Kingdom's daily opts for QuarkXPress & ArabicXT

'With the release of QuarkXPress with ArabicXT 5.0, a large number of publishers are upgrading to this professional new version,' said Joe Karkour, GM, Layout Middle East.

ArabicXT? turns QuarkXPress? into an Arabic desktop publishing software. ArabicXT takes care of right-to-left language requirements by accommodating all features of QuarkXPress and with no need for an Arabic operating system. It requires no additional training for QuarkXPress users. ArabicXT is very widely used by professional advertising agencies, publishing houses and large newspapers and magazines

'Running a production department in a newspaper is a demanding job, and busy publishing houses do not have time to become a testing ground for new and un-proven products,' said Hadi Rayes, Sales Manager for Copatra Graphics, country dealer for Layout Middle East in Saudi Arabia. 'Okaz opted for QuarkXPress (the market's de facto standard in DTP today) with ArabicXT despite its higher prices.'

According to Rayes, the product was selected after extensive testing and comparison between various other DTP solutions available today. The newspaper had just installed two new computer to plate setters from AGFA and needed a professional and reliable production software like QuarkXPress to minimize errors and plate waste.

Copatra Graphics, carried out the installation. This adoption follows the successful implementation of QuarkXPress in other leading dailies in the Kingdom including Al Riyadh, Al Watan and Al Madina newspapers.