Xara Designer Pro X10 Released

[Big Frank]

xara tried for years to break into the pro vector market
very limited succes
they then broke into the home sme web market
major success
do the maths
its still a cracking vector tool
and now does websites too

it's not about the money frank...

for me it is
i could easily find a xara torrent
but i support the dev of xara with my annual sub
thats my way of looking at it anyway
shame they dropped linux though

[Big Frank]

The way Xara release their updates is commercially the logical way. To do what you suggest would mean Xara Ltd would have to hold back updates ready for release until all are complete across the whole set of programs for the cycle, and release them together, which benefits no-one, or have many more releases of XPro which would involve extra costs.

it could also confuse buyers with so many new versions of a xara product
probably easier on the support techs to launch separetely

[handrawn]

i could easily find a xara torrent

now you and I both know that would be a silly thing to do for several reasons

but i support the dev of xara with my annual sub

I gather you use most of the program both web and drawing... I probably use about 50% of the drawing side and web not at all; if I supported all the programs I use to that degree, regardless, I would be in serious overdraft

shame they dropped linux though

as I recall [perhaps wrongly] they never started with linux as such, they facilitated open source development... which fizzled out and died

[Big Frank]

now you and I both know that would be a silly thing to do for several reasons

my point is we both know it is rife and i admit to doing it
and my place in hell is guaranteed because of it
i have seen xdp torrents but i have always paid up ever since xara webster

I gather you use most of the program both web and drawing

i guess i use 60% of both wide of the fence but nowhere near all
i dont use any of the supplied templates or galleries preferring to draw stuff myself
i find the web and design templetes very dated
but i see them as a bonus addon and not a core feature

if I supported all the programs I use to that degree, regardless, I would be in serious overdraft

yes me too, i only ever buy the flagship, never the others, that would be silly and pointless
but if i won the lottery i would offer to pay whatever it costs to develop the missing drawing and pro illustraor tools
if i won the euro lottery i would just buy xara from magix and pump in the money it needs to be the killer of all killers
mind you i would also save some money to help the poor people in the third world that the baby jesus doesnt
oh dear there i go again

[James Loudon]

I am dissapointed I'm afraid. I upgraded to v9 purely because its now native 64 bit. Other than that there was not much to blow my frock up. Even less so this time around. Everyone has different needs. As I develop websites for a living I already have a bunch of other tools like Photoshop and Dreaweaver which are better for me, and I would never use the HTML code that Xara puts together. At the same time I recognise that for some people, XPro may be the only graphics program that they need.
And therein lies the problem I feel. As it such a jackof-all-trades tool it will be regarded as master of none, which is of course not fair, but it looks too much like an expensive amateur program.
I have Illustrator installed but I never use it. Xara is so much nicer to use. It really is the only serious vector drawing app around and if marketed correctly could take some market share away from Adobe. As it stands the program is trying take to market share from Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign all at once. And thats really not going to happen.
I want the program to make artwork and to make good quality PDF files for print - and it does this very well. Those are its strengths and to move forward I feel Xara should concentrate on that.
By all means have the web stuff and photo editing, but have it as a separate program.
Xara vector design is unmatched and innovative. I would hate to see the company end up in the category as Serif for example, a quirky but kindofgoodvalue outsider that appeals to hobbyists.
They are better than this!

[handrawn]

but have it as a separate program.

when the web stuff first arrived I was a bit laid back about it - but that was before everything splurged out into 50 shades of grey - now I think I might have supported a stand alone drawing program in the way Frank suggests.... had it been here today; but next year is another annum

[richinri]

Well, I waited and now my two cents worth. I was VERY disappointed at the lack of attention given to the vector tools. I can only assume Xara is "following the money" in their marketing strategy. There are some features I wanted so I upgraded but, for the second time, I feel I overpaid. Combine that with the fact the 64 bit version does NOT work with Eye Candy 7 plugin without a total lockup - the having to hit control-alt-delete kind to force kill the program process, not just a normal failed process where you can continue to work. I will continue to work with the other features a few days and decide if, for the first time, I will ask for a refund.

[olledahl]

...I appreciate the fact that I can edit photos, work on print products, do illustration, and create and edit web pages all in one program...

...I've been getting into book design and I was hoping to see more type handling features...

Like Gary I am getting into book design and are now working on a book with more than 550 pages. I was really looking forward to this new version as I am not to fond of InDesign. But... maybe the next version (that will come to late for my project) will have the features that I am looking for. A professional and easy working DTP-program is really what I am looking for.

[Peter Prewett]

I could never understand why Xara does not have a DTP, they had an excellent one called Impression for the Acorn computers in the 80s and even now if had been imported to Windows would give others a run for their money. It is if they are reinventing the wheel and appears they are starting from scratch with Xara Pro, with Impression I created a number of books as many others have done.
Xara could talk to David Pilling that has a DTP called Ovation, also from Acorn times and ported to Windows, which I use for all my book work, and I will continue to use until Xara is upgraded to the same standard.
Incredibly Ovation is less than 3Mb installed and still a full DTP, should fit into Xara stable very well, as user interface is easy as is Xara.

[BONES]

I really want to support Xara but this will be the second year in a row I won't upgrade. There is virtually nothing new for anyone using the product for graphic design and certainly I can't see anything that justifies the extra expense.

Whilst I agree with the overall sentiment of your post, I think this is a bit of a stretch. Very few graphic designers don't work with photos and their are some significant new features for that stuff, things Photoshop doesn't do as well. There are also a lot of graphic designers who do websites and the improvements here will make them happy, too. I'd agree there is not much for illustrators but there is already a ton of great features for them and possibly not a lot of useful stuff that could be added? I agree, also, that many of the new features seem to be for dummies, not for experienced designers but, again, what would you want to see added?

What annoys me, though, is the cost of the upgrade. You can skip a version and the hit is only $40 but those of us who loyally support the company year after year are slugged $99 every time. At $69, the upgrade would be a no-brainer but $99 means you really need to think about it and decide whether the value is there or not. $69 is also a figure you could add to older version upgrades that would still make sense - $69 from the previous version, $138 from the one before that and maybe $199 from older versions than that. But for the last 4 or 5 upgrades I have felt like I am being taken advantage of and I'm not sure how much longer I'll be willing to put up with it.