Version 10 features 300,000 lines of new code and 500,000 lines of updated code. However, one of the most significant changes has been a switch from the Carbon programming environment to a native Cocoa app, which the company describes as the "pre-eminent application environment for Apple's OS X".

Other enhancements include support for HiDPI and Retina displays, a new graphics engine, Xenon, which features "native understanding" of all industry standard image file formats, dynamic rendering of PDFs and adaptive resolution that enables real-time image processing "to deliver designers the most appropriate onscreen resolution with maximum performance".

"This has been a monumental undertaking by the development team to thoroughly modernise QuarkXPress in terms of the application environment, architecture, user interface and graphics engine," said Dave White, chief technology officer for Quark.

"We’re excited not only for this release, but also for the foundation that has been put in place for future QuarkXPress features."

The software’s user interface has also been overhauled and now features "next generation" palettes, with new shortcut keys to simplify the user experience. Other changes include a one-click full-screen view and enhanced multiscreen functionality.

Building on the package's cross-media credentials, this latest version continues support for ePub and HTML5 authoring tools for App Studio and can now also create colour vector QR codes directly within QuarkXPress.

System requirements for QuarkXPress 10 are Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) or OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion) as well as Microsoft Windows 7 and 8. According to media reports, it will only be able to open 'legacy formats' going back to QuarkXpress 7.

QuarkXPress 10 will begin shipping in mid to late August. UK download-only prices begin at £799 for the full version, compared with $849 (£552) in the US, or £299 for an upgrade version. For a limited time, Quark is also offering a 20% pre-order discount on both versions.