Plug-Ins and XTensions: InDesign Style Makers, QuarkXPress Bitmap Exporters, and Layout Croppers

Jay Nelson

Each month Design Tools Monthly reviews some of the best plug-ins and XTensions on the market. Most of the mentioned products can be purchased through The PowerXChange.

InDesign

• Easier Catalogs in InDesign
  WoodWing’s Smart Catalog CS (999 euros, or $1,237) lets you create two-way links between a database and text in an InDesign CS layout, automating the process of creating and updating catalogs and price lists.

WoodWing Software

• Smart Styles in InDesign CS
  WoodWing Software’s Smart Styles CS ($150) is a plug-in for InDesign CS that lets you instantly apply a group of formatting options to any item on a page. You can apply complex text or table formatting, picture formatting, drop shadows, transparency etc. by first defining a “style” and then clicking on it in a palette. You can even apply a sequence of paragraph styles, such as one style for the first paragraph, another for the last, and a third for the paragraphs in-between. Or, a sequence of character styles, using separators such as a comma, tab, etc. This new version supports running headers and footers, nested styles, tables in text frames and more. Smart Styles CS even lets you drag and drop styles from its library palette onto page items for instant formatting.

WoodWing Software

• Helpful Features for InDesign
  Alap’s InTools ($100) is a plug-in for InDesign CS that lets you create starbursts, add crop marks around items, print portions of pages or save to disk in several file formats, nudge items, combine objects to create compound shapes (similar to QuarkXPress’s feature), and modify all the attributes of an item by using one dialog box.alap (a lowly apprentice production)

  QuarkXPress

  • Automatic Folds & Crops
    Gluon’s Cropster 6 ($99) is an XTension for QuarkXPress 4, 5 or 6, and a plug-in for Adobe InDesign that automatically sets up complex, one- or two-sided folding and trimming mechanicals, with crop marks and guides for bleed, trim, safety, folds and gutters. It even creates dimension arrows around the perimeter so that proofreaders can easily see if specifications were followed. You type in the measurements you need, and Cropster creates the document. Later, you can change the measurements, and Cropster rearranges the marks. You can also save frequently used measurements as presets, and control the appearance and spacing of all marks.

  Gluon

   

• Manage Keyboard Shortcuts in QuarkXPress 6
  LiveKeys 1.5 ($50, upgrade $20) is an XTension for QuarkXPress 6 that lets you customize menu shortcuts, assign keyboard shortcuts to tools and special commands, manage style sheet shortcuts, check for keystroke conflicts and share custom sets.
•  Badia Software
• Export Bitmaps from QuarkXPress
  Gluon’s XPressImage 6 ($199) is an XTension for QuarkXPress 4.1, 5 or 6 that lets you convert a selection, page, spread, or document to more than 20 file formats, including: EPS, TIFF, PICT, GIF, JPEG, PDF picture, PNG, Scitex, Targa, BMP, fax and PCX, at any size and resolution, with or without crop marks. It can also create Java or HTML pages from any or all of your document’s pages, with a Table of Contents that links to each page. When exporting to GIF, JPEG or PNG format, you have control over color indexing, compression, and interlacing.It even includes a Photoshop plug-in that automatically controls Photoshop to rasterize vector drawings that were imported into QuarkXPress. The Pro version ($349) can save QuarkXPress boxes as layers in Photoshop, send documents directly to email, and export selections to instantly create PDFs with custom sizes and resolutions.

  So, for example, you could use familiar tools in QuarkXPress to create a button or banner for a Web page, and export it in GIF, JPEG, or PNG format, with control over color indexing, compression and interlacing. Or, you could convert several of your best ads or page designs into images for use in another layout or on the Web. You can select among five color models: RGB, CMYK, Indexed Color, Grayscale, or Black-and-White. XPressImage also lets you save settings as presets for future use, and supports batch processing, so that any document you put in a “hot” folder will be converted to one of your preset formats.

  Gluon

• Keep Image Attributes when Replacing in QuarkXPress
  Badia’s ReplaceInPlace is a free XTension for QuarkXPress 6 that lets you retain previous picture attributes when importing an image into a picture box. Previous offset and scaling, for example, can be retained when replacing a low-res with a hi-res version of a picture.Badia Software
• Plug-in Compatibility List
  ThePowerXChange.com keeps an updated list of XTensions that are compatible with QuarkXPress 6, and plug-ins that are compatible with InDesign CS. They will also help you by phone or email to find XTensions and plug-ins for your particular workflow.ThePowerXChange

  This article courtesy of and copyrighted by Design Tools Monthly. For a free sample of the printed newsletter, email [email protected].