Layer Inadequacy

[Xcellent]

Nested Layers have been requested several times on here in DEC 2005 and JAN 2002.

'Brand new' features don't seem to be high on the priority list rather than enhancing existing features.

[pauland]

'Brand new' features don't seem to be high on the priority list rather than enhancing existing features.

..depends if they have HTML in their name or not.. ;-)

[Xcellent]

..depends if they have HTML in their name or not.. ;-)

Or if Magix was pushing it to get a 'HTML-Studio-Dreamweaver-Replacement' to put Xara into a category in order to sell it to the stores? Who knows - it's waaaay OT anyway It's a great feature, no doubt!

[JonH27]

OK, I'm jumping in here too just in case Charles or anyone else at Xara HQ is counting the bulk of responses on this issue. Layer / object management is a significant barrier for some users. I'll admit to using Illustrator for some pieces of work simply because of the control I get over groups, layers and objects. There are times when that fact outweighs the fact that Xara is "easier", quicker and more fluid in most other significant respects.

I'm not a Xara "power user" (hate that term) and am well aware that some of what I seek might already be possible by arcane workarounds (for which I'm eternally grateful for the expertise which you all so readily share on TG) or command sequences. But equally I'm sure that some of it isn't. And it certainly isn't readily accessible and controllable via the gallery. I know that a major part of Xara's charm and useability stem from it's relatively simple interface and certainly don't want it to look as frightening as Illustrator (which always seems to me to look like an aircraft cockpit compared to Xara's car dashboard if you see what I mean) - but surely the galleries are one place where additional functions can safely be made available... if you're not interested in layers and what they can offer, you're not going to be accessing the gallery, are you?

Just my opinion.

Jon

[BONES]

Just out of interest, what do you think Illustrator does better? I struggle with this stuff - I think, by and large, Xara does a brilliant job of handling multiple objects. Your last sentence also intrigues me because the only thing I see that layers has to offer is teh really obvious one of being able to turn off some objects, like crop/registration marks and stuff like that. I don't see that it has much use beyond that because, unlike something like Photoshop, its easy to select objects in the drawing anyway. I just see layers as an annoying distraction and almost never use them.

[MarkMyWords]

As someone who makes drawing with hundreds of objects, layers are invaluable to me and being able to group layers or see the objects in a layer, in the layers gallery would be a tremendous help in organising my work.

Sometimes I have to have several layers for one specific part of a drawing, sometimes I do 'loose' objects in the crowd. I know we can tab through each object, but when dealing with large numbers that can get tedious.

Nothing is more intuitive than being able to see, at a glance, what objects on what layers you need to be working with. Nothing is being asked for here that would get in the way of those who want to keep things working as they do now. You would not have to group layers if you did not want to nor expand them to show what they contain.

[Giovanni]

Count me in for these requests of improvement. To summarize:
- visibility of single object inside layers;
- ability to change transparency (and blending mode?) of layers as a whole;
- grouping and nesting layers.

[JonH27]

Just out of interest, what do you think Illustrator does better?

Hi Bones...What Illustrator does better is to present, within the single Layers palette, a summary of all layers, groups, objects, with the ability to tweak layers, groups (including nested groups) and objects. Despite the name, it's not just about "layers". For some types of work, this makes such a difference that, as I said, it can outweigh Xara's advantages. I recall that CorelDraw had a similar Object Manager rollup, maybe still does... If Xara could offer this, I'd possibly never fire up Illy again. OK, it seems that many people don't see the need for this in their work... fair enough. It's not compulsory to use the Layers gallery. Beef it up for those of us that want better capabilities, and the rest of you can leave it closed.

[MarkMyWords]

Actually what I was saying was that layers simplify my work and nested and/or grouped layers would help even more. I don't understand the resistance to this idea, it's not as if using groups or other layer functions would be compulsory.

Perhaps there is a worry such features may slow down Xtreme? If so, then allowing those features to be disabled in options may solve any such problems.