Interpress opens a new page for desktop layout

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, May 1, 1995 by Eve Asbury

For a good while, Quark Inc. has held the high ground in page layout with QuarkXPress. According to Folio:'s 1994 desktop survey, Quark owns 74.5 percent of the market, and Adobe is trying to boost its 19.1 percent share by beefing up PageMaker. But New York City-based Interpress Technologies believes it can be a contender with VivaPress Professional 1.5 (developed by VivaPress Software GmbH in Vallendar, Germany), a new pagination program for the Macintosh. Hoping to lure several high-profile magazine sites, Interpress - which already has 50 to 80 magazine users in Europe - plans to launch a marketing drive in the United States during the third quarter of this year.

VivaPress does have some great features that will make XPress and PageMaker users green with envy. In addition to normal paragraph styles, users can apply styles to characters or words within the paragraph, a feature that is no doubt near the top of Quark users' most-wanted list. Another convenient time-saving function is the Object style-sheet, which works like a text style but applies object characteristics such as text run-around, background color, image-size percentage and page position.

Item aliasing is another useful option in VivaPress. In cases where, say, the same logo will be applied to each document page, an alias can be made of the original and applied throughout. When changes are made to the original, the alias automatically updates. Basic imposition is a standard feature, and at any stage the layout can be switched to either an eight- or 16-page form. Mark Porto, president of Newtype in Clifton, New Jersey, reports that the "ability to view imposition on the screen helps to solve problems before going to film," also beneficial in a direct-to-plate workflow.

Other neat features are the print-guides option, the ability to change from single-to facing-page after document construction has started, and a very convenient "rename document" command that helps maintain good file management. Andreas Krings, Viva Software's marketing director, promises that "a shrink-wrapped editorial system, similar to QPS, will make [VivaPress] suitable for catalogs and daily or monthly magazines."

Nonetheless, while the program does have a number of productivity-enhancing features that its competitors do not, Interpress is going to have a difficult time getting North American users to switch from their tried-and-true software. For starters, VivaPress' interface and command structure is, well, different from most applications sold here. That, combined with the program's weak documentation, means new users will face a steep learning curve. Another concern with a new product like this is whether service bureaus or printers have the application for output. (Interpress does have a runtime version available on CompuServe that lets service bureaus and printers output film.)

Built for speed

On the other hand, VivaPress' interface, referred to as "object-oriented," is built for speed and will impress those who are tired of having to switch constantly between different tools to put a page together. VivaPress incorporates efficient, context-sensitive tools that change on the fly. For example, when working with type in a text frame, the cursor tool becomes the moving tool. Also, there is only one frame tool; it transforms into the applicable frame type - text, graphic or image - using just one keystroke. Some of the keystrokes will be familiar to current page-layout users, especially those keystrokes used for typographical adjustments. Others are logical but unique to VivaPress.

On the Macintosh, users are accustomed to working in different applications to produce a single document. VivaPress, however, gets closer to doing it all under one roof. While offering some basic drawing tools, the program also features filters that will allow users to open and edit Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia FreeHand files. Unfortunately, VivaPress cannot produce graduated fills, although fills produced in FreeHand or Illustrator can be imported and opened. Right now, filters are ready for Illustrator 3 and up and Freehand 3.

VivaPress began shipping in January at Macworld, and, according to Interpress, there are approximately 100 users in the United States. Their reviews are mixed. Philip Thurston, publicist for New York City-based Thurston Communications and a new user to both XPress and VivaPress, finds the latter much less intuitive. But Taz Talley, president and director of Pica Communications Resource Center in Charlotte, North Carolina, says, "The alias technology made a remarkable speed difference when scrolling through a document."

VivaPress offers no magic incentive to make the trade from Xpress, although it does offer a price break (from $895 to $295) for XPress and PageMaker users. Interpress' ambivalence about targeting the magazine market doesn't bode well unless VivaPress version 2, due for release at DRUPA95, brings more to the table. A further challenge to VivaPress' future prospects will be PageMaker version 6, reportedly undergoing a complete rewrite to take on XPress.