Comparing my Xara 4 to other options out there.

[tgm1024]

life is a learning process

Yep. What I particularly like though is seeing implementations of the same sort of algorithms I used to program. I have a clear notion on how hard many of these things are to write in a non-crashing way.

I *also* am very impressed with how much attention seems to be paid to avoiding counter-intuitive interfaces these days. Someone somewhere decided to get a clue. . As a once principal software engineer / architect / what have you, it has always been exceedingly difficult to design complex GUI's with a multitude of options and interactions in a way that does not get in the way of the work flow.

GUI's should be "transparent" in that they should never get in the way nor be something you are overly concerned with. They need to *facilitate* something else, not exist in their own right. e.g., Too many apps fall into the category of click-click-click-click-click to get anything done. They often lack drill-down (the ability to dive deeply into abilities you've previously configured), and rarely have the mouse (click/drag/drop) + keyboard smoothly integrated.

Xara does a really good job (AFAICT so far) of rarely violating the law of least surprise.

[DanDaBear]

once a grouped bunch of objects are skewed, I cannot UNgroup them into the component (albeit still skewed) objects.

I have just tried this in XDP6 and I can group objects, skew them and ungroup them with the skew remaining applied. same with rotation and re-sizing.

The new darker interface of version 6 may take getting used to and the new drop down menus (no click, just hover over) but I find version 6 to be a major improvement.

As to other vector graphics programs, I've tried Inkscape and it confuses me to no end. I am not a professional and I am only a hack as an artist, but I find Xara to be the easiest and fastest program.

The best way to learn is to do the tutorials, especially at Xara Xone and check out the movies from the help menu.

[ad1066]

For me, the question of whether or not to upgrade has almost always come down to one or two specific features. Whenever Xara announces a new version for example, I look at the What's New list, and if something really catches my eye and makes me say "That's going to make things so much easier!", then I upgrade. Back in the day, it was the ability to dock the various galleries (the Line and Layers Galleries have had a permanent home on the side of the window for quite some time now). More recently, it was improved PDF export support. I finally went Pro when they listed multi-processor support.

Occasionally, I'll discover other new features after upgrading. The improved pressure sensitivity support in XDP6 was a thoroughly pleasant surprise.

There have certainly been instances of a new version of a particular product actually being a step backward (Windows ME, Winamp v3), but fortunately, Xara doesn't seem to have that problem.

-- Ben

[crayola]

Xara 6 upgrade is an improvement of 4. Inkscape is adobe illustrator 4 on windows 3.1, and CS5 is built for back room pre press. As a artist Xara offers me best vector freehand sketching with Painter the best photo-style sketching. And Xara has the best price. If all your doing is basic stuff look at Painter site, they have a excellent scaled-down draw program.