Quark Inc. and Ascender Corporation today announced that new features in the forthcoming release of QuarkXPress 7 are based on technology provided by Ascender Corporation. A new partner in the QuarkAlliance, Ascender Corporation is providing the OpenType-enabled font technology in QuarkXPress 7 and giving QuarkXPress users the expanded typographic functionality and multilingual capabilities of OpenType for their legacy font libraries.

"An important new feature of QuarkXPress version 7 is support for Unicode-compliant OpenType fonts," said Ira Mirochnick, President of Ascender Corporation. "We've helped Quark customers leverage the cross-platform and multilingual benefits of OpenType by creating custom fonts and converting existing PostScript Type 1 libraries to the OpenType format so they can fully utilize new typographic features found in QuarkXPress 7."

"Ascender Corporation is a valued Quark partner," said QuarkAlliance Director, Developer Programs, and XTensions Evangelist Cyndie Shaffstall. "With them on board, our customers are assured that they will get high-quality font solutions. The Ascender team has earned a reputation for solving the most challenging font problems and is a partner that you can count on. QuarkAlliance is proud to have Ascender Corporation as a QuarkAlliance partner."

QuarkXPress is the industry-leading choice for page layout software because it's easy to use, provides exceptional design capabilities, and offers unrivaled outputting capabilities. Quark is always seeking to incorporate revolutionary features and reliable tools that improve customers' results. The company strives not only to provide a page-layout tool, but also to give its customers a tool for achieving innovative outcomes.

The goal of QuarkAlliance is to maintain relationships with companies in a variety of industries and professional disciplines. Members are invited to participate in co-marketing opportunities and are given access to pre-release programs, product discounts, and more. Membership in the program promotes visibility within the Quark community and enhances the usefulness and value of Quark software through QuarkXPress training and enterprise solutions integration.

Information about QuarkAlliance membership benefits and requirements is available on the Quark Web site at www.quark.com/partners.

About Quark
Quark Inc. (www.quark.com) is a leading developer of tools and technologies for desktop, workgroup, and enterprise publishing. Quark has been providing award-winning software for professional publishers since its flagship product, QuarkXPress, changed the course of traditional publishing. Today, as QuarkXPress is used by more than three million customers around the world, Quark is developing the next generation of tools to let publishers create and manage content flexibly so it can be delivered anywhere at low cost. Founded in 1981, Denver-based Quark Inc. is privately held.

About Ascender Corporation
Ascender Corporation (http://www.ascendercorp.com) is a Chicago-based company specializing in font solutions for hardware and software developers, multilingual Unicode compliant font solutions and custom font development. The company's founders have been involved in the development of many of the most highly regarded fonts presently used in computers, phones and printers. Ascender has the expertise to solve complex font technology issues, the imagination to create font branding solutions, and the initiative to create value for our customers.