I am not convinced this is a xara app:

When I draw a line and close it to form a shape and then try to fill it with a color
this does not sound like xara - which fills automatically if the shape is closed, and does not fill at all if the shape is open

still, if it is xara then I agree not appreciating what the implications of 'give new objects most recent attributes' are might be confusing, especially with the examples gary gave