Can multipage be used instead of Indesign or Quark

[WolfMoonHP]

Antony...

That sounds like it would make a good tutorial! When I've needed to create lists of sequential numbers, I've always taken the lazy way and used the autofill capabilities of Excel

I hadn't even thought of being able to use such a list in XXP.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm just barely scratching the surfact of what this program can do!
---
Will

[sallybode]

Sally,
I'd agree with your comments. And was very interested to learn about your work flow. XXPro is by far the best drawing program and Indesign is much better than QuarkExpress.
I wasn't aware of how advanced Corel Draw has become.
For me the break point between XXPro and Indesign is 4 sides. I can import shapes from XX into Indesign via Illustrator, otherwise the breakpoint might be more in XXPro's favour.
I'm pleased to hear from Antony that more DTP features are planned for XXPro.
Tony

Hi, Tony,
Yes, CorelDRAW is quite a program and as related to Xara, has much more a similar feel, so except for keyboard shortcuts, there are many things which a user will be used to, the info bar in DRAW is the property bar, etc.

For such things as serial number there is number gen which is a free script for DRAW available for free download at Unleash.com. Where I work, I do not need to use it as we have a numberer for our NCR forms and tickets. It can be configured to do page numbers.

As far as what Anthony pointed out, the advantages of using Xara over Quark or InDesign is in the ability to do a drawing as need be and have the full resolution available at all times. Depends upon what you are doing. And how long the publication is. What goes on Master Pages if you have only a short newsletter can be copied and pasted in place on the pages you need. If you do a lot of wrapping of text around pictures, you may wish to use DRAW and convert the text to shapes and then you can Alt Drag it in or copy and paste it into Xara for that one part as a Corel Presentation Graphic. Easily recognized by Xara.

For .pdf output, black text separates to CMYK, all four channels. Have to make text a spot black as a named color. Which has a problem with grayscale images as they are also CMYK and I haven't figured out how to make them a spot black yet. Have a few more things to try. If I had a four color newsletter, the only thing I'd be concerned about would be making my text black is all. The rest isn't so much an issue. I can solve the problem of the idiocincracies of Xara. It is so fast that you can figure work arounds for what isn't going to work. Just have to solve the problem.

Xara turns out superior graphics and it is in my workflow at my work now. Had some time to play with how the spot colors work on export to .pdf and they show up as they should in Output Preview in Acrobat Professional 7.0. This is good, but percentages I haven't figured out just yet, haven't had the time to try and see if they show up as a new spot color or if they are just a percentage of the spot color itself. Have to have a play with it.

Other things which DRAW does, such as spot color in drop shadows, bevels, duotones, transparency with spot color were introduced in the new X3. This version has its quirks but it really does some nice stuff. Once you get to understand the possiblities and how to print that way, it is cool. Am dying to see how I can do that with Xara, but I've been learning flash and have been having a ball with it.

Used some text today from Xara3D6 on a business card, began the design in DRAW, alt dragged it into Xtreme Pro, copied and pasted into 3D6 and saved as .png. Reimported into DRAW, finished the layout. For us, we try to keep as much in DRAW as we can, it will take a while to engineer a switch over as the boss sees the advantages of using Xara.

[tonylondon]

Sally: seems you've got it sorted!
Antony: I suppose the serial number trick is another use for the "one line per text area" that I mentioned elsewhere on this forum for filling irregular shapes. I assume you create linked boxes in the same way, or is there something cleverer?

[AntonyF]

Antony: I suppose the serial number trick is another use for the "one line per text area" that I mentioned elsewhere on this forum for filling irregular shapes. I assume you create linked boxes in the same way, or is there something cleverer?

That's correct.

[WolfMoonHP]

OK, guys...

I have searched the help files, and can't find any reference whatever to linking text areas.

Do I understand that it is possible to make an "auto-flow" from one text area to another? If so, how do you make that happen?

I'm working on a newsletter right now, and having text flow from one column to the next would be a great help.

Previously, I've used one set of software to do the page layout, and Xtreme to do the graphics which were then imported into the word processing package. Being able to do everything in one package would be really great!
---
Will

[Soquili]

Will, Gary's Workbook 53 in November shows how to have text flow from one text area to another. http://www.xaraxone.com/webxealot/workbook53/page_5.htm

[AntonyF]

Do I understand that it is possible to make an "auto-flow" from one text area to another? If so, how do you make that happen?

I'm working on a newsletter right now, and having text flow from one column to the next would be a great help.

You can flow text betwen text areas, not text columns. This area of the help has been updated a fair bit recently, so unless you've got the new trial/beta I think you'll have the help with less text area help stuff. But search for text area and see what comes up.