What’s your entry point to test designing iPad apps? (kind of part 2)
After I posted the blog entry “What’s your entry point to get your own app in the App Store?” I received several emails from designers asking how they can test creating designs for the iPad. A typical email was this:
"[...] thank you very much for your post about the minimal entry point for submitting apps, very intriguing. What I am interested in though is how the whole thing works. Do I have to pay Quark money to simply test [designing for the iPad] or is there a test version available?[...]"
Yes, of course, you can test creating layouts for the iPad (AVE) for free and even see them on your iPad. You don’t even need to create an App for that (which, once you decide to publish, you can do later).
Here are the steps (for Mac and Windows):
- On your physical iPad download the free “Quark Issue Previewer” (http://goo.gl/JK8tD) from Apple’s App Store.
- Start the free “Quark Issue Previewer” and click on the little wheel in the upper left corner.
- When you “enable transfers” you will see an http:// address there (something like http://192.168.0.99:8080):
Sideloading iPad layouts out of QuarkXPress - Note that address and leave the Quark Issue Previewer running. Make sure that you are in the same WLAN as your Mac or PC.
- Now you can start designing:
Use QuarkXPress 9.1 (Test Drive, Edu or Full version) to create an iPad layout (either enriching a Print layout or using a dedicated App Studio layout) and enrich it with interactivity. - When you’re ready to test ,open the “Export as AVE” dialog (File > Export > Layout as AVE).
- In the Export dialog, check “Preview in” and paste the address from step 4) into the export dialog. Click SAVE:
Export layouts out of QuarkXPress directly onto your iPad
Now the AVE will magically appear on your iPad (within the Quark Issue Previewer) and you can start testing your design and your added interactivity. If you want to improve it, just repeat step 5, 6 and 7 to update your layout on your iPad.
And to come back to the original question, “Yes, that’s testing and it is all free of charge.”
Both an engineer and a layout artist, Matthias bridges the gap between technology and people. Before joining Quark in 1997, Matthias pioneered print, Web, and multimedia products for multiple German publishing companies. He is an active participant in design and publishing communities and represented Quark in the Ghent PDF Workgroup.
From 1997 until 2019 Matthias played a central role in shaping Quark’s desktop, mobile and enterprise software. From February 2014 until January 2019 he headed Quark’s Desktop Publishing business unit; and was therefore responsible for QuarkXPress.
Matthias does not work for Quark anymore. If you want to connect with him, please visit his LinkedIn profile on https://www.linkedin.com/in/mguenther/
Can you side load directly to the ipad? I cannot use 3rd party servers (cloud) for the type of information I am putting on the tablets.
Cheers!
Hi amick,
yes you can sideload issues when you have the Quark Issue Previewer installed on the iPad where you want to show it.
There are several ways:
1) via iTunes (Documents area)
2) via WLAN (just start the Quark Issue Previewer, tab on the small wheel in the upper left corner, note the URL and enter it in a web browser. Then use that portal to sideload issues to your iPad)
3) Via URL (use mykiosk:// instead of http://)
1) needs a physical connection (cable or iOS 5 WLAN sync)
2) requires both computers to be in the same WiFi network
3) can be done anywhere, you just need to store it at any accessible URL and then send your customer the URL. He/She tabs and it automatically displays in the Quark Issue Previewer.
Does that meet your needs?
Matthias
Fine way of explaining, and good article to get data on the topic
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