Xara Designer Pro as a Professional app for Pro work?

[WilliamHere]

Do you agree with Athman on this?
-"For Xara to have a chance they would have to reinvent the software from the ground up which would mean a larger dev team and a much MUCH bigger development budget, not a chance."

-"Xara doesn't even have proper CYMK support or any greyscale capability."

SEE:
http://xara-users.info/board/viewtop...=4&t=5305&sd=d

Any professionals using Xara Designer Pro for Pro work? Can you share your experiences?

[steve.ledger]

If you're going to quote across sites you should take care to keep context by linking to the point in the conversation which led to the comments you have cherry picked..
► http://board.xara-users.info/viewtop...tart=10#p38063

[WilliamHere]

If you're going to quote across sites you should take care to keep context by linking to the point in the conversation which led to the comments you have cherry picked..
► http://board.xara-users.info/viewtop...tart=10#p38063

I did not mean to cherry pick intensionally. If I offended you in any way, I apologize. That was not my intention.
The reason I pulled particular portions out is because these are the ones I am interested in. I want to see where other sara users stand on these issues. If I am going to make a switch to xara designer pro, I want to make sure that I am headed in the right direction. Its a big decision.

[Big Frank]

Any professionals using Xara Designer Pro for Pro work? Can you share your experiences?

ive been using xara for pro web work for 14 years, during that time i've completely weaned myself off all adobe products
web design, gui design, template design, not web development, thats another thing entirely
i have used it for some pro print work which isnt my main revenue stream but anybody can see that it has severe limitations
having said that not had too many fussy printers and have sent rgb proofs that have printed out as required by the customer
suppose it all depends on the definition of pro

[mwenz]

@Steve--I was smart enough to read the context. I think everyone is that even would care to read the linked post.

I think Steve is mainly right in his arguments. While there are creative individuals on the hunt for other products, the big kicker is going to be what governments and, more importantly, teaching institutions do at this point. I did read an article where due to Adobe not thinking this through well (priced smaller design schools out of the equation) enough have alienated a few design schools who are looking elsewhere. But I think in the end, they will pony up unless they all look elsewhere. Even if the teaching institutions change, it then takes design/ad agencies and the general buying public to change their perception of non-Adobe software.

Could it happen over time? Sure. No company is "too big to fail."

The main issue in the arguments I don't buy is the cost. I only use two Adobe applications, ID and AI. The CC cost me far more and leaves me with nothing to open work past 17 June unless I either continue the subscription, or sign back up when I have to. Those two applications as perpetual licenses have cost me about $300 every 18 to 20 months (and I still can load them at no further cost)--and it even cost me less before the recent change in having to upgrade to every major number release. The pricing of CC cannot touch that.

Adobe is already beginning to back-pedal under some of the arguments people have put forth. Further evidence of Adobe not really thinking this through. Adobe may well provide a means of converting one or more CC applications to perpetual licenses after X amount of payments so people would be able to open their files at some point in the future. How they choose to handle this situation is still not clear (nor been made public). The CC was ill thought out and poorly implemented. And there maybe legal ramifications, at least in the EU and UK. The case is being made that people who purchased a perpetual license to CS6 versus signing up to the Cloud were told by Adobe that they would only obtain the features released to Cloud subscribers during the past when CS7 was released. Which isn't going to happen at this point. How this plays out is a great who knows.

Take care, Mike

[gwpriester]

I'm with Frank on this. I have used Xara for at least 15 years for all kinds of professional projects. And no one has ever asked me what product(s) I used.

But is there a lot of room for improvement as sledger points out? Absolutely. But as Donald Rumsfeld so aptly put it, You go to war with the Army you have. And while I don't think think former secretary of defense was referring to Xara (spelled with X), the metaphor still is valid. Xara does about 90-95% of what I need it to do, and the other 10-5% I tap dance. Or I bring in the mercenaries.

[pauland]

cgntoonartist, if you're going to ask if Xara software is suitable for "Pro" work, you'd better decide what a "Pro" actually is, and that's no easy task.

There community of Xara users is wide - even amongst professional users. Many people on TG and elsewhere are using Xara products for making money professionally. I suspect the person making the most of Xara software in a professional manner is sketch, who is managing to produce websites and supporting graphics galore for his paying customers. Others here are using Xara for things such as Vehicle wraps and signage, illustration, even books and all kinds of bespoke graphics and imagery.

You name it and Xara has been used for it, servicing paying customers with quality artwork, so it is indeed a professional product.

When you compare Xara to the Adobe CC suite (a totally unfair comparison), it's a poor cousin. The Adobe toybox is stuffed with programs and features.

If you work professionally and Xara software fulfills your requirements, then it's perfect.

If you work collaboratively with others who may be working with Adobe products it can be a problem.

Xara software is no substitute for the Adobe CC suite, but that may not matter.

Think of it like this. If I run a delivery business, I can perhaps get by with a van or small truck for the goods that I deliver. It's only if someone wants me to move shipping containers or outsize loads that I run into trouble. I can operate my delivery business with small trucks, professionally.

Xara is my small truck and it does what's needed. The Adobe suite has all manner of haulage gear, but if I'm not shipping wide loads, it's overkill.

So, is Xara professional software? It is, but it's not the ultimate solution that Adobe is providing.

[Boy]

Think of it like this. If I run a delivery business, I can perhaps get by with a van or small truck for the goods that I deliver. It's only if someone wants me to move shipping containers or outsize loads that I run into trouble. I can operate my delivery business with small trucks, professionally.

I find that a pretty good comparison and it helps to place the 'Xara vs. Adobe' discussion in a clearer context.

[Albacore]

If you were going to commit to just one piece of software that is a big step step and one that I would not make as I use a variety of vector tools. As I started doing print artwork for national school examination papers in the mid 90's using Art Works on Acorn's, I then moved to Xara X using PC's, then into a local print shop all just using various versions of Xara without too much problems. I think like a few others here I can make some comments on the pro and cons of using our software.

Pro's
Easy to learn
In most cases fast
Has good universal tools for both web and print
It now has a good text engine
Good colour engine for RGB & HSV

Cons
Being left behind in strokes/brushes development
No CMYK artboard
Too many RGB effect tools for print purposes

I think Xara has helped me get jobs and promotion so long as I remembered its limitations for print but used its strengths for the web work that I have done. It was an excellent teaching tool for pupils learning graphics & illustrations and gained them higher marks because they used this software. It is very affordable for any teaching establishments even at higher levels but it is not accepted because "it's not up to industries standard" which is bull. I have had to learn Illy after I retired from teaching and found the learning curve steeper than that of Xara although it is a now a very fast and competent piece of software with too many tools and actions for this persons skills to take full advantage of. As I stated at the beginning I still use 3 vector drawing programmes in which I feel comfortable using each have their strengths and it would be a pity to uninstall any one of them just to go with one. At the moment, I think its obvious enough to see, that Xara has looked at the market trends to see where they fitted in and chosen the web development to concentrate on and have taken a good slice of the market. I don't think that this market will last as long as the drawing aspect of this programme has but only time will tell.

[WilliamHere]

ive been using xara for pro web work for 14 years, during that time i've completely weaned myself off all adobe products
web design, gui design, template design, not web development, thats another thing entirely
i have used it for some pro print work which isnt my main revenue stream but anybody can see that it has severe limitations
having said that not had too many fussy printers and have sent rgb proofs that have printed out as required by the customer
suppose it all depends on the definition of pro

You are correct, we need to define what PRO means. Thanks for pointing this out.

To me Professional (PRO) work is being able to supply corporate clients with the final files needed to give to their print shops for production with the proper file format, color configuration (Grayscale, RGB, CMYK, etc), and resolution. The software we use to produce the work, should provide us with all the tools necessary to get the job done and allow us to give customers what they need so that the print work comes out correctly and looks good.
Also, a designer or artist, should not have any doubts about the files produced by the software. We should feel confident that when we give the customer a file, is going turn out good and meet their needs.

For instance, we shouldn't have to open a file that came from Xara Studio Pro, in Adobe Illustration to double check it for errors or to fix it, or resave it in a better format. This may not be the best example of this, but you should get the idea.
A PRO app should stand on its own and the files it produces should be top notch.

This brings us back to the question:
Does Xara Designer Pro meet the PRO work standards?

What are your thoughts on this?
Cheers!