Can an intermediate user of xara replicate any website design/graphics

[capt]

Hello,

I Would like some advice from expert users of xara web designer, or xara designer pro. I own “xara designer 10 premium” and really mostly use it for creating layouts and simple designs witch I then pass over to my programmer for him to code functionality, so I don’t really use it much for aesthetic design purpose but functional mockups. (That’s my round about way of saying im not very good at using it to make graphics). Anyway I currently outsource high fidelity website mockups for clients to designers which results in both cost and time wasting for them to get finished. I guess I would like to know a little more about xara’s ability to make pretty much any webs graphics I could find on line, (or closely replicate them). I have seen videos of people doing this with photoshop/fireworks but If I can I would prefer to stick with xara, or even upgrade to designer pro because I have at least a little familiarity with the product already and from what I have read its pretty much the fastest graphics creator around.

So assuming my goal is to basically be able to replicate any website (or graphics on a website) very closely would you say it’s a good idea to:

1. Stick with xara web designer premium and practice a lot (follow tutorials) and I will be able to replicate what I see on any website within 99%. (right now I cannot even come close to doing this)

2. Upgrade to xara designer pro (which I assume has nicer graphic tools), practice and learn and I’ll be able to replicate any website design and graphics within 99% with enough practice.

3. I’m pushing my luck with the capabilities of xara web designer/desigher pro and if I really need to recreate images so similar I should go learn fireworks/photoshop.


I’m not talking about illustrations, but just web graphics and layouts of websites. I enjoy using xara but honestly my skill level is so low that I really don’t know what’s possible, however if I can get some good feedback as to what is possible maybe I can feel confident going into it that I will be able to remake any site or graphics I encounter very closely if I put in enough practice time on the software.


Once graphic mockups are made, all I want to do is export them into slices, or perhaps for some clients export the mockups into PSD format (keeping layer structure intact) so they can do what they wish with them in the future.

Appreciate any advice.

Thanks

[Acorn]

Stick with XWD10P, it has 90% of the tools you need, until you have grown beyond it capabilities.
Don't even consider Fireworks or Photoshop as the learning curve to make them good web tools for you is probably too high a learning curve.

Learn to use a Guide Layer with horizontal and vertical grids on your home page.
Use that to template other pages.

Practice with NavBars.
Move onto Layers for rollover and popups.
Particularly learn the use of Soft Grouping across layers.

Practice with text boxes and repelling shapes adjacent to them.

Play with Transparencies and Fills.

Research sites you like and record the features that attract you.
Replicate what you can with the above techniques you have mastered.
Note those you can't and then call for help through us.

Acorn

[capt]

Thanks for the info Acorn, I will make a note of all your suggestions. To show my current skill level (and this is probably the best i can do at this point) I sat down with the trial version of DP10 yesterday to remake an existing site. 100% of the images are recreated in DP. Certainly not a difficult site but still surprised myself that it came out this good. I think the most difficult part to make was the bottom part of the logo because i know how to use so few tools. This took about 90 minutes to do. (And as you can see boredom set-in and i got silly).

Note: I skipped the "post a job" and "How it works" buttons because I didn't know how to create the post a job button in the live site style.

[gwpriester]

capt - I moved this thread to the Web Design Chat forum.

I agree with my co-moderator, you can do about 90% of what you need to do in Designer Pro X10 or WD 10 Premium.

Plus, there are quite a good number of predesigned sites and templates, any of which you can use as a starting point and then modify to your heart's content.

[capt]

I went ahead and upgraded designer pro because I found the tool I needed when following a video tutorial online was not available in xwd. Not sure why I didn't just buy the full version of this years ago. I have downloaded it in trial mode many times sense 2010, and its the most used software I have on my computer by a large margin, 99% of my work with xara has been simple mockups and concept idea's that xara allows you to build super quickly and I even like this more than axure, but unfortunately years of usage do not result in skill increases, so now I just have to either hire a xara tutor, or go threw all the videos I can find to learn the graphic design features available to me. Making that image above knowing how poor my understanding of the graphics capabilities of xara gave me the confidence to know If i get a handle on the tools I'm pretty much going to be able to create or replicate almost anything I want to.