Problems with Windows Scaling (e.g. "200%") when using a high resolution (4K) screen.

Hello

I have just installed Xara Designer Pro X10 on a new Windows 10 x64 PC, running a 27" monitor at 4K resolution (3840 × 2160 pixels)
I order to have the text in most applications large enough to read, I have had to set the Window Scaling (DPI) to 200%.

However I have just realised that almost the entire interface is slightly blurred.
Every bit of text in the Xara menus is blurred.
I am creating shape that are a whole number of pixels, and located at a whole number of pixels. So a screenshot should not of the Xara UI should not be blurred.
At 100% zoom in Xara the shapes seem reasonable but ALL the text in my document is quite badly blurred.

Attachment 116277

My screen is running at native resolution and is absolutely sharp for example looking at this text in a browser. Here is a part of a screenshot to make the point:

Attachment 116278

Is there any plans to make Xara render text better when Windows is "scaled"?

With thanks

J

I have put your almost identical Thread in the web design forum into moderation to avoid the splitting of replies across two forums to no real benefit. The moderated Thread had no direct relevance to web design.

Acorn

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Acorn

I have put your almost identical Thread in the web design forum into moderation to avoid the splitting of replies across two forums to no real benefit. The moderated Thread had no direct relevance to web design.

Acorn

---

Sorry I don't understand any of that. Why are we talking about web design? Where is this forum?
Cheers
J

does post #11 in this thread help ? https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...097#post569097

[making of fist probably optional :D]

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shiphen

Sorry I don't understand any of that. Why are we talking about web design? Where is this forum?
Cheers
J

---

Well you posted this Thread: Windows 10 Scaling causes blurring of the UI and of the document being viewed in https://www.talkgraphics.com/forumdi...eb-design-chat 25 minutes after this one.

Acorn

Hi shiphen, I can definitely empathise with you on this issue.

From past investigations into changing Windows scaling, I have not yet found a satisfactory answer for this problem. Basically Xara Designer is not Windows scaling aware and only supports 100% scaling. This is also evident when you just increase the system text size, as it then doesn’t fit properly. I currently have my Windows 10 laptop set at 125% and just live with this.
Attachment 116315 Attachment 116316

I'm not super technically minded on these things so it'll be great if someone has the solution.

Not the answer, but I was pleased to see Affinity Designer’s user interface is, to a certain extent, Windows scaling aware, which is great for my tired old eyes.

This is from their system requirements:

Monitor resolution
1024 x 768 (at 100% scaling)
1280 x 960 (at 125% scaling)
1600 x 1024 (at 150% scaling)
1920 x 1440 (at 200% scaling)

BTW, for what it's worth in the past I've requested for scaling awareness in the 'Dear Xara' forum, but... well, you know the result of that!

I have a Surface Book running at native 3000x2000 resolution with a scaling of 200%. In both Xra Designer Pro X11 and Designer Pro x365, the scaling seems to work fine. In 10, I saw these issues as well - one of which was the pronounced when dragging items from the Button Pallet to the left sidebar - where the icons in their hovering dragged state were nowhere near where they would end up when dropped. It came out in other areas as well.

In x365 and DP11, neither of these are an issue here at the 200% scale. So, it seems that this is one of the things that was resolved in the newer versions that was not in 10. Can you check the new version demo to see if it fixes it for you?

I have this same issue with my mobile site.
I am watching this thread for answer..........

I downloaded the newest copy and it fixed the scaling problem but added a ton more
Now I can not edit my widgets I already have on the pages or buttons with out forking over more money
what a crock of BS

Hello

Is there a fix for this scaling problem yet?

Background:
- I am trialling Xara Xara Designer Pro X ("12.6.2.49603 DL x64 Apr 25 2017")
- I have a 4K screeen that I am running at "200%" scaling at the Windows (v10, x64) level.

It seems that my choices are:

1) by default, everything is slightly blurred. i.e. All the text boxes in the application AND the Xara file itself, everything is blurred (pixelated)

2) Tick "Override high scaling DPI behaviour. Scaling performed by:" Application
==> This makes Xara file sharp, but the text boxes in the Xara application itself doesn't fit and is unreadable

3) Tick "Override high scaling DPI behaviour. Scaling performed by:" System
==> This makes everything blurred (both the Xara text boxes and the Xara file are blurred)

4) 3) Tick "Override high scaling DPI behaviour. Scaling performed by:" System (enhanced)
==> This makes everything sharp... BUT Xara gets confused about how large objects are and everything starts to break.
(e.g. if you click on an object to select it, the selection area is 4x the area of the object that is supposed to be selected... i.e. it's all a complete mess.

Is there a fix for this problem yet?

I own a copy of Xara DP v10. And I certainly won't be upgrading until this problem is fixed.

Cheers

J

I wish you all the luck with this one.... personally I don't think xara have either the manpower or the resources to fix this, which would mean maJor overhaul to the UI

I would love to be proved wrong... but it seems to me they are totally wedded to photo-manipulation-and-web-design-for-the-undiscerning-masses

I had inquired of Xara about 6 months ago if they supported the 4K monitor. The answer was NO. That they MIGHT look into adding support in the future.

This is extremely disappointing.

I have started a Dear Xara thread.
https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...950#post577950

Personally there is zero chance of my paying to upgrade Xara unless it is 4K compatible.

With thanks

J

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by handrawn

I wish you all the luck with this one.... personally I don't think xara have either the manpower or the resources to fix this, which would mean maJor overhaul to the UI

I would love to be proved wrong... but it seems to me they are totally wedded to photo-manipulation-and-web-design-for-the-undiscerning-masses

---

?
Sorry, Steve; this doesn't sound like an answer, more like something else.

Barbara B.
Admin

Quote:

---

Sorry, Steve; this doesn't sound like an answer, more like something else.

---

What else would that be Barbara?

of course it's an answer - in post #4 I suggested what I thought might be a possible solution; but it appears not... shipen really does want and need this feature, there have been other threads, and so I wished him luck with it

and I really don't think it will happen any time soon - see also Gary's post #12 directly after the one of mine in question

Xara have their hands more or less full keeping the web side of things up to date; Kate said as much a while back in respose to repeated requests from the drawing side of the community - I don't have a problem with that as such, it's where the money is currently... and xara web design is 'for the masses' in the sense that Dreamweaver or 'CSS based' it is not; 'undiscerning' I will admit is subjective... however, I am not going to try and hide my disappointment...

there was some progress just recently, drawing-wise, in respect of some partial typography implementation [ligatures], so it's not all bad news.. but it's the exception of late...

Hi everyone,

I can tell you that we have done a lot of work on this but it's not yet good enough to release - mainly because of problems with a third party library that we use.

Out of interest, notice that Online Designer, cloud.ixara.com, is able to make use of high-res displays...

Phil

Thank you for communicating about development, Phil!

cheers Phil.. that's good news :-bd:)

Thanks for the update.

Thanks for the information, Phil!

I have three monitor setup and the main screen is 4K and using Xara has gone from being a joy to eye-bleed

as more and more of us upgrade our hardware its going to become a much bigger issue

Good Luck to everyone trying to make this happen - SOON

Meanwhile, I am off to the optician to get some stronger glasses and try again to edit the curve I can't find the handles for lol

Perhaps increasing the size of the handles by using XaReg may help you as well. Download link is in the signature of Zaphodeist:
https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...794#post580794.

Last I heard, there was no support for 4K monitors. Xara is considering adding this but as of now I have not seen any.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gwpriester

Last I heard, there was no support for 4K monitors. Xara is considering adding this but as of now I have not seen any.

---

Hello

Does the latest version of Xara Designer Pro (version 16??) support 4K monitors yet?

Background
I have a 4K screen and I have more or less abandoned XDP due to the terrible interface when run on 4K screens combined with just how painfully slow it is to open. My slowest other application has always been Photoshop but XDP (v10) takes about 4 times longer to open than Photoshop!

Thanks

J

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shiphen

Hello

Does the latest version of Xara Designer Pro (version 16??) support 4K monitors yet?

---

Unfortunately not (yet?).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Boy

Unfortunately not (yet?).

---

Gosh. That really is awful. It's been well over 2 year since I started this thread. Surely anyone seriously interested in graphics will have a high res monitor by now.

Xara management really do seem to have lost their way.

It is a shame. It makes one wonder if their management actually use the program as a professional designer might.

Not trying to be controversial, but in some ways I think Xara management are actually quite savvy. They appear to be squeezing every last drop of revenue out of their aging desktop program. By adding a few small peripheral bells and whistles every now and then, it keeps it looking (to the casual observer) refreshed and interesting.

btw I also mentioned the scaling issue (again) back in March (point 12):
https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...197#post607197

I've had issues with several programs since upgrading to 4K monitors, so I thought I'd share the fix I use to sort them out.

Right click on the application icon and select 'Properties'.

Select the 'Compatibility' tab.

Click the button 'Change high DPI settings'.

Tick the box 'Use this setting to fix scaling problems for this program instead of the one in settings'.

Tick the box 'Override high DPI scaling behaviour.'

Select dropdown 'Scaling performed by: Application'

When you next run the application the text should not be blurry.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JWellbelove

I've had issues with several programs since upgrading to 4K monitors, so I thought I'd share the fix I use to sort them out.

Right click on the application icon and select 'Properties'.

Select the 'Compatibility' tab.

Click the button 'Change high DPI settings'.

Tick the box 'Use this setting to fix scaling problems for this program instead of the one in settings'.

Tick the box 'Override high DPI scaling behaviour.'

Select dropdown 'Scaling performed by: Application'

When you next run the application the text should not be blurry.

---

Yes, but the toolbar etc, will be absolutely tiny?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by JWellbelove

I've had issues with several programs since upgrading to 4K monitors, so I thought I'd share the fix I use to sort them out.

Right click on the application icon and select 'Properties'.

Select the 'Compatibility' tab.

Click the button 'Change high DPI settings'.

Tick the box 'Use this setting to fix scaling problems for this program instead of the one in settings'.

Tick the box 'Override high DPI scaling behaviour.'

Select dropdown 'Scaling performed by: Application'

When you next run the application the text should not be blurry.

---

Well I've just upgraded to a beautiful new HP Workstation and 2 x 32" 4K monitors for my home set up over the weekend, and just tonight reinstalled the latest Version of Xara, only to be confronted by the terrible blurry program window... pretty much unusable for me... :-( but your post was really useful. Thank you for sharing it! It at least offered me a practical way to get rid of the soft images. As the following poster said, following your instructions has made Xara's toolbars tiny, but I can just about cope with that I think for the limited graphics work I do at home. The text in the direct entry toolbar boxes for width and height etc., is a bit harder to deal with, as you can only see the top of the numbers, but it's still a massive improvement on the horrible soft graphics I saw when I first opened Xara on my new set up.

I suppose I can add my old monitor back at a push, just for Xara... if I find things becoming a problem.

Thanks again.

I have moved this thread to Dear Xara in hopes Q&A will realize that this is another hurdle they need to get over.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gwpriester

I have moved this thread to Dear Xara in hopes Q&A will realize that this is another hurdle they need to get over.

---

Any news on all this yet? After all, it's been 2.5 years since I started this thread!

Personally I am a 4K screen and run Windows 10 at a 175% scaling. I am still running Xara Designer Pro X10 but I am itching to buy a copy of Xara whose menus work properly with high res screens.

[For now I just work in "flying blind" mode with the graphics looking gorgeous, but I can't actually read most of the data fields the menu bars!!]

OP

I believe that Xara is stuck orbiting its own Black Hole as dramatic changes to the UI probably affect its core graphics engine or the developers' workload or its very inclination.

You choose.

To me, it sadly feels if it is all three.


Can you not use the MS Windows Magnifier in Docked Mode (200%) > Inverted Colours?
Acorn

FWIW on my cintiq pro 24 at 3840 x 2160 and 100% scaling the xara interface, whilst not as sharp as CC 2019 photoshop, is readable and just about usable - very small and not ideal that said - better at 2560 x 1440

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Acorn

I believe that Xara is stuck orbiting its own Black Hole as dramatic changes to the UI probably affect its core graphics engine or the developers' workload or its very inclination.

You choose.

To me, it sadly feels if it is all three.


Can you not use the MS Windows Magnifier in Docked Mode (200%) > Inverted Colours?
Acorn

---

I'm not sure I understand.
I need to use Windows 10 at 175% in order for all my other applications (e.g. MS Office, Photoshop etc etc) to have text large enough to read comfortably.

To recap the problem with Xara Designer Pro is that you are forced to choose between
A) the menuing interface being clear and readable, but the graphics you are working on being blurred
B) the graphics you are working on being pin sharp, but the menuing interface having text that is way too large for it, thereby making it more or less unusable.

I have been using Xara since the very first version in 1995! That's several lifetimes in the software universe.

Oh DEAR. So for the first time ever I'm going to have to seriously consider finding something other than Xara.

This is very very VERY not good.

so what is the difference in your settings between option A) and option B) I would like to check this out on my cintiq - out of interest what monitor[s] are you using...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shiphen

I'm not sure I understand.

---

Windows has an application called Magnifier.Use it over the Xara menus.

Acorn

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by handrawn

so what is the difference in your settings between option A) and option B) I would like to check this out on my cintiq - out of interest what monitor[s] are you using...

---

Hello

Apologies for the delay (though I now fear that this whole issue - indeed possibly even Xara itself) is now a lost cause.

Monitor: Viewsonic "VP2780-4K 27-inch 4K Ultra HD IPS Professional Monitor"
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3GB Graphics Card
Resolution: Running at full "4K" 3840 x 2160pixels
Windows Scaling: 175% (otherwise all my text everywhere gets too small!)

Here are some screenshots.

It seems that if you change the properties on you shortcut to XDP then you get very different results.

Attachment 125237

OR

Attachment 125238


i.e. If I DO tick the "High DPI Scaling Override" in the Windows shortcut to XDP, then I get a nice sharp view of my Xara document, but I can't read the menus.
OR
If I DON'T tick the "High DPI Scaling Override in the shortcut then I get a BLURRED view of my Xara document, but nice clear menus.

Am I doing something wrong?

...Or after all this time has Xara badly - badly - badly lost it's way?

J

Hi my turn to apologise for the delay

I checked this with my cintiq pro 24 at its recommended settings of 3840 x 2160 and 200% windows scaling [I also double checked with 175% windows scaling but it did not make any real difference to 200% except for the obvious size shift]

yes I get similar results as you - with option 1 the menu is too small to read at a distance, but I can read it when drawing directly onto the screen, so from my point of view that is not so bad - with option two the program, both menu and drawing area, are slightly blurred, same as the windows interface is, on widows scaling

I don't think you are doing anything wrong - xara UI needs an overhaul, but I doubt it is a priority at the moment...

you could try this - but I dont think it makes any difference: