InDesign v Quark: Toolbox

Quark

Quark's Toolbox hasn't changed much over the years (except v.8). Accessing tools in the Toolbox involves clicking on them. Yes, I know, that's the way it's supposed to work, but InDesign's toolbox (see below) allows you to select tools via a keyboard shortcut. Not to say there aren't keyboard shortcuts for Quark's Toolbox, they just aren't as easy to remember. Just in case you forgot, here are all of the shortcuts for Quark's Toolbox:


Display/Hide palette = F8

Select next tool = Option + F8 or Command + Option + Tab

Select previous tool = Option + Shift + F8 or Command + Option + Shift + Tab

Keep a tool selected = Option + click tool

Open Tool pane of Preferences = Double-click item creation tool or Zoom tool

Switch between item and Content tool = Shift + F8

The biggest problem with Quark is the two main tools: the Item tool and the Content tool. Depending on which one you have selected in the toolbox, you can access different items related to the box you are working on. This is both nearsighted and farsighted as you would think that all of the options should be available for whatever you have selected. Sometimes, it becomes a real problem when the Item tool is active, for example, and you are trying to work on the content - or vice versa. In InDesign, when you want to work on content, it really doesn't matter much what tool you have selected. If you have the selection tool active and you double-click on a text frame, the Type tool becomes active so you can work on the content.

Finally, some of the tools on the Quark toolbox seem negligible, including the Starburst tool.


InDesign

InDesign's Tools panel is chuck full of familiar tools from Photoshop and Illustrator. Each tool has a single keyboard shortcute associated with it. T activates the Type tool, V activates the Select tool, P activates the Pen tool, and so on. InDesign's Tools panel also includes selectors for Fill and Stroke colors, viewing options for Normal, Bleed, Slug, and Preview, and transformation tools as well, making for less trips to dialog boxes to get your work done.

Significance

There's nothing wrong with Quark's Toolbox, it just seems to require more attention than InDesign's. Some people don't like shortcuts and they would be fine using it the way it is. For productivity and shortcut geeks, especially who have crossed over from other Creative Suite apps, Adobe makes it much easier to access tools on the fly and tries to make efforts to keep the same keyboard shortcuts for similar tools across the entire Suite.