QuarkXPress vs Photoshop: Which Software Is Better?

The QuarkXPress vs Photoshop comparison will be interesting for novice and professional photographers and designers in need of desktop layout tools for print and web environments.

Adobe Photoshop is a reference program in the design and photography industries. Those who work with raster graphics choose this graphic design software as their major tool. It has an expendable set of effects, filters, and tools. Thus, Adobe Photoshop is suitable for creating both print and digital layouts.

QuarkXPress is user-friendly software. It is great for bringing to life simple and complex graphic design ideas. You can use it to prepare print and web designs, as well as layouts on a digital platform. It works great for graphic artists, content makers, marketers, and printing experts.

Adobe Photoshop is an industry-standard program. You can find info about this software in the worldwide popular graphic design books. Some people use it as photo editing software as it has such tools as Stamp, Spot Repair, and Patch for restoring, cleaning up or transforming individual parts of a picture.

The most famous graphic designers create their award-winning layouts using this program.

Blur, background editing, and sky replacement features work based on smart technologies. Therefore, you can speed up your workflow without compromising the result.

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Lots of tools. Though it is packed with drawing and font tools, Photoshop was initially created for printing needs. Nowadays, it is a feature-rich photo enhancing program with support for RAW files and access to various correction tools and amazing effects.

These tools are useful for photographers and designers who perform skin retouching and general portrait touch up. The program has tools to remove the background of a picture in Photoshop, add elements based on lens-profile geometry correction, alter histogram settings, apply stained-glass effects, and more.

Cross-platform software. The program runs smoothly on Mac and Windows computers. You can also find a special version for Android and iOS devices called Adobe Photoshop Express. Besides, you can switch from one device to another without losing applied changes.

Built-in libraries. Using the Adobe package, you automatically get access to ready-made and regularly updated libraries. They include stock images, brushes, palettes that help you accurately change the color of an object in Photoshop and other useful tools. All available materials work without bugs.

Great for bitmap color corrections. Photoshop is suitable for bitmap colorwork, which is great for both digital and print production. The software offers main color spaces and a great color management workflow. Using color palettes and ready-made color combinations, you can make a pattern in Photoshop with ease.

Broad Creative Cloud space. Thanks to syncing with Adobe Creative Cloud, Photoshop provides access to Content-Aware Crop, Face-Aware Liquify, Artboards, and Design Space view. Besides, the program comes with built-in libraries, glyph panels, and cloud documents.

Photoshop supports touch and stylus input. You can save a document to the Cloud to work with it on iPad and other devices. If you use version history, the program will provide access to previous versions of cloud documents. Alternatively, you can set up cloud documents for offline editing.

Free add-ons. The range of free add-ons is amazing. You can use free Photoshop plugins, free Adobe Fonts, other effects and textures. These add-ons speed up image enhancing, allowing you to remove wrinkles on a face or create a smoky effect in one click.

Steep learning curve. A large selection of tools and functions makes the program difficult to master. Besides, developers constantly release updates and additional tools. You can easily find Photoshop tutorials on YouTube to understand how the program works. However, if you are a beginner, you have to spend more time learning this powerful software.

QuarkXPress is a multifunctional program. It comes with design tools, can function as flyers software, and an image editor. QuarkXPress has an advanced and multilingual interface. Powered by the Xenon Graphics Engine, the program is very powerful and copes with various tasks remarkably fast.

Here you can find design tools to create a site without delving into HTML or CSS programming. The software also allows you to create mobile applications. Once you have bought a subscription, you can use the program without restrictions. The latest updates meet the demands of the design ecosystems and are available to all users.

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User-friendly interface. QuarkXPress is an intuitive program, which gives it an additional point in the QuarkXPress vs Photoshop rivalry. Thanks to the drag-and-drop functionality, you can quickly create and change the design of a project. The program allows you to customize the default tool settings, which results in a streamlined workflow.

Fast data processing speed. QuarkXPress has several templates that you can apply to your projects. The program provides expert guides you can follow to create content with ease. It also allows you to convert groups of files. Besides, users can compare content management software to understand if they can use this tool and manage the content when integrated.

Improved Layers Control. You can organize objects on multiple layers, perform basic operations, lock/unlock, hide/show layers, and move objects using the drag-and-drop option.

Reasonably priced. QuarkXPress is a good bang for the buck. The software is the best Microsoft Publisher alternative, using which you can create designs, edit photos and work with mobile apps. To get full access to the tools, you need to pay for a subscription once. The company also offers discounts for educational institutions and non-profit organizations.

Advanced web design tools. With QuarkXPress, you don't need to learn HTML and CSS. Besides, QuarkXpress delivers a variety of design templates to help you implement your ideas faster.

Support for various file formats. The program supports raster formats, allows creating SVG logos, editing files with any extension and exporting them to various print and digital formats, including HTML5. The latest version comes with the option to start a project in PDF format regardless of the original software. You can view a document, make edits, combine pages from different files, and add interactive elements to work with HTML files in the future.

Not for Windows 10. The program lacks support for Windows 10. You can face difficulties when starting the software or using tools.

Adobe offers beneficial plans for personal use, Adobe discounts, and special offers for business and educational institutions. If you want to get Adobe Photoshop for free to test its capabilities, you can opt for a trial version. Photoshop can be run on desktops and iPad. It offers 100GB of cloud storage, access to Adobe Fresco, Adobe Portfolio, Adobe Fonts, Adobe Spark. Besides, users immediately receive the latest updates once they appear:

The annual plan costs monthly $20.99/mo

Annual plan costs $239.88/yr

Monthly plan goes for $31.49/mo

You can use QuarkXPress as a perpetual license for macOS or Windows. There is also a 7-day free trial. Once the trial is over, you can buy one of the packages.

The company offers three license options with the same functions, but different validity periods – a year plan for $474, a 2-year plan for $750, and a 3-year plan for $954. The business package costs $674 per year, $1213 per 2 years, and $1719 per 3 years. Besides, the company offers a Student License, which costs $114, $180, and $246 based on the period.

Which program to choose – QuarkXPress or Photoshop? Both programs are made to simplify the process of creating designs. You can also use them to edit pictures and layouts, and create projects from scratch. The choice of the software fully depends on your needs.

Photoshop is a program you can rely on when it comes to image enhancing and detailed bitmap work. This software is very popular among photographers and designers. It covers the entire scope of work from creating objects from the ground up to preparing a layout of any size.

QuarkXPress is multifunctional software. It is suitable for graphic design and desktop publishing. Due to an orthogonal line tool, you can create 3D drawings faster. It lacks advanced color grading features to become a universal instrument.