Re: Xara Designer Pro X10 Released
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gwpriester
I think the problem with releasing Designer Pro last is none of the features are new, though they were with the release of Web Designer 10...
That's the rub, isn't it? There could have been new features unique to XDP. Heck, I would have settled for fixing long-standing issues and an update to PDF output. Any improvement on actual drawing stuff? Would have been nice but not quite necessary to squeak a hundred bucks out of me personally.
Edit...OK. I would also have wanted improvements in existing features. Like being able to set a line to the outside and inside in addition to splitting the object.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gwpriester
But I have to agree with csehz, there do not appear to be many wish list features that made it into this release. I've been getting into book design and I was hoping to see more type handling features.
Use a real application that's intended for layout work.
Any word on P&LD? Dead horse? Pointless (well, duh)?
Re: Xara Designer Pro X10 Released
Bought DPX10 today, as an upgrade from DPX 8, in tribute to Gary P's truly excellent writeup. You know, when I sold cars in '93-'94 and had trouble closing a sale to some high-tech guy, my sales manager just laughed and told me to start faxing the product manual. "Bury them in facts and figures!" he yelled. And it worked. Just like Gary's article worked on me today. You just keep going on about every possible little thing, until you've added enough value that the buyer, overwhelmed, caves in. See Kate Moir's feature list, above.
But is this just 'perfuming the pig'? I'm not sure. There IS a lot in this program, and the upgrade price is low enough. I'm interested in the vertically-scrolling Supersite thing, and maybe, at some point in the future, using the P&LD features to make a brochure or two. Still a few clients out there banging on the door once in a while.
So thanks for the writeup, Gary. You made a sale today. Though probably the last one, over the 15 years I've used Xara. Not because I don't like the software, but I'm 70 now, and all the extra crap like Photolooks just doesn't ring the bell anymore. So this will be it, and to Xara -- thanks for the ride. It's been fun.
EDIT -- I'd like to think that, over the last year, they made a lot of 'under the hood' changes, to ensure stability of all these disparate elements now brought together. And a fascinating thing -- this smorgasbord runs quite well on my little Acer netbook. More than fast enough. I guess when you start out, years ago, with really elegant software -- it still shines through the add-on bloatware.
Nothing new? Well. Maybe the really new feature is the sum total of all this stuff -- something for everybody, but not enough of anything to satisfy anybody. If this program were a car: think the new Maserati Ghibli S Q4. Pasting the name of their most famous road rocket onto a, well, upscale familymobile. But hey, it's got a blingy dashboard, so the business-boy drivers can drive that Nurburgring dream, while stuck in traffic on the freeway... just as new DPX10 users can fantasize about the wondrous and compelling scrapbooks they'll be publishing soon to the Magix cloud.
Re: Xara Designer Pro X10 Released
Thanks Jon - I have two years on you. :)
Mike - Support for spot colors in bitmaps/PDF would have made my day. And true grayscale support. My primary use for Photoshop CS5.5 is to change image modes to Grayscale and CMYK.
I am confident that a .5 version at halfway through the yearly cycle that just addressed current features shortcomings, such as grayscale and spot color support for bitmaps/PDF and updates to just the current features would sell a heck of a lot more programs and sell a lot more upgrades. There is so much already in this application that could be tweaked, or updated. Bitmap Trace is a feature that has been around forever and just takes up space because it takes too much fiddling to get it to work properly.
Re: Xara Designer Pro X10 Released
Well Ladies & Gentlemen I think we can all agree that as Xara users we're all totally under-impressed.
It really is time for Xara to admit that it's abandoned all aspects of being a vector drawing program and has no intention of developing this part of the software further, despite multiple request by users, release after release, to do so.
Re: Xara Designer Pro X10 Released
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gwpriester
Thanks Jon - I have two years on you. :)
Mike - Support for spot colors in bitmaps/PDF would have made my day. And true grayscale support. My primary use for Photoshop CS5.5 is to change image modes to Grayscale and CMYK.
I am confident that a .5 version at halfway through the yearly cycle that just addressed current features shortcomings, such as grayscale and spot color support for bitmaps/PDF and updates to just the current features would sell a heck of a lot more programs and sell a lot more upgrades. There is so much already in this application that could be tweaked, or updated. Bitmap Trace is a feature that has been around forever and just takes up space because it takes too much fiddling to get it to work properly.
Yep, greyscale...forgot about that. Which goes hand in hand with recoloring using a Pantone color, really.
And...a vast improvement to the paragraph style "system" would almost compel me to upgrade. Model dialogs that are too small to be practical would be good. Make it more like a real layout application. Stuff it into a resizable gallery and have the properties immediately accessible. As it is, it's more like an after thought.
Ah well. I would complain if I were hung with a new rope, too.
If the near disaster that Corel's release of X7 is/was didn't happen, I would recommend it to others. At least they do updates, bug fixes and improvements during a (longer) release cycle.
Mike
Re: Xara Designer Pro X10 Released
As far as I can tell this is the only new pro only feature.
"32 bit plug-ins now work with the 64 bit version of Pro"
Eric
Re: Xara Designer Pro X10 Released
shit... it was a good ten years; but now: goodbye...
Re: Xara Designer Pro X10 Released
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Egg Bramhill
I think we can all agree that as Xara users we're all totally under-impressed
Indeed. I guess I wasn't expecting much but I'm a little sad inside.
At the same time, why does webstuff users aren't expressing how this version will change their life?
Marc
Re: Xara Designer Pro X10 Released
First time, since V3.2, I'm not going to upgrade.
Maybe an Xpert can tell me what improvements, in version 10, can help me to draw better or easier?
Re: Xara Designer Pro X10 Released
Rik, It's not about drawing anymore. It's about pasting and arranging a bunch of canned photos and shapes into a pleasing, and perhaps meaningful, collage. This can be very creative. Why, in your next DPX10 scrapbook, I'll bet you can get that photo of your baby to cry, when moused over by Grandma.
This is not new. In 1997, we stayed at a motel in Santa Barbara, where the owner let me drive his Model T, and his wife showed my wife a web page for their dog Shorty, with a picture that would bark when clicked, so that other dogs in the family, in other cities, could respond. I saw the future that day. Xara, it seems, is moving into the '90s now. Getting with the program, after all these years.
Philosophically? I guess it doesn't matter much, as what we call creativity is judged by the final result, what you see on that screen, on on that printed page. And whether you made the art yourself, with all those painfully acquired skills -- or just bolted together a lot of very good clipart -- well, the viewer doesn't know or care how you got there. And your employer only cares about how long it took you to produce, and whether he can fob the result off on that client. And whether he can get Mayank Patel in Ahmedabad to bang out that brochure instead of you... see http://designers.designcrowd.com/graphics/india
It's an interesting new century.