Version 5.1 Launched

[HayTay]

I'm looking forward to playing around with the new features. I've already shelled out my $54 US (+ $8 S/H) for the upgrade.

The features that did it for me right off include, but are not limited to, the following:

• New Object Gallery and New Object Gallery Features/Functions
• Multi-stage Transparencies
• Object Locking (Pro version only)
• PDF Links to Pages & Anchors (I wasted a lot of time trying to find a workaround for this in XXP4 to no avail.)
• Improved Adobe EPS and PDF Import
• Direct Page Resizing
• Drag n Drop Page Re-ordering (I always thought the 'Move Page Up/Down' options were klunky and a total PITA for documents comprised of more than 3 or 4 pages.)

Any word on when the Version 5 CDs will start to ship?

Can't wait for the weekend,
HayTay

[steve.ledger]

d I can't believe it's "5"... I'd like to see more of them.

Wow, OK.

[RickX]

Great update anybody knows where can I find/check out:

'Windows Compatible Font rendering' mode (to adjust font metrics to emulate the incorrect Windows font rendering used by Windows browsers)

Is this what I hope for? to render text without antialias, like in browser, if yes I hope you can use it for selected text/object?

[masque]

Xtreme5
Firstly I have to say I have no idea of the amount of work involved in the release of an updated piece of software. It might be a matter of hundreds of elfish like creatures beavering away all day and night, seven days a week for months or it might be a pasty faced youth in a room, with a packet of chocolate biscuits and a latte in a paper cup, for a couple of days over a weekend. Because of this I am loath to criticise.
However joining two applications together and calling it something new will be taken by some to be a bit of a letdown.
Page resizing, spellchecking, a slider to make photographs go from a bit blueish through to a bit orangy and better control of transparency is hardly not going to be there if you join an application that has those features to an application that doesn’t have them.
The layers gallery update is very welcome, I think, time will tell if it’s an improvement.
I had a moment of excitement when I spotted the mask tool and immediately loaded a photo, masked an area and tried to adjust hue, saturation and/or levels etc which came as a letdown when I found I needed to read some instructions regarding what it was really for, namely so I could load the only photograph I have of a ball on my not-dead-yet lawn, mask it and stretch the lawn to make it look bigger without the ball becoming an ellipse—interesting, but hardly essential unless I’m missing something, but I’m speaking as someone who has never used the contour tool.
I read that free hand drawing is now improved and that I might not need to tape the escape key down while drawing but I’ve yet to explore that.
Welcome though any improvements are, I can’t see that it justifies the ‘5’ apart from the fact that it’s a better looking number for the front of the forthcoming book than ‘4.5’, which as we all know already has a ‘5’ on it.
Needless to say I'm handing over my £39 upgrade fee, so disregard all the previous.
Derek

[charliescoffee]

Am I correct that Xara Pro 5 makes Web Designer obsolete? That Pro 5 is essentially a combination of Web Designer and Xara Pro 4 with a few added bells & whistles? BTY, I've been asking for a spell checker in Xara for many years and I am happy to see that it's included here. But I do wonder why Web Designer was released not so long ago when 5, if I'm correct about it, was in the works.

[cursor]

You're correct in assuming that if you have Xara Xtreme Pro 5, then you don't need Xara Web Designer.

Web Designer offers a terse, yet powerful, web development tool for those who want to compose pixel-perfect websites using a graphically oriented interface.

So, why release new product called Web Designer? Smaller tool box ... lower price ($200 less than Xara Xtreme Pro 5, which opens a whole new target market).

[charliescoffee]

Well, I'm not so happy about having just purchased XWD and now having to upgrade to Pro 5, but at the same time, I've posted elsewhere that I found I really had to use both Xara and XWD together, so this will eliminate that hassle. So be it, I guess I now move on to Pro 5. I suppose I knew this was coming at some point and wrapping everything up in the one program is much easier for me, at least.
(Sorry about the duplicate post, but I lost my original post and thought the question was just as well framed under WD.)

[cursor]

In addition to Web Designer, doo you also have Xtreme 4 (Pro?) now?

[cursor]

If you'll check the Upgrading to Xtreme 5 page on Xara.com, you'll see that any price that you might have paid for Web Designer is totally credited when you buy either Xtreme 5 or Xtreme Pro 5.

For example, If you have Web Designer (sells for $49), the price of Xtreme Pro 5 is discounted (from $249 to $199).

[charliescoffee]

In addition to Web Designer, doo you also have Xtreme 4 (Pro?) now?

Cursor, Yes, I also have Pro 4. I've used Xara for about 10 years and have upgraded throughout. It seems that the credit for my purchase of XWD won't help, as I will be getting an upgrade price anyway. Still, I'm not all that happy about having to "upgrade" twice in one year.