Xara WebStyle 2 Just Released

[roman]

Very surprisinly I won't add more wise opipnions to this thread I think all important has been said. I'm rather going to tell my experience with demo of Webstyle 2 [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Design: A little bit more futuristic. Still quite okay, just I think the Arrow back which stayed from the previous version is not very ergonomically placed.. I had problems to find it even I knew from previous Webstyle that it's there somewere.

Minuses

a) What is logos about when I didn't find way how to place mine own into the design ? ;-)
b) Banners adds? Banners which persuade you to click on them must have a fresh idea, creating them from template wont help the purpose of banner.

Plusses:

a)NavBars and complete templates for websites. (Pity it's not possible to import mine own made in XaraX ;-))

Conclusion.

I found it less persuasive than demo of Webstyle I. Lack of decent backgrounds, too few examples and less variety than in previous demo version. Still it brings a couple of nice new features and also it has a slightly better concept & organisation.

If Xara releases template maker, the Webstyle2 would rock like Lego Technics. Now it looks like a Lego-Duplo.

Roman

[juergen]

2 flames ...

As a good designer you should just laugh when looking at those ads. After 20 years in the software business I still have to see the software that makes me unemployed due to everybody being able to click together her/his own.

And just blaming "Europe" only sounds frustrated, not professional.

Even if the software would make anybody produce good results which I highly doubt, as it is not only technical skills making a good designer, your wining would be inappropriate.

In that case you simply would have adapt to changes like the people who did newspapers and books years ago with letters ....

Greetings,
juergen

PS. I have those days as well, I kill orcs and goblins then [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[IKraus]

I had a question which I hope someone could answer on this WebStyle... Where do the templates come from? [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]

Curious, as I've really been thinking of selling basic web page templates myself. Would love to know if there was an avenue to sell them via Xara. Are the designs bought outright, or do you get a commission on sales?

Thanks!

Push yourself to notice the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Irene M. Kraus
www.design-comp.com

[Ross Macintosh]

I find it understandable that Xara Ltd. develops webstyle. I also find some sympathy for Jens' position. He made a big impact on me when in the thread on his S&P shaker design he wrote of marketing strategies. Following his thinking there, Xara Ltd. positioned itself from the onset at a low pricepoint that reflected a desire for marketshare over establishing it as a high-end product and direct competitor to the mainstream graphics software. I don't know how successful the pricing strategy has been but I do know that years later, the program hasn't established itself as a serious professional tool. Of course we know the product is high-quality and a superior tool. Those facts haven't helped the product be recognized. It remains, sadly, a relatively obscure program. It deserves better but can be considered a product of its marketing.

I have no doubt that successfully marketing software is a difficult business and I do wish Xara Ltd. much success. Given Xara Ltd.'s investment in developing Webstyle how might it best market the product? How does Xara X fit into that marketing strategy?

It seems to me it would be very wise for Xara X to provide (via patch?) capability for xara x to create webstyle templates. Also provide a way, as Ikraus has suggested, for independant developers to market their templates. Let such developers add value to the program by increasing the pool and variety of templates. I believe doing so would expand Xara X's market to those (besides us) who'd see opportunity in developing templates. Practically every avid user of webstyle (users who develop multiple sites with it) would likely end up buying the 'template maker' which IMHO should be Xara X.

Something to think about...

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[jclements]

Ross, I think you've got some good constructive ideas ... it could be a win-win for both Xara and skilled template designers.

[katemoir]

Hey, you know we've sold Webstyle since 1998. Let's hope the Webstyle 1 owners didn't think we were selling out to the professionals when we released Xara X!

We like to think of ourselves as a company that provides solutions for anyone wanting to create graphics, whatever their level of skill and ambition. We also like to think that we provide the best possible solutions at both ends of the market. One target market is as legitimate as the other to my mind and we'll give them equal effort.

Perhaps more to the point of this thread, I don't think you need to be worrying about loss of custom. Let's face it, the majority of people out there simply don't have the design skills to produce good web site graphics - they could try some DIY or they could bodge some stuff out of a bitmap collection. On the other hand they could pay $69 for Webstyle and produce an infinitely more professional result, but we're still a mile away from the sort of people who might pay what it costs to have a designer produce a truly made-to-measure, unique site design. Even with my boundless confidence in Xara products I don't think you'll notice the impact among your client base.

Xara X is the tool we use to create the Webstyle templates. Unfortunately there is an interim stage where the graphics are altered to work as Webstyle templates. We had hoped to cut out this stage so that everyone with Xara X could produce templates. err, we failed. We're going to try again.

Kate

.................
Kate Moir
http://www.xara.com
http://www.buyfonts.com

[roman]

Hi Kate. You probably talk about Wizard Properties that one which can be still found in button palette wehn customizing toolbars. I wish Xara good luck with bringing it back alive in next version of Xara. It was a great idea.

[Wolfgang]

I said it before and I am going to say it again: Xara Ltd. never did a very good job when it comes to marketing. Sorry Kate.

A product, as superior as Xara X and even before CX should (and could) have a better position in the market already.

And I am totally with Ross when it comes to templates for Webstyle.

Why is Winamp the standard for MP3 playback??
Well it was among the first and it is still pretty good.
But I believe, one of the foremost reasons for its leading role can simply be said in one word: SKINS.
That, the full documentation of skin-creation and later even tools for it were a big boost for its popularity if you ask me. Hell, even I tried to make a skin once.

Same goes for Paint Shop Pro with tubes and others.

Of course we are talking of good software here. If it was not good, skins or tubes would not have made it any better.
But its this ADDED FEATURE to make it superior above the rest.

Now, I don't need to squadron about the quality of Xara X here, but X3D and - I am sure - Webstyle are excellent pieces of software too.

Now, you get a CD with dozens of designs with Webstyle. Fine.
Given that the number of buyers is greater than the amount of templates, it's just a matter of time to come across multiple sites with the same layout.

But if I could design my own templates (without the need of secret Xara inhouse-software), Webstyle could simplify the process of creating webpages based on MY (hopefully professional) design.
Talented people would take the chance and design templates of their own.
They would spread them for free or sell collections of them for little money.

All in all, the number of templates would be powers of the ones on the CD, there would be pages like webstyletemplates.com and respective sections on skins.org (I guess this is the URL?).

A community would form and people would buy Webstyle to use the templates and Xara X to create them.

In other words: popularity for free !!

But hey, not with Xara Ltd.
They rather keep the secret of template-making for theirselves.
They "try" to incorporate this feature, but give up before it is finished. Who would want more than the supplied templates anyway ??
And maybe Xara can sell a CD with more templates later on ...

Sorry, but it seems, Xara Ltd. WANTS it to be a nobrainer tool with limited use.
I would never touch Webstyle anyway, but I would LOVE to design templates for it. Be it for fun or fame or money.

Gotta stop this now ...

Wolfgang

[katemoir]

Correct Dmagician, the wizard was for creating Webstyle templates. Despite the disappearance of the Wizard UI we did implement the necessary code within Xara X to make that half of the equation work. We still have a lot of work to do within Webstyle.

We're not blind to the potential but eliminating the interim mark-up stage is a very challenging task. Unfortunately.

Kate

.................
Kate Moir
http://www.xara.com
http://www.buyfonts.com

[Klaus Nordby]

Jens, cool off a bit! That Xara wants to sell to the do-it-yourelf-dentristry market too is no threat to Real Professionals. Since I think you are one of those - shut up. And please do NOT abandon this forum - I need at least ONE friend here! ;-)


K