New Program

[EyesOpen]

Hi Everyone! I am a perennial lurker on this board. It took a new Xara program release to get my attention and first response here.

What's up with Xara? Does anyone really need a new screensaver? One Based on the free Xara Cube, which has been free since... ever?

The new "Xara Screenmaker 3D" surely didn't take much programming effort to create - just rewrite the Cube. So now that it is available, who wants it? Who needs it? Who cares?

Wouldn't be better to put the effort into improving XaraX?

These are important questions. Does anyone have any comments or answers?

John Dent

[EyesOpen]

Hi Everyone! I am a perennial lurker on this board. It took a new Xara program release to get my attention and first response here.

What's up with Xara? Does anyone really need a new screensaver? One Based on the free Xara Cube, which has been free since... ever?

The new "Xara Screenmaker 3D" surely didn't take much programming effort to create - just rewrite the Cube. So now that it is available, who wants it? Who needs it? Who cares?

Wouldn't be better to put the effort into improving XaraX?

These are important questions. Does anyone have any comments or answers?

John Dent

[Soquili]

Hi John,

Glad you decided to participate in the forums.

I wasn't aware they were offering a new program until your post. Looks like they combined some of the features of Xara3D and the Xara Cube. At $14.95 US, it's less expensive than buying Xara3D if you only want to make screen savers. I'm not one for using screen savers on my home PCs. They are never idle long enough for them to activate http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Soquili

[roman]

They are slowly developing next version of Xara and meanwhile they are stirring some attention and adding small fluffy tools into their collection...

Okay maybe not. But still I don't see anything wrong on their screenmaker.

[behzad]

Xara X has done everything I ever wanted and more, If they do or don't come up with another upgrade, I really do not care, I got what works for me now. Most other softwares are trying to do everything and all, like putting a web page together. Xara is meant to be a vector graphic program and it does it's job well.

[gwpriester]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> The new "Xara Screenmaker 3D" surely didn't take much programming effort to create - just rewrite the Cube. So now that it is available, who wants it? Who needs it? Who cares?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Xara is a small company, and my guess is they are trying to generate some money to stay afloat in these rather difficulat financial times. And if they can generate some revenue from that, I don't see a problem.

Think of it in terms of today's marketing as a "spin-off" or "line-extension" http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

And, we really are glad to have you here and out of lurkerdom.

Welcome

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person


<a href="http://www.gwpriester.com">
www.gwpriester.com </a>


<a href="http://www.xaraxone.com">
The Xara Xone </a>

[Sheff]

but how are they going to generate cashflow from that?

I can't remember the last time I've even seen a screensaver program, not a program that creates screensavers, but screensavers themselves on the shelf. This product will probably only be sold online. Generally screensavers are given away for free.

I really really wish that they would realize that Xara is what everyone wants and is what everyone is waiting for. And if they would meet the demand for it then they would have their cash flow.

Slowly, but surely, people will migrate towards other software when Xara no longer meets their needs.

Sheffield Abella
sheff@sheff.com
www.sheff.com

[jens g.r. benthien]

after years of working with XARA X I still don't know all tricks it has under its hood. So there is plenty of time for the next release. The next best thing to a new release would be a patch for updated import & export filters, but there are great free workarounds available, so why care about the future of a diamond in the sand?

jens g.r. benthien
designer
http://www.sacalobra.de

----------//--
If you don't know how to dream you'll never be a designer.
----------//--

[Sheff]

The entire Serif package lineup.

I got Drawplus,Pageplus PDF, Impactplus and Photoplus. I've only installed Drawplus and Pageplus, I haven't installed Impact or Photo yet. And I have to tell you, I'm impressed.

Without reading the manual, I was able to produce a multipage PDF with page plus that will enable me to create a digital porfolio that I can place on my website for clients to download for presentations. I need only change the dpi to 300 to create a print version.

This is something that I have wanted for a long time and have been waiting forever for Xara to produce. I would much rather print 1 file than print layer after layer after layer in Xara like I have for the past 3 years.

I have tried to create/print this same multipage file in Coreldraw and Freehand, but both result in failed prints or errors. Corel and Freehand can't do want I ask of them to do.

These Serif products do the job. I will be getting more familiar with them in the coming days. I did not pay $129 for Pageplus and $99 for Drawplus, the website prices. I ended up calling on the phone and they told me of a special where I could get all their products for $60. I ended up paying $63 and some change altogether for shipping USPS.

Now it just blows my mind that I have gotten some good software, that needs to do what I need it to do for such an outstanding price. $63 is much better than $699 for Adobe InDesign, the other program I was considering.

I have seen that a lot of people here mock Drawplus 7, but having used it briefly, I would say that it has a lot of features that Xara could use. It has many of the features that I use other programs in conjuction with Xara in one program. It looks to me that the programmers that have been let go by Xara have been put to good use by Serif. Drawplus even has a function to import a Xara file.

Now how it works in a real world situation under a deadline remains to be seen. But it looks to me to be a promising program. I am still going to use Xara, but as my needs are met by other programs from other companies I will end up using Xara less and less and that is unfortunate.

My point is, I have been waiting a long time for a program that can produce a multipage PDF in screen and print resolutions for a reasonable price.

Xara gives us screensavers.

The company that produces the software that meets my needs will get my money. It's that simple.

Sheffield Abella
www.sheff.com

P.S. Jens, I am interested in your Xara/PDF/Postscript/Ghostview workaround. Could you post a thread explaining how to do it?

[This message was edited by Sheffield Abella on July 28, 2003 at 07:15.]

[RAMWolff44]

I think that you definitely got your money's worth for sure but I will say that I kinda gave up on DP7 (don't forget to apply the 7.03 patch, fixes a bunch of stuff and also adds in some great functionality).

As posted over at Pixelparity to Lee my review after over 6 months of playing around with DP caused me to make the decision to totally trash a project called "Fantasy Castle" I had been working on for over 2 months. I was SO aggravated with the slowness and other "issues" that I ultimately decided to trash the project for peace of mind!!

If you are used to using layers and each time you need a new layer and can get into the habit of using the Layers manager then it should not be a problem for the most part (right clicking on the bottom of the screen close to where you see the "Layer 1" tab and you will have a convenient way to add a new layer)!! This said, I am NOT used to using layers. So I forget that step and ultimately it causes the program to really slow down as more resources are used to keep that ONE hefty, object packed, layer moving forward.

I am now playing with XaraX again and a little known program called RealDraw-Pro (which has "layers" automated). So each new object added in will add in a new layer for you but gives you total interactivity!! Also in DP7 I found that object selection was a bit of a hassle. Try placing 30 objects one layer, stacked but with the edges mostly all visible. Now try to select the bottom object. 30 clicks later you will have it, hopefully!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif Not so much a problem in XaraX and it's even easier in RealDraw-Pro, simply click on the object in the line up in the Layers gallery and it's selected for you and you just do what you want to it or change it's placement and then move on!! Very easy!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

The shadow tool, while GREATLY improved upon since it's previous incarnation is still greatly in need of improvement. One feature I REALLY like in XaraX is the ability to break off the shadow bitmap and place it differently. Well RealDraw-Pro does this too, kind of. DrawPLus, NOPE!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/frown.gif Another area in need of work in DP are the bevel filter tool, certainly not as elegant and superb as Xara's tool (this area needs some work in RD-Pro as well!) I think, over all, DP is a good program but I think I will wait untill version 8 to try again!!

The WebPlus program is what I used to build my current web space with and I hardly needed much help getting it built and never even opened up the manual, so that's pretty good I think (although Peter would dearly love for me to learn HTML and hand code (yea right!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif)!! It does a great job overall!! The PagePlus PDF program was a bit clunky and took a bit of time to actually build the PDF doc and even crashed once or twice. I have WordPerfect 11 and it did that same doc in about 10 seconds!!

So Serif has the technology but I think they need to really concentrate on speed and stability at this point in some of their products. I would be interested in how you like ImpactPlus. I have it's predicessor 3D Plus 3, a bit rudimentary but it works. I don't use it for anything so it just sits there.

I found that WebPlus was about the only program I will probably use again and again and who know's maybe not!! Although I admit it, my website SORELY needs an update!! I will definitely try DrawPlus 8 when it hits the market and I am interested in what they can do to improve upon PhotoPlus (I don't care for that program AT ALL in it's current state!!) While PagePlusPDF can build web sites as well as PDF docs it's also in need of some tweaking. On the Serif forums it is obviously the product used the most!! Or at least more posts (which can be good or bad, depending!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

As long as you are happy with the products that's all that really matters in the long run but I did find flaws that in a productivity sort of way is not so good!!

Just my 2¢

Richard http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

---Wolff On The Prowl---

http://www.ramwolffsworld.com/

[This message was edited by RAMWolff on July 28, 2003 at 10:49.]