Web Designer 7.0.2

We’ve just released another update with a fix that affects the exporting of the new “Eye Catcher” widgets that are available in Web Designer Premium. It also has a fix for the internal error mentioned in thread http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...r-4041.k.bi.ap.

Both Web Designer and Premium are updated.

The 7.0.0 and 7.0.1 versions of Web Designer Premium included a bug that affected how photos are exported for the new widgets in the “Eye Catcher” folder of the Designs Gallery. The first time these widgets are exported in a website, the included photos are correctly exported as JPEGs. But after saving the design, reloading, and then exporting again those photos were being exported as PNG files! Obviously these are much bigger files than the JPEG equivalents that should be exported.

The 7.0.2 update fixes this issue, but any designs saved with earlier versions will still exhibit this problem until you edit the widgets once more. So after updating your program, to fix this in a design containing a widget simply edit the widget (double click on it), make a change of some sort and then close and save it back to your website document. You do need to change something in the widget, so that closing the widget document prompts you to save, to fix the problem.

Once you’ve done this all exports should have JPEG photos permanently.

To update to 7.0.2, use Help->Update program.

Apologies for the inconvenience!

Regards

The Xara Team

Thanks Neil and all the rest of the team. :) I'm on my way to update.

Hello, I've bought Designer 7 Premium last week. Great programm! But I have a problem for updating to version 7.0.2 . I've did use >help>update programm, then the update was downloaded. After restarting the programm it still shows version 7.00.


Does anyone can help?
Greetz
Ruud

http://board.xara-users.info/viewtop...p=12021#p12021

Ruudvane - If the above doesn't help you can always get 7.0.2 by uninstalling and re-installing with the latest installer from www.xara.com/uk/downloads/webdesigner/

Neil

Hello Neodist and Neil,

Thanks for the help. I went trough the tips and have manually installed the update 7.02.

Ruud

I just purchased 7 premium and seem to be having a problem. When I click on "Download Themes" it seemed to be going through the motion, but after 217MB of the 245 it stopped. I finally cancelled, but now I can't seem to get it to do anything. Looks like it's working, but it doesn't download anything. Just sits there. I looked around downloads in my account but can't find that file anywhere, is there a way to download it outside Web Designer?

I've shut down the program, restarted the computer, emptied cache, and everything else I could try. Thanks...

When you select Help->Download templates, the template installer gets downloaded to My Documents\MAGIX Downloads\Installationsmanager. Have a look if it's there and if so double click it to run it. If it doesn't startup (perhaps the download didn't complete for some reason) delete it, restart WD and try again.

Neil

Thanks, found the partial download (217mb) and deleted it. Retrying the download now, and will post back. Appreciate the help...


Update: Worked great, apparently the first partial download was the problem. Thanks again for the help...

Neil...

We have a fairly major problem in Web Designer 7.0.2.16324 Premium and it may also still be in the just-noticed 7.03.

When you insert a SWF Flash file, using either method available to users (container or otherwise):

1. Designer does NOT write the resulting web-page out properly. The SWF code as written does NOT carry over the critical "loop=false" nor the "loop=true" status of the SWF, and the result is that ALL SWF's loop, even those that were designed to NOT loop(!)

This situation frankly ruins it for those Flash users.

Looking at the Web Designer 7.0.2.16324 HTML source code as generated, you can see that the entire code that details what is to loop, and what not to loop is totally missing, even if the loop code WAS in the SWF file itself(!)

2. YES, users COULD also insert some of the SWF loop information ion the HTML <HEAD> and <BODY> code for the SWF file, but that is NOT what Web Designer 7 Premium was supposed to be all about.

PLEASE PLEASE also consider responding to my Email (or Skype if you use it) on this, but I will also try to monitor this Forum Topic as well.

Joe
info@windowgroup.com
Skype: joerotello

Quote:

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Originally Posted by josephrot

This situation frankly ruins it for those Flash users.

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Automatic flash embedding code generation is for the basic uses. If you want any specific way of embedding and/or setting specific properties you are free to use code placeholders instead.

Quote:

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but that is NOT what Web Designer 7 Premium was supposed to be all about.

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As far as the unexperienced users are considered, they do not have such specific requirements, neither do they are supposed to be familiar with HTML enough to make conclusions similar to yours. For the advanced users, such as you, we have code placeholders to allow direct code modifications as the most flexible way to go. So it's basically user's choice - simple but limited or advanced but less simple.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by covoxer

Automatic flash embedding code generation is for the basic uses. If you want any specific way of embedding and/or setting specific properties you are free to use code placeholders instead.
As far as the inexperienced users are considered, they do not have such specific requirements, neither do they are supposed to be familiar with HTML enough to make conclusions similar to yours. For the advanced users, such as you, we have code placeholders to allow direct code modifications as the most flexible way to go. So it's basically user's choice - simple but limited or advanced but less simple.

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Thank you for the reply.

However, your summation and response is dead wrong.

Xara will be losing customers over this Flash / SWF gaffe, especially since most all other capable web-tools do it the right and proper way, which is to include all the SWF settings as the end-user intended them, IN the generated HTML code that the web-tool generates.

Xara Web Designer 7.02.x has a major fault in it in this respect, and if running this entire course of commentary past the product manager or Xara board, is what needs to be done, then so be it.

AND...if all Xara Web Designer end-user OR prospective buyers were to also be this informed about it, I would almost wager your job and mine that there would be a Xara board, product management and end-user call to arms.

The problem needs to be rectified, and it really does NOT take that much programmer investigation and hand-work to solve it.

What's really just as worrisome?

Is that if this reply to me is the feelings of Xara, the product teams and product manager, then there may well be MANY more problems just like this one, or similar to it, lurking within Xara Web Designer 7.

Regardless if the problem can be cured, it has all the appearances of being that Xara will not recognize nor clear the problem up in suitable time-frame.

If so, woe be to Xara.

Joe
Skype: joerotello

Joe you seem to be under a misconception about Web Designer.

Covoxer is the author of the html export dll for Web Designer and knows what Xara's intent and future aspirations for the application my be.

The target demographic for Web Designer is the beginner/amateur, people that have no knowledge or desire to learn html, css, javascript, etc.

Placeholders as Covoxer has already stated allow more experienced users to enter code for more advanced pages.

The key to learning any newly acquired software is to accept that it is not a clone of any previous software, it has it's own way of doing things. Stubbornly insisting that it work the way as another application only defeats and frustrates a users ability to learn new things and methods.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Soquili

Joe you seem to be under a misconception about Web Designer.

Covoxer is the author of the html export dll for Web Designer and knows what Xara's intent and future aspirations for the application my be.

The target demographic for Web Designer is the beginner/amateur, people that have no knowledge or desire to learn html, css, javascript, etc.

Placeholders as Covoxer has already stated allow more experienced users to enter code for more advanced pages.

The key to learning any newly acquired software is to accept that it is not a clone of any previous software, it has it's own way of doing things. Stubbornly insisting that it work the way as another application only defeats and frustrates a users ability to learn new things and methods.

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Thanks for the reply, quite appreciated.

Xara thus better change their advertising and the website to reflect that the product was and is intended for intro use only and for amateurs to get them started.

When one reads the advertising, one clearly gets the impression that the product was made for intro use and for at the least intermediate use, as well.

None-the-less, the situation still stands that the SWF code is defective, and it should be patched in the soonest Update possible.

How the code stands now, amateurs and first time users are thrown a SWF problem right off the bat, and it's clear that Xara, and Covoxer intend the users to learn rudimentary HTML programming if they wish to fix the problem seen.

The SWF problem not withstanding, Xara Web Designer Premium 7 is actually quite a nifty tool...it truly is.

There's a lot of positive potential there.

Joe

Joe, if you have any suggestions about program improvements or want to ask for a feature, you have to create a thread here: http://www.talkgraphics.com/forumdis...p?56-Dear-Xara..
Posts in threads like this (not dedicated for the wish list) are very likely to be lost with time and go unnoticed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by josephrot

How the code stands now, amateurs and first time users are thrown a SWF problem right off the bat

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This is not true. We do not override looping property in the HTML code to let flash player decide whether to loop animation or not, based on the SWF file.

Here's the example. I have created two similar SWFs with WD7. The one with the white circle is set to loop continuously in the animation loop properties. The one with the yellow circle stops after the first pass.
Then I dragged and dropped both of them onto the new page in the WD7.
As I preview the resulting webpage, I see that both animations behave correctly as expected. First one loops continuously while the second one stops after the first pass.
See attached.

This code was not changed since Xtreme 4 Pro release, some 3 years ago. And for all this time, there was not a single user complaint about looping problems related with produced HTML.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by covoxer

This is not true. We do not override looping property in the HTML code to let flash player decide whether to loop animation or not, based on the SWF file.

Here's the example. I have created two similar SWFs with WD7. The one with the white circle is set to loop continuously in the animation loop properties. The one with the yellow circle stops after the first pass.
Then I dragged and dropped both of them onto the new page in the WD7.
As I preview the resulting webpage, I see that both animations behave correctly as expected. First one loops continuously while the second one stops after the first pass.
See attached.

This code was not changed since Xtreme 4 Pro release, some 3 years ago. And for all this time, there was not a single user complaint about looping problems related with produced HTML.

---

Understood.

Here, Web Designer Premeium 7.02 does NOT follow your example. All SWF's, whether looping or not, produce final HTML pages where the SWF's loop, whether distinctly created to NOT loop -- e..g., play once, then stop -- loop over and over.

In fact, when you right click the SWF file on the produced web-page, you can see that the "Lopp" command is checked off -- that is, it's enabled and there's a check-mark next to the Loop text. THAT is what's dead wrong here. Even when the SWF was created and "told" to NOT loop, it still is looping in the Web Designer 7.02 produced page.

Is it POSSIBLE, that you are using the updated 7.03, and that little problem with the SWF's was resolved?

Joe

Quote:

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Originally Posted by josephrot

Is it POSSIBLE, that you are using the updated 7.03, and that little problem with the SWF's was resolved?

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Not possible. As I say, this code was not altered for years now.
Have you tried the example design that I have attached? Does it work correctly for you in 7.0.2?

If you attach your design (or some example design that have this issue) with SWF file in question, I could check what's wrong with it.