Yes, that is what I end up doing even though I may well use the HSV, especially when picking colors from an image or even other objects. But...
Using the color editor in CMYK mode
can provide less of a shock when colors shift. But it really requires some understanding of what the color editor is telling us so we can "know" what the output is going to be. I also couldn't reliably work in XDP if I didn't have a good PDF reader that was color managed. Adobe Reader is color managed as is Acrobat.
Which also brings us back to Xara applications. They are not color managed. One cannot necessarily trust that what one sees on-screen is what one will get when output using CMYK, as you have experienced. Most of the designing I do, I will mess around with color using an HSV or RGB color picker or model no matter the application I am using. But at some point, I am going to refer to color books. I am going to pick specific colors from a process CMYK book and am gong to use those CMYK color values in any/every application I use.
That's because it was likely blue in reality. I don't know what the values were of the green you used so below is one I chose.
A little illustrated journey is in order.
Here's a green using the HSV model in the color editor. I find it a pleasant color of green. But a couple things: Look at the color line below the main color area. See how close that indicator is getting to the blue transition? So just how green is it?
Mike, thank you very much for your analysis, it is more than I expected, I am completely agree with you about xara constraints, I love Xara but I always face a lot of issues, sometimes I get tired above all when you have to make changes to get the result you expected.
I suffered clipview problems, feather limitations, pdf exports hangs when your design is complex, color exportation, etc, the only thing holds me using it is
Best regards
Attachment 111974
If I turn Print Preview on, one can begin to see a color shift occurring. The color shift with this color seems to be a darker shade. But if you think about it, the reason for the darker shade is the addition of a blue. Blue begins to saturate green and the original green seems a bit darker.
Attachment 111975
But, if I now switch the color editor from HSV to CMYK, take a look at the Cyan value. That is the first good hint that Xara applications cannot faithfully display some color ranges. With that much Cyan, the object is gonna be pretty blue (with black near zero and the other two in the mid area).
Attachment 111976
And once the XDP file is exported to PDF, one can see in Acrobat that the color values are the same as the color values in XDP (rounding up and down to whole numbers in a PDF). And the blueness is obvious.
But for fun, let's try the same thing in a color managed application. Below is an elipse with a drop shadow that is on top the screen shot from XDP with Print Preview off on the left. On the right is the screen shot from Acrobat. The elipse is using the exact color numbers from the object in XDP. Note how it matches that of Acrobat (which is a color managed application).
Attachment 111978
Xara (the company) needs to make at least XDP, their flagship, so-called Professional Design software, to be color managed. It will help take the shock, disappointment, etc., etc., away from users and actually be more of a professional application.
Whoever reads this, please don't misconstrue the above. I absolutely love using XDP. But if I was just starting out in this business, I would be pissed that a sub $100 dollar application from a competitor is and has been color manged for several versions. And is OpenType aware, and ... I don't like using it any more than I need to.
I shouldn't have to use my experience and books to judge what the output colors will be.