TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Missed the start of this thread, so I'm jumping in late:
To get an Excel table into Quark (or any other software), export the
relevant rows and columns as tab-delimited text. From there, you can import
the text into any software that can import text files, including most
table-editing software. Even if you don't have a table editor (e.g., you
don't like the one that accompanies PageMaker), it's easy to produce simple,
effective tables. Simply create paragraph-level styles called "Table X
headings" and "Table X rows" (where X = the name or number of the table),
and set the tabs appropriately for the styles. Apply the appropriate style
to all rows in your table, throw in a few manually drawn horizontal lines,
and you've got something that communicates every bit as effectively as what
you'll get from a full-fledged table editor. It won't look nearly so fancy
without a lot more work, but I've done this for years and it works like a
charm. Of course, I like my tables simple, and YMMV.
"Technical writing... requires understanding the audience, understanding
what activities the user wants to accomplish, and translating the often
idiosyncratic and unplanned design into something that appears to make
sense."--Donald Norman, The Invisible Computer