User Preferences and Usability DISASTERS

[Big Frank]

Does Xara ever do any usability studies?

When I am creating image pop-ups for, for example a gallery of photos, it is IMMENSELY annoying that the "Web Properties > Image" dialog does not remember the settings for the previous image I did a pop-up for.

When I create or edit a Placeholder, I cannot hit Ctrl-A to select everything. Why not???

When I create or open a Placeholder, the dialog is the size of a postage stamp. I can resize it but when I create or open another Placeholder, the dialog is again the size of a postage stamp.

I export an image as a 95% JPG. I then export another image. Why is the slider back at 85%? This wasn't always so, and I liked it the old way.

I expand/collapse the contents of the Page & Layer Gallery and the thing becomes the width of a pencil so that I cannot see file names longer than xx number of characters. If I set the width of the P&L Gallery to be xx pixels, is there any reason to suspect I want the damn thing to contract again?

I open the Colour Editor and the Alignment dialog and move it them an area of my screen that suits me. When closed and reopened, the program has defaulted them to the middle of the damn screen again! Similarly the Web Properties and other dialogs. Preferences, people. Preferences!

The list is way longer than this, but there are some things on here that Xara have not bothered to address in years, and as a long-time investor in this product that really, really annoys me.

I love the product (XDPX) and am immensely loyal to it, but if the answer to the above is "you're the only one who wants it that way", OK, fine, i'll just go and cry in my tea, but I have seen every single one of the above complaints aired on here at one time or another in the recent and not-so-recent past, and I don't see anybody ever addressing them. And if Xara don't want prospective purchasers to know that they don't don't listen to their loyal customers (I guess that makes me a right mug) then it's a bit late... Google has already indexed this comment.

[gwpriester]

As Sue would say in the British TV series, Reggie, you're not a happy sausage.

Good points Frank and I agree with most.

[handrawn]

the program has become rather nannyish - there is a plethora of warnings - yet another one I came across just recently when animating and using the name gallery to select used names in a frame:

'one or more objects are on invisible frames so can not be selected'

well yes if they are on other frames then that would be so wouldn't it, unless I happened to to have all frames visible and editable, I don't need to be told every single time with no way to switch it off

it's as if Xara were not just catering for the newbie [nothing wrong with that as such] but not actually expecting them to ever be good enough to remember these things because the warnings are not, in the UI at least, supressable

[StevenWWinters]

Does Xara ever do any usability studies?

Double +1 to this.

It's the little things. Also applies to carrying user preferences forward from previously installed versions to new versions. With a little forethought, these issues could be resolved.

[kmario]

Hi Big Frank,
it's quite good to get such a comprehensive feedback, that's really helpful for us to improve Designer and the other products. I've reported the issues (and some can be fairly easy fixed: placeholder issues...). To some others I've got some questions.

When I am creating image pop-ups for, for example a gallery of photos, it is IMMENSELY annoying that the "Web Properties > Image" dialog does not remember the settings for the previous image I did a pop-up for.

It is possible to select all photos of the gallery and apply values to all of them in "Web Properties > Images". Does that help or do you mean something different here?

I expand/collapse the contents of the Page & Layer Gallery and the thing becomes the width of a pencil so that I cannot see file names longer than xx number of characters. If I set the width of the P&L Gallery to be xx pixels, is there any reason to suspect I want the damn thing to contract again?

When you're in "Layer/ Locate Mode" the P&L Gallery will keep its size even when you collapse the contents. Is that some kind of workaround that helps?

The list is way longer than this, but there are some things on here that Xara have not bothered to address in years, and as a long-time investor in this product that really, really annoys me.

Feel free to post the list. As I said above it's really helpful to us. We, developers look regularily through the posts, but surely we'll miss some as there's usually lot of scheduled work to do.
You've got also the option to submit a ticket for the issues troubling you on http://support.xara.com/.

[Big Frank]

Thanks for your reply kmario

It is possible to select all photos of the gallery and apply values to all of them in "Web Properties > Images". Does that help or do you mean something different here?

Even if you do that, and I encourage you to test this, when you click on a blank area of the pasteboard to deselect the Web Properties dialog, you'll see that it goes back to its default settings. Usability would make it so that it carries over the settings from the previous image OR there is a way to toggle this setting ON or OFF.

When you're in "Layer/ Locate Mode" the P&L Gallery will keep its size even when you collapse the contents. Is that some kind of workaround that helps?

Not really, because I use Locate mode only when I absolutely have to because I dislike the way the Layer Gallery jumps around in a distracting manner when you're in Locate mode.

Feel free to post the list. As I said above it's really helpful to us. We, developers look regularily through the posts, but surely we'll miss some as there's usually lot of scheduled work to do.

We all understand that, but many of the smaller gripes have been around for years, and it seems nobody is listening to user feedback on them.

You've got also the option to submit a ticket for the issues troubling you on http://support.xara.com/.

Very useful option (and good response too) for very specific support queries, but for things like this I believe the forum is the best place to raise them.

[mwenz]

...When you're in "Layer/ Locate Mode" the P&L Gallery will keep its size even when you collapse the contents. Is that some kind of workaround that helps?...

Try this with XDPX

1. Open an Xara file.
2. Set the width of the P&L gallery. Don't care which button is pressed.
3. Now open another document.
4. The P&L gallery resizes.
5. Resize it back to what you want--like narrower.
6. Switch to the other document.
7. Er, the P&L gallery resizes again. Ad infinitum.

Really, really annoys me.

Now use XDP7 or XDP6 on the list above.

take care, Mike

[handrawn]

can I just sneak in here and say another long time gripe:

ctrl+a otherwise known as 'select all' except often it does no such thing, it misses objects out...

[Big Frank]

When you have already clicked the Alignment button to display the dialog and then you open another dialog such as the Web Properties one, and you place it over the top, you should be able to put the focus back on the Alignment dialog by clicking the toolbar button, just like you can with the Colour Editor button.

But you can't, so you have no idea where the Alignment dialog has got to and you have to fiddle about closing or moving things until you find it.

Grr.