New Features vs Fixed and Improved Features

[gwpriester]

Xara recently sent out a user feedback poll.

One question I have is would you be more inclined to buy the next version of your Xara Product if

A) It has new features?

or

B) If it fixes current bugs and improves the existing features?

And example of fixing existing features is updating the Bitmap Tracer to make it more intuitive.

[Egg Bramhill]

There are some improvements I'd wish to see in current features Gary but it's more a point of WHAT Xara can do to improve/update these. For example:

And example of fixing existing features is updating the Bitmap Tracer to make it more intuitive

This feature has been in Xara from as far back as I can remember, and never been updated. We really need to hear from Xara if in fact this feature could ever be updated in it's current form / underlying code or is it indeed now a blind alley.

Vector Magic costs $295. Xara Designer 12 cost $271. Xara Designer does far far more than Vector Magic for the same price. Should the Dev's spend time on this? Is the end result worth the effort.

One of my personal choices would be that Xara create more 'standard' svg's. I find Xara svg's don't transfer to other applications at all well.

[mwenz]

Potrace is an open source tracer. What is needed is a UI to Potrace that makes sense of the settings. Some applications have done a decent job (InkScape's UI to it is OK), but a better job could be done.

[mwenz]

I am mostly ambivalent about this issue. I don't see that Xara (and/or Magix) takes development seriously as regards either fixing legacy problems, smoothing out work-flow nor adding features of value.

Serious changes need to be done. I would start with separating XDP out from the be-all category. Have 3 discreet products. Cut the price of XDP. Then make them the best of class in features and work-flow.

[jaydear]

One of the main reasons I originally bought CorelDRAW 3 for back in the 90's was for the bitmap tracer. It improved a bit over the years, but I don't think it ever offered much better performance than the one in Designer. I think the CorelDRAW one was a bit more intuitive to use and had a few more bells and whistles for the higher cost. I do like the new Magnetic Lasoo in XD12 - I know it's not automatic, but it is easy to select and nice to use for quick traces. It's always good to see bugs squashed before more (buggy?) clutter is added, so that would have to be my vote.