Adobe looks to Photoshop to beat Quark

Adobe is overhauling its publishing applications to more closely resemble its popular Photoshop program, in a bid to sway designers who are already using the image-editing software.

Creative Suite 3, in addition to having metadata tags, will allow designers to create dynamic frames that automatically format images.

The new version of InDesign, which is part of the CS3 package, will have the ability to import multiple images in one step, expanded transparency capabilities and other new features that mimic Photoshop tools.

The idea is to take advantage of the popularity of Photoshop and make an easier integration of features from one step to the next in CS3. In doing so, Adobe hopes to lure designers away from rival Quark, said Chad Siegel, the senior product manager for InDesign.

"Adobe's strategy is to have the best solution on how to integrate products to streamline workflow, not to have one product to do everything, which seems to be the strategy of our competitor," Siegel said.

New versions of the applications will be available in the spring of 2007, according to Adobe. That's also when Photoshop and Creative Suite will become available with Intel-based Macs, according to an earlier Adobe announcement.

The announcement of the applications overhaul comes shortly after the company warned that its second-quarter revenue will be below estimates due to weaker-than-anticipated demand in North America and Europe.