Xara Designer Pro 11 circular navigation wheel

**AndFarr** · 11 January 2016, 05:20 AM

The product display video for Designer Pro 11 shows a circular navigation wheel to toggle between the various tools.
Is that navigation wheel actually a feature in Designer Pro 11?
If so, How do you like it? How well does it work? Any drawbacks to using it?
Thanks !

- Andy

**angelize** · 11 January 2016, 07:09 AM

No that wheel is not a part of the Designer Pro interface at all. The program UI has had no updates It's still the same dark UI with the same keyboard shortcut to go back to the old light UI.

I do think that the video is rather misleading(it makes it appear that the program has had a major UI update which is definitely not the case) and I'm sure produced by Magix not Xara. Perhaps they have different advertising standards in Germany, but here it would be false or misleading advertising and that's not a good thing.

**Egg Bramhill** · 12 January 2016, 12:35 AM

Any chance of a link?

**AndFarr** · 12 January 2016, 01:03 AM

Sure, here is a link to the video showing the circular navigation wheel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmcfn72CCmE

- Andy

**Egg Bramhill** · 12 January 2016, 01:38 AM

Oh, I agree, that's all smoke & mirrors and should fall foul of the advertising standard authority

**iamtheblues** · 12 January 2016, 09:55 AM

Smoke and mirrors doesn't really cover it, Egg. This is in the realms of fantasy and is utterly misleading.
If indeed it's the handiwork of Magix, then I can't say I'm surprised. Following their shabby treatment of Gary Bouton, they have now sunk even further in my esteem.
If it isn't Magix, but some third party, then they should sever their asscociation with that third party and issue an apology for the misleading nature of the video.
Bob.

**pauland** · 12 January 2016, 10:11 AM

If it isn't Magix, but some third party, then they should sever their association with that third party and issue an apology for the misleading nature of the video.

If it was done by some third party, then it would have been approved by Magix/Xara, these things are done to follow a client's brief.

It's really poor practice to be advertising a great product with a video that doesn't reflect the reality of using that product.

If it had appeared in print or on TV I would have complained to the advertising standards authority. I'm really surprised Magix/Xara aren't getting major flak over it.

**browj2** · 13 January 2016, 05:07 PM

I agree, the advert is misleading and not just the tool or navigation wheel. It makes everything look is easy; just click and rub or click and drag the mouse around and wonderful images appear.

Now Xara will have to produce the tool wheel. If Magix can have a nice floating effects overlay tools screen, with transparency, in Video Pro X7 (and in Movie Edit Pro but not as nice) as shown in the image, then it should be easy for Xara to come up with the cute tool wheel in the next patch, assuming that their server is on-line.

Click image for larger version.

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John

**Gare** · 05 February 2016, 04:39 PM

I plead guilty of presenting some fantastical things in my tutorial videos, but always assumed viewers would appreciate the fireworks in context, never even suggesting any fx were part of Xara's toolset.

When McGraw-Hill encouraged me to do a YouTube video to promote the Xara Official Guide, everything in the video is do-able in Xara, and moreover, everything you see is taught in the book (more or less).

I used to prostitute my talents working for one of the top five advertising agencies in Manhattan a billion years ago, and I'm aware of the technique of, "When you've got nothing to say, you sing it." This is evident in the Xara commercial: it is featured as a parity product—which is totally wrong, off the market, and just plain amateurish and uninformed. Why glamour-up a Text tool when a text tool is standard in just about every program?

I wonder if whoever produced this beautifully done commercial ever saw Xara Designer?

If not, this could easily be a commercial for Illustrator with a few new cuts.

You're supposed to sell an outstanding feature of a product, such as intuitiveness and speed.

When a product is a back-runner in a competitive field—computer graphics—you gotta sell me, the designer, a lot harder than showing me relaxed-paced eye candy.

Sorry.

This just strikes me as wrong on so many professional levels.

And I'm sure I'll be criticized for this post as being sour grapes after I left the Xone.

My Best,

Gary