Miscellaneous Web Export Questions

**MerryOtter** · 05 December 2008, 03:46 AM

Hi Guys! It's been -- what, I guess a couple years since my last post. Didja miss me? I've been playing with Xara a lot through that time, and I have to say that it's really won me over. I hardly ever use my Adobe stuff anymore.

Ok, now on to the questions and stuff. At first I was using Xara mostly for illustration. Now I'm using it for web site design. I've bumped into a couple things I hope you folks can help me with....

1) I often will start a page and decide it needs to be longer (taller). For example, I begin with an 800x600 page, but then I want to to become 800x1000. When I go to Page Options and enter the new dimension, it centers all my existing work on the new page size. But what I'd really like to do it to keep the stuff snapped to the top and have more unused space at the bottom. It's not a huge hassle to show/unlock all layers and move them up, but the Guides I've created are much more problematic to move. Is there a way to have Xara extend the space at the bottom instead of centering? Or to adjust all the Guides upwards in one go?

2) On a complex page when I have the Names Gallery open Xara slows to a c-r-a-w-l. Any reason for this or way to avoid the slowdown?

3) Often times I'll have several of the same image element used throughout a page. For example a "buy now" or "more info" button on a storefront. Xara will export as many copies of them as appears. Is there way for Xara to export just one copy of the image? And why are they sometimes a slightly different pixel dimension even though they were all duplicated from the same source object(s)?

4) Best way to integrate an animated GIF into a web page design?

5) Is there a way to control what a graphic will be named, or am I stuck with 17.png, 18.png, 19.png, etc?

6) I like to use Wingdings and other pictographic fonts within text, e.g. for bulleted lists and such. These have to be converted to bitmaps to show on the web, and the way you do that is to group them. Is there a way to group that character "inline" so it floats with the text?

**salaam** · 05 December 2008, 09:10 AM

Welcome back MerryOtter,
I can't answer you questions but you've part answered mine in question 2. I didn't realise it was the [name gallery] that was the culprit. Maybe it's a bug as XXpro3 doesn't give me the same problem. I have been editing in X3 and viewing my animation in X4 (as X3 doesn't automatically clip the frames).

I seem to remember questions 5 and 1 being addressed in past threads.

**steve.ledger** · 05 December 2008, 11:59 AM

Hi MerryOtter.

The HTML export filter is new to Xara Xtreme 4 as you know.
It has been a very popular new feature to Xtreme with much interest and many questions as, as such several tweaks were added soon after release in April this year.
The filter is still pretty much work-in-progress by all accounts, so my guess is we can look forward to even better things to come

Many of your questions have been raised often on the forums since April, I'm sure a few minutes spent searching will turn up many useful discussions.

Originally Posted by MerryOtter

3) Often times I'll have several of the same image element used throughout a page. For example a "buy now" or "more info" button on a storefront. Xara will export as many copies of them as appears. Is there way for Xara to export just one copy of the image? And why are they sometimes a slightly different pixel dimension even though they were all duplicated from the same source object(s)?

If the same image (eg: a button) appears on every page in the same position, Xara Xtreme will use the one image for all pages.
If the positioning changes on each page then a new image is saved for each position.

This is a limitation which I'm sure will be addressed as the html export filter is further developed.

**MerryOtter** · 05 December 2008, 01:45 PM

Hey guys, thanks so much for the info so far. Just wanted to assure you I did spend a couple hours searching, browsing, and reading before I posted. I'm sure I could spend several hours more. Sometimes it's helpful just to know there was indeed a prior discussion on the topic. Here's my understanding on things so far:

1) Page resize/Guides: Yup, that's how it works, no way around it currently.

2) Name Gallery slowdown: Ditto

3) Replicated PNGs: Ditto.

4) Integrate animated GIFs: Any ideas?

5) PNG naming: Discussed before (though I still can't find the thread)

6) Handling inline, pict fonts: Any ideas?

Seems like the ultimate answer to this is some post-processing of the generated HTML (what I'm doing currently).

If there's stuff I'm missing, perhaps someone who's been following the forum regularly for the past few months still has some of it "cached" in their mind and can suggest some search terms or links or even just a hint (like you have been doing already).

**steve.ledger** · 05 December 2008, 06:33 PM

6) I like to use Wingdings and other pictographic fonts within text, e.g. for bulleted lists and such. These have to be converted to bitmaps to show on the web, and the way you do that is to group them. Is there a way to group that character "inline" so it floats with the text?

I'm not certain I follow your point on this one? What do you mean by 'floats ?

4) Integrate animated GIFs: Any ideas?

Use a placeholder rectangle the same size as the .gif. Name it something like ANIGIF.
After export, find the placeholder name for the particular image anchor and then replace the exported *.png entry with animated.gif

eg:

<a name="ANIGIF" ><img src="index.htm_files/0.png" border="0" alt="" style="left: 27px; top: 122px; width: 64px; height: 64px; position: absolute;"/></a>

change to

<a name="ANIGIF" ><img src="index.htm_files/animated.gif" border="0" alt="" style="left: 27px; top: 122px; width: 64px; height: 64px; position: absolute;"/></a>

**MerryOtter** · 05 December 2008, 07:09 PM

Ok, suppose that i were to make a bulleted list with the Wingdings3 font.

* One
* Two
* Three

Pretend the asterisks above are replaced with an arrow from that font. Wingdings3 is not a standard "web safe" font. The recommended solution when text is in a font not supported on the Web is to group the text so that it is converted to a bitmap upon HTML export. The problem here is that the rest of the text is perfectly fine, I don't want that to be a graphic. I need just the little arrow that I've used for my bullets to be grouped/bitmapped.

If i make a separate text block and overlay it in the right spots, that is fine, but it becomes a problem should I add/delete lines above my list. The graphics are not "inline" and will remain just where I put them, even though the text below has moved.

So, the question is, is there a way to indicate the asterisks/arrows should be bitmaps and yet move as the text is edited... I think the answer is no but perhaps the forum has an idea?

**steve.ledger** · 05 December 2008, 07:31 PM

A presume the the text will only be edited when you re open the your design .xar file and then re export to html? There's really no other way to post edit the text when using Xtremes html export function due to the absolute positioning .css generated for each line.
In this case I don't really understand the positioning problem, surely this is just a matter of nudging your bullets to suit your edit? Is it such a big deal?