft Publisher which is part of the Office Suite. Only negative I have is their upgrade process. They appear to have them every year, but they structured the pricing so you cant skip a year. Low for the prior year but doubles for 2+ years back, close to the original competitive upgrade price.

 

[organicCPU]

Only negative I have is their upgrade process. They appear to have them every year, but they structured the pricing so you cant skip a year. Low for the prior year but doubles for 2+ years back, close to the original competitive upgrade price.

I'd prefer, if Quark would offer the low upgrade price for up to two years or two version steps, similar to Adobe's former upgrade policy.
The possibility to upgrade (for a higher price) from QuarkXPress version 3 (was it from the 90's?) or getting a competitive upgrade from almost any other software like you mentioned is quite generous in my opinion. Maybe those bargains are going to end as soon as they've regained a certain market share (if they ever will). Another hint that they are really interested to come back to game, are their recent deals targeting certain countries, like getting a full license of the three years old QuarkXPress 2015 for just about $10.
The question that might arise is, if QuarkXPress is really worth the full retail price. That's probably a matter of opinion.

 

[tizeye]

The question that might arise is, if QuarkXPress is really worth the full retail price. That's probably a matter of opinion.

While I haven't tried them all, and certainly not some of the more aged ones like PageMaker, but arguable QuarkExpress is #2 behind InDesign, particularly when you consider the very high cost, professional useage - both current an historically the leader before InDesign existed, and features most of which few people use all of. However, its shortcomings are its shortcomings. An example...I own 2017 and eligible for the 2018 upgrade for $185. 2018 has a whole list of new features/refinements, of which for me only one is critical. 2017 uses the frameholder concept similar to InDesign, and while unlike InDesign you can choose embedding or linkage, the problem is with the frames themselves as it lacks the photo resizing flexibility to fit the frame that InDesign has simply by clicking a button. With 2017 if you want it to fully fit the frame which is sized for the document, you have to go and re-edit the photo so the borders match that specific frame size. 2018 corrects that, simply click the button for the desired framing style like InDesign. That is so basic, it should have been in the original version...not a later upgrade. Is it worth the upgrade just for that only to find that 2019 has one other must have basic fix?

I will probably skip it as I have been impressed with the beta's of Affinity Publisher (after years of delayed promises that it was coming) as my current needs are very modest. InDesign and QuarkExpress are both overkill where the only advantage is learning the workflow of the program for more advanced projects. On my 'to do' list is writing/publishing an e-book at which point either of those would be the tool of choice, but simple brochures some of which are taken to a professional printer, most other publishing programs will suffice.

 

[organicCPU]

Is it worth the upgrade just for that only to find that 2019 has one other must have basic fix?

Financial mathematics says yes or you should wait at least until QuarkXPress 2020 will be out, assumed that upgrade conditions remain the same ;-)
I've been using Quark 3 and 4 versions for 8 hours+ a day and then switched to Adobe InDesign. Now, I've high hopes in Affinity Publisher. I take part in beta testing, too. Nevertheless, I was buying QuarkXPress 2015 for low, because I need to stay productive and don't like subscriptions. 2019 I'm probably going to upgrade. What I really miss is an InDesign like Data Merge feature in Quark. I remember that Plug-Ins for Quark were always extremely helpful, but the Quark Xtra ecosystem seems to have been revised many times. Most old Xtras are incompatible, good free ones are hard to find and new ones can easily cost more than Quark.
Publishing eBooks reminds me more of programming websites than of print publishing. Scrivener is another great tool for this task, especially if you are an author.

 

[Raniad]

Hi !
There are many alternatives to Adobe InDesign :

• Scribus.Scribus is a desktop publishing (DTP) application
• QuarkXPress. Computer application for creating and editing complex page layouts in a WYSIWYG environment.
• Affinity Publisher.
• iStudio Publisher.
• Swift Publisher.
• VivaDesigner.
• MultiAd Creator.
• 365Layouts.com.

 

[Babmo]

If you are layouting professionally, don‘t waste your time. As much as I hate Adobe, InDesign is the software I hate the least. Although I did enjoy CS4 more than CCwhatever-incremental-update-we-put-in-a-year.

Quark may be #2, but it is the #2 of 2, barely visible on the horizon, maybe it‘s just a dust spot. I say that as a Quark user back in the day, before InDesign destroyed it (and rightfully so). Quark is playing catch-up and is bad at it. Besides, if you‘ve only used InDesign before, expect a learning curve, intuitive is not a word associated with Q.

Affinity makes toy software which they market as pro apps. I wanted to like them, but I constantly hit a barrier with most basic things.

Scribus, if you want to yell at your computer, that‘s what I‘d recommend. Seriously stay away from it.

The rest is not worth mentioning. It makes me sad, but there is no alternative to InDesign. Besides, working with others, they expect InDesign files of course.

That said, if you’re doing it semi-pro, not really complex stuff, Affinity Publisher might be a better choice than Quark, it’s cheaper (free at the moment).

 

[opeter]

Indesign IDML files can be opened in at least QuarkXpress and Viva Designer.
[doublepost=1550141905][/doublepost]

Are you sure?
From https://www.quark.com/Buy/QuarkXPress_Sales/DistributorSearch.aspx

I finally managed to reach these companies and they are not selling Quark products anymore.
It seems, like they (Quark) didn't update this section of their website quite a long time.

So what remains for me is, if I want to buy Quark is to go to Austria (Vienna) or Croatia (Zagreb). Neither of these Authorised Resellers wants to sell the product with shippment outside of their countries.

Quark doesn't allow me, to buy from their store. So why is should I bother further?

 

[organicCPU]

So why is should I bother further?

Probably it´s not worth the hassle. If you still want to go for QuarkXpress for whatever reason, I could PM you the contact of my long trusted software dealer, that is claiming to deliver to Slovenia and also listed as an authorised QuarkXpress dealer.