Ideas for future versions...

[tonylondon]

There seems to be a common viewpoint emerging in this thread, some small improvements in the short term and a development in architecture in the longer time.
Lee - I would second the idea of a curved gradient, even better would be attach gradient to a curve. This would make extrusions a doddle.
Not sure about the text idea as I quite like the column approach. You can do everything with it you can do with a box approach that I can think of. If you combine text with a clip view box you can even get text dissappearing out the bottom! What I would like is to be able to fill any shape with text! even better to linked shapes!
Tony

[FLySOLO]

illustrator is slow as shit
and loads even slower

a tool for masochists

FLySOLO :b

[FLySOLO]

and for klaus,

you´re right. the logo and splash screen could be way cooler - maybe like the macromedia stuff. fireworks and dreamweaver look quite nice.

but most xara guys seem to like the homemade look...

FLySOLO

[npopov]

First I wish very simple:
1. Y coordinate to be measured from the top of the page. This could be a custom option.
2. Corresponding feature: changing page vertical size will grow/shrink it on the bottom, not top.

More Complex:
3. As I believe there will be improvements for the text tool, I'd like to have the text display mode similar to the way it displayed in browser.
For web pages there usualy are text blocks that will not be converted to graphics and in XaraX they look very different from browser look.
Next step for this feature could be exporting draft CSS files.

[Stewart]

For me XARA X is very good as it is, but has some frustrating little omissions from the programme that would make it great, and ensure I don't need to cut to other applications for some tasks.

I suspect that if enough of us cry out long and loud enough, XARA will take notice and give us what we all want, and that is a selection of plug-ins for XARA X. I don't mind buying the odd plug-in, hey, I do it now for adobe stuff and I prefer XARA, and what is XARA X anyway when all is said and done but a collection of compatible plug-ins?

We all appreciate the clean interface and lack of clutter, but a plug-in collection, like KAI, which is separate and only in evidence when you want it, would be wonderful, and it would be a good long term economic strategy for XARA to develop.

BTW, is there a place here where we discuss Webstyle?

Regards
Stewart

[james_frost]

I have just one request for the time being - that is someway of docking galleries to a side of a window.

I often have 3 or 4 open at once, and would like a quick way of switching between them rather than having to find them in a stack of windows. Screen estate (for me anyway) isn't normally a problem.

Now, as to how this could be done nicely, that is another issue altogether...

I'd also say that there are a couple of areas which might benefit from a bit of standardisation to fit in with other windows applications, notably the scrollbars in the galleries, help '?'s instead of help buttons etc - all in all just things to make the move to Xara from other standard win applications that more fluid for new users.

All that said, the implementation of the tools and the direct manipulation, imho, is absolutely first rate and sets it apart from its competitors, and have no complaints!

James

[BobInce]

I say lose the splash screen altogether. Splash screens are a relic of the application-centric model that sees each program as a monolithic environment you work in to the exclusion of the rest of the desktop.</p>

On modern PC hardware and with a program as pleasantly small as Xara, it doesn't take very long for it to start up, so there's no need to give the user something to look at while its loading, and advertising the software to someone who's already bought it is pointless. (I suppose you could argue it should stay for the trial version.)</p>

(And yes, I have been guilty of using dodgy splash screens on my stuff before, but I'm a reformed character now, guv', honest.</p>

[dapead]

I'd certainly like to see a macro/scripting language (I guess VBA would be the obvious choice) - great for things like generating grids, cogwheels, fractals etc.

(Actually, my No1 wish would probably be for a nice clean-versatile-and-fast WP/DTP program to go with Xara... I doubt that an Impression Publisher port would be a commercial goer, though).

[amoore]

dapead

I use Xara with Ventura Publisher all the time. Ventura is not small, and it's not cheap. But it's very fast, very powerful, very flexible and very well organized. I use it for everything from user documentation and training materials to newsletters, flyers, brochures and disk labels; from forms, contracts, financial reports and registration materials to letterhead, business cards, press releases and proposals. Oh, and I forgot invitations (seminar and wedding), postcard reminders and CD labels.

Naturally, Ventura doesn't import a native Xara file, but then, who does? OTOH, depending on the purpose/destination of the Ventura document, I export the images as whatever format works best for the purpose.

For a spot color newsletter going to a service bureau, for example, if I want a vector object, I use the cmx export and convert the image to a graphic object in Ventura, then do what I want to with it. Most of the time, my bitmaps are screen captures (which I do in Paint Shop Pro), but I have used bitmaps exported from Xara as well.

If I didn't have to share files, I would use Ventura for all my wordprocessing.

What is it you want to do with DTP? Are you just trying to put words and images together on a page and output it to a laser, an inkjet or pdf? Or are you looking for control of your typography and page design, and sending the output to a service bureau?

The more likely question is do you want a wordprocessor that you can pretend is a DTP application, or do you want a DTP application in which you can do your wordprocessing? WP and DTP have some overlap, but they aren't the same thing.

Allison

[Mark (theKeeper)]

Considering how rock solid Xara 2 was/is, and how long it's taken Xara Ltd. to create & release XaraX, only to have it be full of bugs and glitches and lord knows what else we haven't discovered under the hood just yet... this is my one simple wish:

That XaraX version 1aaa will be as rock solid a program as Xara 2 was/is... That all of the reported bugs & glitches, etc, etc, will be fixed, exterminated and whatever before they release it to the public...

And that, as simple as it is & and should be, is my one basic wish for "the future" of this program. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Mark...