Should Xara's interface change?

[covoxer]

whole GUI looks like Windows 3.1

Nah, it's Windows 98. The 3.1 was nothing like this.

[steve.ledger]

It's the Porsche 911 of Application UI's
It's a winner which may benefit from tweaks, but doesn't need a complete overhaul.

Designer Prettiness, clutter and flyouts don't impress me.
Simplicity does.
I open Xtreme to work on something, not admire the UI.

[minimiro]

btw: Where are the Buttons to create a new page?

go to menu window/control bars/ drag the slider to bottom and open button palette.... with Alt pressed drag needed butons to exist bars on your Xtreme Window

[iamtheblues]

Well, I agree with most of remi's comments, and I think that a new interface is probably overdue. With one proviso...an option to switch to the "Classic" interface, when the program loads, perhaps? This should satisfy those here (myself included) with a brain cell allocation that decreases hourly, who would struggle to cope with the change, having taken the best part of two years to get used to the way it is now. Also, perhaps the TG members could have a hand in the design of the proposed new interface, maybe even hold a competition.
Saludos,
Bob.

[MarkMyWords]

Xtreme's interface is pretty good in general, but some areas may well need 'tweaking'.

Why not allow docked galleries to be tabbed like so many programs do? The galleries themselves look like something out of a time-warp, they could use some fresh thinking. As has been said many times, the alignment dialogue is not intuitive, yes I know a little time will reap rewards, but the first time I saw it I had no idea what the hell it was supposed to be. I'd like to see an alternative interface using standard icons - possibly setting which interface to use in options.

I know it's off-topic, but since Remi mentioned it; I'm still hopeful that we will one day get macros/scripting.

[Soquili]

What? So they won't ever dock?

Yes, precisely.

btw: Where are the Buttons to create a new page?

Remi I assume you mean add a new page to the current document.

[handrawn]

Is there a button for new page in the buttons palette, there's a keyboard shortcut in pro4, but I don't think there's a button for it?

I can switch quite happily between xara and CS3 and inkscape and... several other programs

The interfaces themselves all work just as good [or not] as each other, the only problem I see is if there is too much change all at once, it gets confusing...

[handrawn]

ah BIll thats the one staring me in the face as usual

[Soquili]

At least with docking I know where they will show up.

They will always show up in the last location from which they were closed.

Cheers Steve that button was there in the default toolbar for almost two versions before I noticed it

[remi]

go to menu window/control bars/ drag the slider to bottom and open button palette.... with Alt pressed drag needed butons to exist bars on your Xtreme Window

Yes, great hint Miro. We all know, that most of the things are possible with the current GUI. And the direct drawing concepts of Xara Xtreme are great, phenomenally and unrivalled.

But: Some functions are hidden and new users asks about them over and over. Such questions are a clear sign, that the User interface lets some questions unanswered. We also know of the "workarounds" that are necessary to complete some tasks. You can see it here at talkgraphics often: Some users are happy with the necessary workarounds to reach their goal and some of them are driven away, because they don't accept too much steps. If I were Xara, I would offer more assistents in order to support some complex tasks (for example a "rounded edges assistent" for webdevelopers). And I would think about the "hidden" features and how to bring them in an easy way to the users, in order to avoid unnecessary support calls.

Maybe it's possible to overwork such things and make the GUI much more user-friendly.

Remi