Xara Xtreme Pro announced

[Christine Farrelly]

Just one word 'WOW'

Christine

[Squeaky]

It IS my Birthday!!!! A step in the right direction and hopefully the first of many. (leading to a graceful Tango around the opposition)

[MarciaB]

CONGRATULATIONS XARA !!! (and Squaeky)
I downloaded the beta and gonna play with it tomorrow...

[Thatch]

So far it's great. I really like the mulitpage feature. The text overflow is a god send, and so far the improvements to pdf and swf export seem to be working great! I'm in the middle of a flash icon project so this has already come in handy, especially the incompatability notices that come up makes it so fixing any issue is really quick.

My only negative so far is, who ever came up with the name 'Xortcut'. Good lord what were you thinking? :P

Seriously, I am a bit disappointed that there aren't any improvements to any drawing tools. One more little toy to play with. One more item that would end up showing up in gallery submissions over the next few weeks... Most of the improvements are workflow issues that will greatly impact users on a day to day basis, just not too much on the actual product itself. Not a gripe, just a mild grumble.

All in all, great job Xara. I hope this helps fuel the ongoing and quick advancement of the product.


J

[Charles Moir]

My only negative so far is, who ever came up with the name 'Xortcut'.

not us actually. Xortcuts is a utility that was created and donated to us from Rubem, as a result of a thread of TG forum some months ago about short-cuts. It's his code and product really - we just told him what the config files were to modify the short-cut sttings.

I think even Rubem agrees it's not the perfect tool, but on the other hand a LOT of people have asked to be able to configure short-cuts and so it is a very useful utility - and Rubem very kindly let us include it.

[Thatch]

Oh agreed. I think it's a great addition to have and very kind of Rubem to allow it to be included. I just couldn't let the name pass with out a quick jab.

Great job on the release Charles. Take the team out for a pint. They deserve it.


J

[rubem]

Oh agreed. I think it's a great addition to have and very kind of Rubem to allow it to be included. I just couldn't let the name pass with out a quick jab.

Point taken... Will change it for the next release

[Nostaw]

For 199,- this is still (by far) a great price compared to anything else out there. This is a no brainer. Thank you team Xara!

Some things that jump in my mind when thinking of working on a multi-page document using alot of bitmaps (like a catalog!):
-I miss this feature for ages: Replace existing images in the bitmap Gallery with another image (right click, replace image (file browser opens)).
-Assign a alias name for any bitmap in the Bitmap gallery, by default its the filename. You could also search for these aliases, as soon there is a letter in the search box it displays all bitmaps containing this letter.
-Make SubFolders in the Bitmap Gallery to categorize pictures.
-Decide if a picture in the bitmap gallery is linked to a file on the harddisk instead of beeing embedded. This way you can just change it in your favourite picture editor, save it again and its already embedded.
-Modify and replace an existing image in the Bitmap gallery using Xara's Picture Editor (and not inserting a new image after it has been modified).
-Click a thumbnail icon next to the picture in the bitmap gallery to view it as a 128x128 pixel thumbnail for the entire document.
-Collect Bitmaps: Creates automatically a Root Folder on your Harddisk containing all images used in the Bitmap Gallery, for bitmaps located on different locations on your harddisks. Sub-folders are created on your Harddisk named the same way SubFolders have been created in the Bitmap gallery.

-Auto-Name Colors (A very cool feature in Adobe After effects). Editing a color in the Color editor, it automatically names the color in realtime, for e.g. #5C86FE="Medium Royal Blue", #FEA45C="Medium Orange".

-Spell Checker: A button called 'spell checker' opens a new floating window with all the words unkown (in red) with 3 previous words before and after the wrong wpelt word used in the document, for example "...proofing and expert cstomer service whether..." (the word cstmer is red and can be edited inside the window) . A click of the word jumps to the page or position in the document where the word has been used. It can be edited manually inside the document or inside the flaoting window - whatever you prefer. I find it much more useful to get an overview of all mispelled words overall in the document than jumping from word to word anywhere in the document.

[TazzyUK]

Having only purchased my 'Xara Extreme' a few months ago, i then come across info on an Xara Extreme Pro!!
I've read up on some of the new features but couldn't find any release date or price/upgrade price etc (even on the news section on Xara.com)

Could someone point me to some additional info on Xara pro please
Thanks

Taz

[Squeaky]

Hi Joe.
What a coincidence. Me too.
A bit disappointed that the new flash 8 output opened in Flash 8 doesn't recognise curved but caps as it says it should. In all probability a Flash 8 problem rather than Xara.

Charles - Very nice to have the extra options on export (Page/selection/drawing) many thanks!