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What website features would you like to see in the future?
We'll be working on some website features shortly and whilst we do have a long document of wanted features and changes (I'm not kidding, it's 14 pages long of requests), I'd like to collate it a bit more into a list of doable features given our development time frame and the amount of requests we get. So I'd like to open up this discussion to the wider audience of TalkGraphics to let us know what sort of things you would like to see in the future. Odds are what you have suggested previously is most certainly on the list but it helps gives us an idea of the priority and demand for features.
Please keep in mind that I'm interested in web features than graphics currently although if they cross over then that's fine also.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rob-Xar
We'll be working on some website features shortly and whilst we do have a long document of wanted features and changes (I'm not kidding, it's 14 pages long of requests), I'd like to collate it a bit more into a list of doable features given our development time frame and the amount of requests we get. So I'd like to open up this discussion to the wider audience of TalkGraphics to let us know what sort of things you would like to see in the future. Odds are what you have suggested previously is most certainly on the list but it helps gives us an idea of the priority and demand for features.
Please keep in mind that I'm interested in web features than graphics currently although if they cross over then that's fine also.
Xara should make use of face and voice recognition features using the camera and microphone present on many computers and use AI to process the facial expressions of the users, the glint in their eye and the expletives they utter.
Instead of making user troll through the template and tool menus, the camera should follow the user and the software should generate pages accordingly.
For example, the user could say "Hey Xara, I need a photography website that works on any platform", if the user doesn't look happy or expresses corrective phrases such as "No F***N way will I use that", or "I don't want them flowery colours, I want to make my users miserable", then the software will adjust the generated pages to suit and look and listen again.
Naturally, nuanced expressions such as tears will indicate dissatisfaction and the software will then correlate the expression with the users posts on talkgraphics, so multiple expressions of dissatisfaction on TG will tweak the algorithm to generate more tears.
Similarly, element adjustment will voice-controlled. So, once the basic layout is approved (no tears detected) the user will be able to populate and nuance the design. For example, the user might say "Hey Xara, ditch that Lorem ipsum header rubbish and replace it with "Weelcome to my website, press ENTER to continue".
The new system will integrate with Xara cloud, so in the design phase the user can say "Hey, Xara Cloud, don't let the bloomin' users mess with my picture on column 3, give them the finger if they try and change it."
These enhancements will increase uptake of Xara software no end.
Hey Xara, you listening?
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Pauland,
We have no plans or intentions to implement... well any of that. Again, I'm only interested in web features currently. Please try to keep the suggestions sensible.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rob-Xar
Please try to keep the suggestions sensible.
If it didn't make you smile, even slightly, then I feel sad about that. TG is a place that needs a few smiles.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Acorn set me on the detachable Window path and the more I thought about it the better it seemed.
1) Detachable Windows so we could, for instance, have one variant on one screen and another on a second or third screen.
2) In house forms, not a link to an online service, but like CoffeeCup.
3) A Header and Footer section like Word. Anything in a resizable area would repeat on all pages and be sticky.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
pauland
If it didn't make you smile, even slightly, then I feel sad about that. TG is a place that needs a few smiles.
Ah were you playing? lol I was taking it seriously like... does he really want that? lol
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chris M
Acorn set me on the detachable Window path and the more I thought about it the better it seemed.
1) Detachable Windows so we could, for instance, have one variant on one screen and another on a second or third screen.
2) In house forms, not a link to an online service, but like CoffeeCup.
3) A Header and Footer section like Word. Anything in a resizable area would repeat on all pages and be sticky.
1) I'll check on the feasibility on this with the developers. I'm not sure how easy this would be or not.
2) This is kinda on the list but has been rejected a few times due to the amount of work and ongoing maintenance that would be required. I could suggest a very simple form as starters I suppose.
3) I think I know what you mean, although you could group everything and then if you want to make a change, simply open and edit the group and apply sticky / stretchy to it.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
3) I think I know what you mean, although you could group everything and then if you want to make a change, simply open and edit the group and apply sticky / stretchy to it.
Yes, this is how I do it currently but I was inspired by the smart photo grids, which can also be replicated, but they work so well and make work faster and easier. I think it would be nice to e able to drop things in the 'zone' to have the item pick up the same attributes as it's fellow zone members, like the photo grids.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
I would be happy to see the existing web animation features revisited and an option to reverse an action. e.g. fade in, fade out.
And the UI for web animations really needs to be revisited. Maybe windows so the use can specify a time in seconds instead of trying to figure out the sliders.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gwpriester
I would be happy to see the existing web animation features revisited and an option to reverse an action. e.g. fade in, fade out.
And the UI for web animations really needs to be revisited. Maybe windows so the use can specify a time in seconds instead of trying to figure out the sliders.
Ya that's high on my list to push for. UI work may be hard to get implemented, especially the preview screen but the animate out I should think be easy.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Rob, no particular order but others can vote for any as they like.
Acorn#:
- Replace NavBar graphics with graphic button with font for button text. Keep text as text.
- Replace NavBar graphic with CSS shape.
- Replace NavBar with CSS3 solution instead.
- Add/allow a class of 'layername' to all elements that changes according to the Layer the object is on; possibly selected through Utilities > Names.
- Publish Variants to subfolders based on the name of the Variant. In other words, separate the lumping of all Variants into one page HTML file.
- Reflect the Page & Layer gallery object name in the Names gallery.
- In a Supersite, allow different stretch images as background, based on the page in focus.
- Ditto, reflect the correct address for the page in focus.
- Retain image filenames as filename="..." in the Names gallery; augment with any transformations or scaling but keep the hard-thought out name.
- Allow EXIF information to appear in a drop down for Pop-up Title and Alt and Web Animation Title.
- Sort out the fault when adding a Name to text.
- Include 'htmlblocktext' as a value in Names.
- Render text with a Line width properly. Easy with CSS; do not change the text to an image.
- c.f., shadows. Note, while a Line width does not render, its shadow equivalent does.
- Lazy-loading for IE9- images. Lazy-loading in general.
- A table solution that is screen reader aligned and based on HTML tables.
- Usable table export to MS Word.
- Correct Preview rendering of pages with a '%' (RFC 3986).
- Proper ease-in and ease-out of web animations.
- Update failed Widgets: QR Code, WebRSS; general widget review. Publish Widget API.
- Reinstatement of Xara Slideshow Widget into v12.
- eBook publishing.
- Add text along Smart Lines.
- Generation of concordance list to allow built-in searching.
- General improvements to slideshows to allow editable text; again not images.
- Promised CSV data import for tables.
- Locking Pages from being published.
- Printable output from a website page.
- Correct text alignments for justified text vs. SPANs. The WYSIWYG dilemma.
- Ditto HTML issues when embedding into Text Inside shapes.
Acorn
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Acorn
Rob, no particular order but others can vote for any as they like.
Acorn#:
- Replace NavBar graphics with graphic button with font for button text. Keep text as text.
- Replace NavBar graphic with CSS shape.
- Replace NavBar with CSS3 solution instead.
- Add/allow a class of 'layername' to all elements that changes according to the Layer the object is on; possibly selected through Utilities > Names.
- Publish Variants to subfolders based on the name of the Variant. In other words, separate the lumping of all Variants into one page HTML file.
- Reflect the Page & Layer gallery object name in the Names gallery.
- In a Supersite, allow different stretch images as background, based on the page in focus.
- Ditto, reflect the correct address for the page in focus.
- Retain image filenames as filename="..." in the Names gallery; augment with any transformations or scaling but keep the hard-thought out name.
- Allow EXIF information to appear in a drop down for Pop-up Title and Alt and Web Animation Title.
- Sort out the fault when adding a Name to text.
- Include 'htmlblocktext' as a value in Names.
- Render text with a Line width properly. Easy with CSS; do not change the text to an image.
- c.f., shadows. Note, while a Line width does not render, its shadow equivalent does.
- Lazy-loading for IE9- images. Lazy-loading in general.
- A table solution that is screen reader aligned and based on HTML tables.
- Usable table export to MS Word.
- Correct Preview rendering of pages with a '%' (RFC 3986).
- Proper ease-in and ease-out of web animations.
- Update failed Widgets: QR Code, WebRSS; general widget review. Publish Widget API.
- Reinstatement of Xara Slideshow Widget into v12.
- eBook publishing.
- Add text along Smart Lines.
- Generation of concordance list to allow built-in searching.
- General improvements to slideshows to allow editable text; again not images.
- Promised CSV data import for tables.
- Locking Pages from being published.
- Printable output from a website page.
- Correct text alignments for justified text vs. SPANs. The WYSIWYG dilemma.
- Ditto HTML issues when embedding into Text Inside shapes.
Acorn
Thank you for your list, there were certainly a number of points there that I hadn't considered before:
1) This kinda was planned for 16.1 but we ran into into problems which will be fixed possibly after 16.1 release.
2) Can certainly suggest this as part of the NavBar redesign.
3) As above
4) Can you give me an example of how this would be used?
5) We have a couple of solutions to improve the handling of mobile variants, although I don't think splitting them into separate files with redirects is planned. We're also looking into possibly being fully RWD with smart layouts in the future that may do away with the whole variant concept, although this is early in its development
6) Could suggest this
7) as above
8) as above
9) I believe it's planned as part of the SEO work to keep filenames on export, will certainly push for it anyway.
10) Could suggest
11) Which fault is this?
12) Could suggest, although we generally discourage use of this name generally due to the fact we can't then guarantee the accurate positioning of text. I will try however to push for a cleanup of code so there aren't so many span tags, especially with fully justified.
13) Can suggest. I saw a lot of examples use webkit extensions so I guess the concern is cross-browser compatibility.
14) Can suggest.
15) As above
16) Tables are still heavily in the development works. There's a number of improvements that are going to come shortly but still loads more to do. Exporting tables to HTML is a wish-list item but not sure on it's possibility.
17) similar to above
18) Can you give me an example of what you mean? I've seen some users have '&' and '.' in page names which causes problems but not sure how you would resolve that other than through either a warning or letting them know what will happen.
19) Is on the consideration list
20) Widgets do need generally improving, it's just one of those things that we need sometime to spend time on and it's hard to find anyone with time.
21) They won't reinstate the slideshow widget in V12 I can tell you now. I can suggest it but pretty sure that would get shot down (as generally anything that involves earlier versions)
22) Can you elaborate on what you mean by ebook publishing? Like supporting .epub format?
23) Some early designs are coming in 16.1 with more on the way.
24) Do you mean something similar to the table of contents but for every word used?
25) Slideshow improvements is certainly on the list, still debating how to go about it.
26) Should be coming soon
27) Can suggest it.
28) This is something that was suggested before but generally we decided against it as printing from Web is hard to properly do, and is not a problem unique to Xara websites.
29) See 12
30) As above
Thanks
Rob
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Rob, positive and quick responses, thank you.
For Acorn#04, this is generally for searching down a problem object or alignment issues. It could be useful for documenting websites in PDF layer reveals.
For Acorn#11, the Name is set insides a pair of empty SPANs when it is added to the complete text area either a Select > Name or Text tool > Select All > Name. If a word is highlighted and a Name added, it works correctly.
For Acorn#18, create an index page and add another with '%' in the filename and simply Preview this second page --> Big red cross pop-up.
For Acorn#22, yep .epub would work as I think that is effectively a wrapper of content.
For Acorn#24, a concordance list of every word and its locations by page in the entire site.
Many thanks,
Acorn
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Acorn
Rob, positive and quick responses, thank you.
For Acorn#04, this is generally for searching down a problem object or alignment issues. It could be useful for documenting websites in PDF layer reveals.
For Acorn#11, the Name is set insides a pair of empty SPANs when it is added to the complete text area either a Select > Name or Text tool > Select All > Name. If a word is highlighted and a Name added, it works correctly.
For Acorn#18, create an index page and add another with '%' in the filename and simply Preview this second page --> Big red cross pop-up.
For Acorn#22, yep .epub would work as I think that is effectively a wrapper of content.
For Acorn#24, a concordance list of every word and its locations by page in the entire site.
Many thanks,
Acorn
4) Could suggest this as a registry key entry I suppose, similar to the FTP debugging options.
11) I see what you mean. I'll investigate and log it with the developers. There shouldn't be empty spans around.
18) Wow, first time I've seen anything like that. I'll get it logged with developers.
22) Can suggest that. I've only briefly looked into it but it looks just like XML? Shouldn't imagine it being too difficult but it really depends on the demand.
24) I suppose we already have the table of contents that does something similar, could suggest it as another text feature.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rob-Xar
22) Can suggest that. I've only briefly looked into it but it looks just like XML? Shouldn't imagine it being too difficult but it really depends on the demand..
Well, maybe/maybe not.
There are two types of ePubs, flowing and fixed-layout. Unless there are true, fundamental changes to Xara applications, a flowing ePub (which is the format of the largest number of ePubs by magnitude) cannot happen. If so, then Xara applications could do proper responsive websites et al.
A fixed-layout ePub, often used for children's books & comic books, is probably the "easiest" to obtain. But the way Xara web applications work/export, I don't know how easy it would be to pass eBook validation. But this type of ePub would be a target to obtain.
Mike
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rob-Xar
4) Could suggest this as a registry key entry I suppose, similar to the FTP debugging options.
11) I see what you mean. I'll investigate and log it with the developers. There shouldn't be empty spans around.
18) Wow, first time I've seen anything like that. I'll get it logged with developers.
22) Can suggest that. I've only briefly looked into it but it looks just like XML? Shouldn't imagine it being too difficult but it really depends on the demand.
24) I suppose we already have the table of contents that does something similar, could suggest it as another text feature.
Rob, thank you. For Acorn#18 - https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...-Page-filename.
Acorn
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Any hope for vector improvements in the next releases?
Marc
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Possibly, we're not ruling out improvements to the graphics and vector side of Xara, just focusing on bringing the web side a little more up to date.
(planned at least for after 16.1, that patch has been finalised and will be released very shortly).
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
True responsive design and not the fidgeting with different screen resolutions and their maintenance effort.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ernie-f
True responsive design and not the fidgeting with different screen resolutions and their maintenance effort.
I mean in the end that would be the ultimate goal, it's just one of those things that's far easier said than done. We do have kind of a plan for this but it's early ideas
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
I now maintain 46 of my clients'; websites made with Xara.
So far I could persuade everyone to deal with only one desktop and one mobile version. Nevertheless, the expenditure is very high measured by the earnings.
I am from the classic graphic arts and printing industry and now still learn to program on the old days websites, I do not want to do myself any more.
Rob, thank you for your commitment to the TG
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Is it feasible to add 'Edit Colour' to the Web Animations?
The current list of animations are pretty cool, but sometimes a change of colour/tone is needed for a subtle indication of a link and it would be so much easier than layers or the universal Web Properties option.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Replace NavBar graphics with graphic button with font for button text. Keep text as text.
Yes, this please. No more blurry img text on navbars. I've kinda gotten used to it and don't mind it so much but some clients still ask for less blurry text in nav. Happy to see this being worked on.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
1) The issue with the new iphone and the screen not fitting properly when the phone is flipped to horizontal or vertical view.
2) Simple Email form
3) Fix the image slider so that it does not host the images on xara server but rather on the clients, speeds up the loading and reliability of it. Had many times waiting for images to appear.
4) What solution does xara have for folding phones of the future?
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chris M
Is it feasible to add 'Edit Colour' to the Web Animations?
The current list of animations are pretty cool, but sometimes a change of colour/tone is needed for a subtle indication of a link and it would be so much easier than layers or the universal Web Properties option.
+1
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Is it feasible to add 'Edit Colour' to the Web Animations? The current list of animations are pretty cool, but sometimes a change of colour/tone is needed for a subtle indication of a link and it would be so much easier than layers or the universal Web Properties option.
Do you mean like applying a contone to the object for click/touch or reveal and scroll animations? Is there an example of something you could show me of this in effect?
Quote:
1) The issue with the new iphone and the screen not fitting properly when the phone is flipped to horizontal or vertical view.
2) Simple Email form
3) Fix the image slider so that it does not host the images on xara server but rather on the clients, speeds up the loading and reliability of it. Had many times waiting for images to appear.
4) What solution does xara have for folding phones of the future?
1) I'll see what the status of the bug report is but this has been logged with the developers
2) Yes, see post #6 number 2
3) Better sliders is on the wishlist.
4) As far as I'm aware it should just be a case of a change in viewport size to deal with, which Xara already handles.
Thanks
Rob
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Thanks Rob. I guess #4 is tied to #1. Hopefully that is to be fixed soon.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rob-Xar
Do you mean like applying a contone to the object for click/touch or reveal and scroll animations? Is there an example of something you could show me of this in effect?
I was thinking specifically for Mouse Over, but people here have a great imaginations and may think of other uses.
Example: I want to create 3 words 'RED' 'GREEN' and 'BLUE'. I want the text to change to those colours when I mouse over. I can make them bounce, fade and wobble easily using the animation feature. I'd find it very useful to change the colour in the same simple way.
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1 Attachment(s)
Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Chris M
I was thinking specifically for Mouse Over, but people here have a great imaginations and may think of other uses.
Example: I want to create 3 words 'RED' 'GREEN' and 'BLUE'. I want the text to change to those colours when I mouse over. I can make them bounce, fade and wobble easily using the animation feature. I'd find it very useful to change the colour in the same simple way.
You can use the MouseOver layer to do this already, the MouseOver animation is how it animates from the MouseOff state to the MouseOver. Take a look at this and preview:
Attachment 123568
Thanks
Rob
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
It's something I do on a regular basis and thought it could be simpler.
Right click object > web animation > edit colour
Copy object > show MouseOver layer > open MouseOver layer > paste in place > select both objects > create soft group
The soft group is optional, but you're gonna move that thing as sure as eggs are eggs :D
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Forgot to mention these:
1) Image tag should be fixed. Right now image name is applied to desktop and not the mobile version.
2) Push feature should have a default value to be applied to everything created. Avoids us repeating this step for everything.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
behzad
Forgot to mention these:
1) Image tag should be fixed. Right now image name is applied to desktop and not the mobile version.
2) Push feature should have a default value to be applied to everything created. Avoids us repeating this step for everything.
1) Kinda on my list, or at least should be a side effect of the removal of duplicate code / SEO improvements I have on my list.
2) This is a hard one, as templates should by default have push applied throughout although it's not fully understood by new users who may add something and wonder why they can't move it up the page or it's effect on all the other objects either. I don't know whether this would be a case of somehow showing users the controls or implementing it in a more user friendly way...
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Thanks Rob, you have always been helpful.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Way back on page 1 I had the idea of 'zones' [3) A Header and Footer section like Word. Anything in a resizable area would repeat on all pages and be sticky.]
The new smart shapes and the way text resizes within them etc. etc. pretty much covers my thoughts. The auto repeat/sticky is also so insignificant as to not give it thought now as well.
I know my idea was a top priority and you set on extra staff to work on it, but they can stand down now. :D
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
I would love to see a decent navigation solution for Mobile devices.
The current Nav Bar option leaves a lot to be designed in terms of design options and font limitations, though I think you indicated that the font issue is being looked into.
And these is something not right about when you add a page for a mobile site it gets added to the main variant and if you delete one, it deletes the other.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
gwpriester
I would love to see a decent navigation solution for Mobile devices.
+ 1 for this. I'd like to be able to drop a "hamburger" navigation button on a mobile variant page without having to build it from scratch.
= Steve
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
We do have some early concepts for better mobile and main navbars (in line with improving it all generally), including ones that drop down / up or when swiping from the sides to bring up a menu. It's certainly something in the works.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
A check box on the Nav Bar for Mobile. Otherwise by default the Nav Bar would have all pages on the primary level.
If Mobile is checked then the buttons would nest under the HOME button.
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
What website features would you like to see in the future?
Brave question Rob and some excellent suggestions here already but for me I'd like to see some outstanding issues resolved:
1: Maintenance of personalised UI's between upgrades. (Particularly the right click / menu to set line colour!!!!)
2: Solving of the problem of the long delay (5 seconds) in opening Utilities / Options window. (And don't even dare to go to the Internet tab)
3: The Page Shadow option. Page shadow is fine by me on a document but I definitely don't want one on my websites. You can set it to None but the minute you drag & drop a colour onto the page the shadow reappears.
4: "Filename = xxx" is useless on website variants! We should be able to name images, not use numbers.
5: Why are we still reliant on XaReg. These features should be inbuilt into current Xara programs.
There's obviously more but the issues above remain unresolved ;)
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Egg Bramhill
Brave question Rob and some excellent suggestions here already but for me I'd like to see some outstanding issues resolved:
1: Maintenance of personalised UI's between upgrades. (Particularly the right click / menu to set line colour!!!!)
2: Solving of the problem of the long delay (5 seconds) in opening Utilities / Options window. (And don't even dare to go to the Internet tab)
3: The Page Shadow option. Page shadow is fine by me on a document but I definitely don't want one on my websites. You can set it to None but the minute you drag & drop a colour onto the page the shadow reappears.
4: "Filename = xxx" is useless on website variants! We should be able to name images, not use numbers.
5: Why are we still reliant on
XaReg. These features should be inbuilt into current Xara programs.
There's obviously more but the issues above remain unresolved ;)
1) Yea I think this has been suggested and a report has been made, will take a look where this is at.
2) I can ask about it, I didn't realise it took you 5 secs to open up the options dialog. It loads in about a second for me.
3) I'm sure this is logged somewhere, I'll take a look and see if it can be pushed higher.
4) I think this is mentioned earlier as part of the SEO improvements.
5) Which settings in particular are you referring to?
Thanks
Rob
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Re: What website features would you like to see in the future?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rob-Xar
1) Yea I think this has been suggested and a report has been made, will take a look where this is at.
Out of the blue last night, when I tried to invoke the Online Conent catalogue, if failed demanding the Local Designs gallery had to be activated. It already was and I could only rest my Control Bars to get it back again. Any mechanism to save and load UI set-ups will be appreciated.
Acorn