Xara: Improvements????
Before I start here let me say that i am new to xara although an old hat at corel and i have to say what i have seen of it definitely impresses me...especially the real time generation....but this my first post on this forum is mainly pertaining to ways in which i believe a basically already solid vector app could be further streamlined....
so having evaluated xara the following are my thoughts in regard to how i think it could be best improved......(apologies for the long post any ideas and feed back most welcome...)
Xara Extreme IDEAS..... (David Hewitt: hewitt_dj@yahoo.com.au)
As a digitizer of some 10 years experience (In the embroidery field) and with much experience using corel ETC I have some definitly HOT ideas that i believe could greatly improve the core function of Xara ....I.E creating paths and shapes!
Thes are just some of my ideas... the first few being the most important and powerful. Some of the latter ones are just my opinion...But here goes....
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
1) Two button input mode.(option)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
As many paths inevitably consist of both corner or curve nodes in combination, having dedicated input "modes" (as is currently the case) to either enter "curved" or "straight" line segments only does not make alot of sense and actually causes the user to have to make otherwise un-necessary additional input steps to switch between modes as required on the fly (usually where-ever a corner is required).
So to facilitate this mixture of node types more efficiently what I am proposing is a new improved node input option in Xara extreme that would allow the user to utilize both mouse buttons whilst in-putting nodes.
This new input mode would allow the user to place down both curved and staight line segments resectovely with the "shape editor tool" (and also possibly add more fuctionality to the "pen" tool also :more later)
This would mean that instead of having to "switch modes" (I.E by press the [C] or [L] keys or clicking on the icons on-screen Etc...) the user could simply use the [Left Mouse] or [Right Mouse] buttons instead to place down "curve points" or "corner points" respectively, Eliminating the need to tediously switch between modes whilst creating paths.
This advance would mean that the user could mix and match curve and straight segments in the one path with-out tedious deviations.
Personally the embroidery application i use has employed this approach and i have to say that it is so superior that the alternative seems frightening in comparison...whilst it is true that having the right mouse reserved for a drop down menu is a windows standard (and a nice one to have universally up-held), in this instance the right click menu which appears in Xara Extreme when using the "node Editor tool" brings up quite irrelevant functions anyway and when you compare this to the big payoffs gained by utilizing the [right mouse] for more core input tasks the big dividends achieved by way of greater speed of input and ease of use ETC make the decision of weather or not to implement such a scheme as this an easy one.
Also it is note worthy that this should be offered as an option... but i think you would find that the vast majority of people would actually totally abandon the existing single button modality 5 seconds after discovering this new proposed 2 button input model.
My preference would be (with the two button input mode on) for the Left mouse button to do curve points and for the right mouse button to do corner points... only because most input points in most paths are "curve points" with cusp points (corners) being generally less common. But i also feel that it would be easy and benificial if this could be easily reversed for the sake of convienience and with a quick on-screen UI device.
I think to facilitate this new funtion UI wize on-screen ETC.. you could simply add a new icon to the info bar (I.E the one that appears when tools are selected).This could be just a small mouse icon with a "2" superimposed over it. Clicking (depressing) this icon would activate the 2 button input mode. Also when you activate this button with respect to the node editor tool this new "2 button mode" would also slightly alter the existing "Make Curve" and "Make Line" icons so that they each had a small "R" or "L" up in the top right hand corner to show which mouse button was assigned to each respectively and you could even have these blink as you placed down curve or corner points respectively to remind the user they are employing both modes with the same tool with this new method.
Also the little corner "mini icons" ("R" & "L") would also serve as toggle controls to swap the Right and Left allocation around quickly and easily on screen. Overall I think the advances just outlined above would require very minimal additional coding and would pay off big with time savings and contruibute greatly to the ease of use of Xara.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2) Holding down the [Alt] Key should be a hot swap between the "shape editor" & "Pen" tools.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
When "digitizing" (placing down nodes) it is always the case that there are times/places on any path that can be done quickly, usually best rapid fire with the "node Editor tool" ETC and then other instances where more control may be required for fine detail ETC and so switching to the "pen tool" to effect more exact "bezier" control of a node is some areas is sometimes advantagious.
It is note worthy that Xara can already do this but not as quickly or easily as should be the case. if you are using the "shape editor tool" and you want to put in one controlled bezier point you should be able to do this by depressing the [Alt] Key, so that whilst held it would be as if (mid input) you were now in "pen tool" mode. This would allow the user to easily straddle the functionality of both these tools with-out the need to have to (in this case) use [Shift] [F5] place your point and then [F4] to return, to do this which is currently the case.
This short-cut could readily work both ways between these 2 tools so that which ever tool you were actually using depressing the [Alt] Key and holding it down would temporarily swap you over to the other tool and upon releasing it bring you back to your original tool.
You will see that both these 2 suggestions above bring existing functionality together in a more harmonius way that does not actually propose a new fuction or input method but actually really an improved sythesis of existing tools, alowing greater leverage by cross linking existing functions and allowing them to work more closely together in new and better ways.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
2B) There needs to be a "Hot Swap" the access the "freehand tool" from the other 2 input tools
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In the interests of "total tool integration" that there also needs to be a short cut/hot key to access the "freehand tool" from with in any other input tools...
I realize that this is already possible by hitting F3 and then starting ontop of the last node Etc...
But it really would help to better integrate all the tools if there was a sort cut to "hot swap" (iE change to another tool only while another key is depressed ETc) so that you could more easily and quickly mix and match the input methods particular to the various tools....
IE so that i would propose that in addition to the current method that a quicker short cut should exist to better link this tool in to the others.....
With these changes in place then you could basically stick to using the "shape editor tool" for all your needs and then you would only need to hold [Alt] at any time whist placing down nodes to place down a manually controlled bezier node or ateratively perhaps hold down another key to quickly access the "quick sketching abilility" on offer under the "freehand tool" this "hot swap" would eliminate the necessity of having to hit F3 click on the last node and then sketch a segment and then press F4 to change back then click on the last node ETC to pick up where you left off ETc.....
I.E this hotswap method would mean after placing down a node with one click you would simply hold down the "hot swap" key for this tool and sketch a segment and when you released this "hot swap key" you would be automatically back in the node editor tool ready to continue.......
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
3) When moving a Beizier handle of a node, holding the [Shift] key should force symetrical "line lengths" on both sides, for both bezier handles.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
IE. This improvement seems rather obvious as is its great advantage.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
4) When you have any object selected (with the select tool) hitting space should always put that object into "shape Edit mode" with its last node selected!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
IE. This is already the case if you have just created an object with the "node editor tool" and you hit the [Space Bar] key. IE... in this case you are brought into select mode where you can move the object around and then by hitting the [Space Bar] key again (with-out selecting anything else in the mean time) you are brought back into "node edit mode" and you can just continue placing down points and pick up where you left off ETC...This method is already great and very handy....
My idea is to extend this same courtesy wholesale to any selected object regardless of weather or not it was just active ETC.....
This would function as a quick method of "Punching in" on any object..... Ie simply by select it and hitting the [Space Bar] key!
This way with one key stroke it would be as though you had just punched (placed down) the last node of the selected object and you could continue it as if you had just only placed down its last node and had not yet finalized it! Very quick, very powerful, very convienient.
Also i think this idea could be extended a little also to encorporate the "reverse path" function.
IE... if you hit space for a selected object that has not just been created then it would first enter "object edit mode" with the last node selected but if you hit space 2 more times....IE to bring it back to "select mode" and then straight back to "node edit mode" again..... this would have the effect of toggling the node selected from one-side to the other....
I.E this would be an additional way to save the user the trouble of having to manually select the other side of the object if it was his intention to start "punching in" on the other side.
This advance would mean any object could be picked up with one press of a button and be instantly ready to be added onto from either end in a fraction of a second.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5) Angle constrict Should have a popup property on the info bar.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
IE. This is not really manditory like the points above but i think it would be cool to have a property appear on the info bar when every you depress the [Ctrl] key that would simply be a number to represent the number of divisions in the constriction ....I.E 4 divisions would = 90 degrees (IE 360 /4=90)..
I.E its just another way of representing the same information...instead of having these angles expressed as numbers that divide evenly into 360 its alot more self explanitory to express this by the number of divisions required.... ie 2 devisions =180 degrees and 3 would = 120 degrees ETC....
But also in additon to this you should have another number to represent the start angle... So you could have 2 devisions IE.....180 degree constriction and then you could adjust the angle... This would make the constriction tool more versatile. But in any event you would have easy access to this info...iE any time you could hold [Ctrl] down and just either type in a number or press up or down arrows to alter the constriction break up.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
6) node reduction can not be done on the fly whilst creating paths....
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
IE. It is interesting that this slider is actually active whilst you are placing down nodes with the "node editor" tool and that any change to it at this time has no effect! This seem rather a shame...
Whist it is obvious that if no nodes are selected then none can be reduced but if you actually click this slider whilst digitizing then what should occur is that you should be able to node reduce the line on the fly......
Or you should be able to preset this slider (with no objects selected) and then when as you were placing down point in an input with either the "node editor tool" or the "Pen tool" these would be node-reduced in real time (re-generated) for every new point you placed down. what this would do would be apply the reduction factor (say 56% for arguements sake) to the original input path as it would look in its original un-reduced state... re-calculating the reduction for every subsequent point you placed down. This way you could set a node reduction factor and have it apply generally with out even any nodes needing to be selected in the first place and this could just as well work on the fly or all new objects.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7) There appears to be no "clean" method to finalize objects in Xara.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
IE.It is strange that you HAVE to hold the [shift] key and click the background ETC to actually finalize an input in xara..... this to me seems more than a little strange... as actually finishing an object is one of the most important functions.....
I.E you need to do this for every single input you
ever create! And to have to hold a key and then click somewhere vacant on the screen to achieve this most important function is madness!
I can understand that using the shift key in this way is a great way to mix and match between editing nodes and creating nodes iE you have used this to tie together both the editing and creation functions in a way that makes alot of sense which i can understand.....BUT... that does not mean that you should force the user to have to de-select an object with this method to actually finalize it!
I noticed that with the "node editor tool" that hitting enter actually finalizes the input and that this also makes the object a "closed shape"....
I would propose that you should change this so that the [Enter] key always finalizes an object and that you should use [Shift]-[enter] to finalize an object and have it treated as a closed shape.....
This should work for both the "node editor tool" and the "Pen tool"....
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
8) When Selecting objects in Xara:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The cursor should change when you go over an object out line to denote that you are currently over a selectable outline... also i think when you actually click an object to select it this whole outline should change colour when the object handles appear.....
I.E you should have an option that selected objects change to white (for example) or in some way become highlighted so that it is absolutely obvious which object is actually selected as it has happened to me several times that i have actually seen the object handles appear for my selected object by somehow actually not been sure which object is actually selected and then to my amazement somehow found the the outline i thought was selected was actually not!
This problem is also apparent when selecting many objects as only a tiny square currently appears to indicate which objects are selected which is far from being clear....
Again i think there needs to some kind of sheme to highlight the selected object by changing their colours to a very high contrast colour so as to aid in the visualization of the actual selection.
- - - - - - - - -
Just some ideas on how i think xara could be improved...
I would appreciate it if anyone on the list could give me an email address for the design manager at xara or someone with whom i could discuss such issues....
is this the right forum....thanks david...
P.S. any input from experienced and progressive users would be welcome....
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by David Hewitt
Many of our members have migrated to Xtreme from CorelDRAW.
Bookmarks