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Just wondering why there are hardly any posts in the xara web gallery? I go there often and there is hardly any quality work or any work at all month after month.
I am sold on web designer and done a few sites but what about new comers who want to see what the community has achieved with the software?
I think there's a lack of participation in most of the forums.
I'm not sure about that.
I belong to a number of different forums, and the Talkgraphics forum seems to be the most active of them. Most forums seem to be only used when people have issues. The Talkgraphics forum seems to have more members just hanging about and chatting etc.
It's nice to see a positive view as well, Keith.
But, everything is relative.
If you compare yourself to the bad, then you may well look good.
I just remember what a vibrant place TG was, when I joined.
So, compared to how it was, I'd say the participation is just a small percentage of what it used to be.
However, TG is still a place where you can ask a question and many member will help you.
Whereas, I happened to ask a question on the Affinity forum last year, and I was met with (what seemed to me to be) hostility.
I was told to read the help section before asking questions. So, I never went back to that forum. They don't need me, and I certainly don't need them.
I suspect there are many different reasons for the lack of activity. I did a five minute, one-man brain storm (or thought shower, if you prefer) why I think people are not posting or engaging with the forum in general. I personally don’t post in the website gallery because I don’t make websites!
Obviously you have to appreciate behind each thought, further thinking is required, but perhaps if every member did a similar thing it would make a potentially interesting read for administrators and maybe help revitalise all the TalkGraphics fora.
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I couldn't agree more Rik. Over the years I've been a TG member the volume of posts has slowed to a trickle from that of the past.Quote:
I think there's a lack of participation in most of the forums.
In the early days TG was far more vibrant, not least to do with it's lightening speed compared to Illy & CD. However over the years Xara's speed advantage has disappeared, Xara has moved away from it's vector drawing program roots towards web design functionality.
This can be seen by the swing from the previous lead forum 'Xara Graphics Chat' to the newer lead forum 'Xara Web Design Chat'.
The decline within the Graphics Chat is down to the lack of development in vector tools. Similarly the increase in the interest in the Web Design Chat over the past 18 months is not so much to do with Xara's web features but new members joining due to the abandonment of Serif for their WebPlus software. But this is just a temporary bubble which is now coming to an end.
So I agree the TG forum is becoming a backwater and Jono's diagram highlight this.
Me either Jono!Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonopen
I agree with you Egg and Rik too.Quote:
Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill
I know Gary B is concerned and me too. Many of us regulars are.
It may also be due to the fact that a lot of the contributors have now actually walked away from Xara, and couldn't care less anymore.Quote:
Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill
I would also suggest that without the Xara Xone being continued, we lost a lot of things that drove discussions. I know I have gone back through several years worth of knowledge looking at items and seeing how process would changed with the new versions of software.
Ray
Spot on + 1
Absolutely correct Ray.
Stygg
I don't do web sites - but the thread seems to have broadened out...
A case in point: there is a process known as posterisation - I don't think xara has a specific tool for this; you can use a plugin, mehdi has one that works with xara, or you can do it 'manually' with the levels dialog in the photo tool. Object of the exercise in my case is to remove pencil from a scanned pen and ink drawing which this process does; it also sharpens up the inking which is usually a good thing, but which can always be softened/recoloured afterwards if not. It is way better than trying to carefully remove the pencil with an eraser before scan which is often not possible anyway on affordable artboard these days; I see no point in paying £££ per sheet when I don't need to... and it's quicker
When I first joined the forum I would have posted all this up in some detail and been confident that someone woiuld have been interested in discussing it in the context of xara and beyond.. now I think it would not be worth it - is this a fullfilling circle?
Just recently I was told on this forum [in so many words] that if I don't have clients then I must be using the program as a 'toy' and that my views were therefore not worth taking seriously [:rolleyes:] - it's not a toy, its a very powerful tool but on the drawing side it has reached a plateau and until that is crossed some of us at least may feel we have said all there is we can say; not helped by those who do not want to listen because they thinks it's 'perfect'
One of the joys originally was the multitude of different uses, disciplines and needs that users had and were propared to discuss.. this seems to have run its course :(
I'm just going to jump in here with my reason not to post in the web gallery. I used to post a xara created site at least every fortnight, sometimes even once a week. But then I moved on to adobe muse so obviously COULD not post there. I can only speak for myself but xara webdesigner was a great piece of software which simply fell behind. Now that muse has reached it's end of life perhaps xara can do something to bring people back, when muse ended the developers who built widgets for it moved on and some moved to creating plugins for wordpress whereas one has developed their own software and another has built their offering on the base of a popular online offering (basically white labled it). The last time I was activiley on the forum was probably back in march of this year, perhaps even longer.
It's good to see some old faces are still around.
Hi behzad,Quote:
Originally Posted by behzad
I don't think a number of responses you've received so far on this thread are answering your question directly. I think they are either assuming you're making a comparison to other website forums, or making a comparison that because there are the same number or more participants here at TG than there are at other forums, that your question is invalid.
To answer your question directly:
I believe there are far more people attending this TG forum who are interested in graphics than there are who are interested in web design. (Do the numbers of views/responses for each forum reflect that?)
I also believe there are many who come to the forum to read and learn/get answers to their questions without committing to direct communication with members. (for whatever reason)
So, why is that? There will be a lot of speculation by loyal members here as to why that is.
One reason I would put that question, as to why there is more attendants to graphics, is that there are fewer users who build web sites for a business or as a service to others. There are more graphics users that are using it as a tool in their ongoing goal of creativity.
I hope that all who read this, read it very carefully to fully grasp what I'm presenting.
I would imagine web designers, like artists, tend to show off work in places where it is likely to get them more work or at least recognition
so I guess that begs the question is this such a place?
For me no, not least beacause a lot of my work is just too darn controversial for this a politically no-go site; for webdesign I have no idea of course
and does it actually matter to the average client what the work is produced with; do the webdesigners who make sites with xara care about promoting the software?
Thank you all, specially Ron for clarifying my issue. I just feel alone in the gallery when I see no other web designers work. Hopefully this will change. Adobe Muse had its glory days and I wonder where all those WYSIWYG designers are now. @Cloud I encourage you to come back and show us what Xara can do. Wordpress is great but nothing beats xara's ease of use. All we need now is a plugin to convert our xara websites (art work) to wordpress templates :)
Using responsive design.Quote:
Originally Posted by behzad
I doubt there is any chance of that.Quote:
@Cloud I encourage you to come back and show us what Xara can do.
That's absolutely not true. As someone who used to use Xara for making quick web pages, it was a dream, but for anything but small websites it has a LOT of disadvantages.Quote:
Wordpress is great but nothing beats xara's ease of use.
As far as ease of use - that was true when Xara was focused on drawing, it became less true when Xara included web design and reading on TG about people's woes with Xara when building websites I'd say ease of use is now debatable. The web design workflow seems quite convoluted to fit the old layer paradigm from the drawing tool.
I don't see that coming anytime soon. Wordpress is not at all wysiwyg and the requirements for wordpress templates would need more to be shoehorned over the drawing functionality in Xara.Quote:
All we need now is a plugin to convert our xara websites (art work) to wordpress templates :)
It isn't just this sub forum that's lacking participation,
it's in all the sub fora here at TG.
Only a few regulars,mostly those who are moderators also.
This is due to the fact that since the web features were incorporated and the lack of drawing/vector/tools development,
TG simply is a goner
I removed the section that haakoo referred to - I thought that my extended musings probably weren't worthwhile. Just some comments on the near-stagnant development and the shift to an online Xara, the size of the active community, etc.Quote:
Originally Posted by haakoo
Xara is very capable, but the world around it has changed and it's not the only game in town.
For me, I only come here very occasionally because there seems less reason to do so now than at any time since I joined. I use Xara products mainly for graphics but occasional web design even though I do small sites, and since Webstyle linked to Frontpage...remember that, I liked using it, but graphics is THE reason for Xara in my opinion.
Xara now seems to concentrate on web design...although mass of templates is barely design and I've never used one even once, and since there is Wix and others like Godaddy with web design directly from a hosting account, amateurs can use them and don't need our services for basic design, which in many respects makes Xara redundant for some and negates sales to new people and new members of the forum.
The forum needs new members and, as others have said, many older members may have transferred to other software, so this has become something of a club for diehards, and Xara hasn't helped with their attitude to upgrades.
What's to be done? For me, curb the obsession with online products and go back to a more traditional style of sales vehicle where the customer is listened to and catered for, develop the graphics programme as we always wanted it, and perhaps the forum may again flourish.
But given the recent attitude of Xara employees...I somehow doubt it.