For current Web Design users - is Xara a good choice?

I've been using NetObjects Fusion for the past 15 years, but they have not developed any responsive web design software, so I need another option. It would really help me out if those of you who are current users of Xara Web Design could give me your opinions of their software and support. I'll be using it for my business, so it must be reliable and produce web pages that are cross-browser compatible (as much as possible). How is the learning curve, and how consistent are the updates and new releases? Do you feel that the company is responsive when you have issues? Do the responsive sites you have developed with the software behave as expected across different devices? Any information would be helpful before I commit to a design platform. Thanks!

For the full answer I would point you to the link below as the question has already been asked.

http://board.xara-users.info/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=7361

You could load the templates and see how they respond when shrinking your browser to different widths to see examples.
http://www.xara.com/us/web-designer/templates/

Xara really need to make clear that the sites produced with the software are Adaptive and not responsive, there is a clear distinction between the two types and this needs to be made clear. Personally I find that as long as you are creating a simple brochure type (i.e. static) site then xara is fine, but be aware that you will find that clients are far more savvy now than they used to be so fully responsive will crop up as will the need for a dynamic site for blogs or ecommerce. The ideal solution is (if you really want to use xara) to use the software according to the needs of the client.

Hi Spiffy,

I think webdesigner is almost perfect, better then wordpress for sure. Anyway, I wanna tell on painfull things I must struggle years :( webdesigner dont know facebook comments, disqus comments, independent RSS, "most read articles" , newest articles, archive of articles, "next articles". I can say, you can put there "fb comments code" but site will not stretch downwards, same problem with disqus code ... site is simply "static" :(( I dont think, that developers will change this pain in the future, they are bit stubborn :)) :(((

Otherwise, webdesigner is really perfect.

For discussion on my site, I had to set up phpbb3 forum :((

Cloud, Merlin_AZ and Rut - thanks for the information. I especially appreciate the note about Xara's being adaptive rather than responsive. Will probably download a trial and play around with it. At the moment I only have one client asking for a responsive redesign; most would be perfectly happy with the adaptive approach. Xara may be a good interim platform while I learn the responsive design software. Thanks again for the help.

It's interesting how adaptive solutions are perceived - as inferior to a responsive design - when they can be superior in some ways.

A pure responsive design responds to the browser windows changes at all times and the content does not change. An adaptive one changes the design itself according to the browser size and can change content to suit - something that a responsive design doesn't do.

I absolutely agree that in certain situations adaptive can be better for the overall user experience, but from the point of view of the creator however; responsive is the winner in the actual work involved in creating the site, I have found that in muse at least, the process of creating a responsive site is far far quicker and far easier to maintain and update.

I agree Cloud.

It's not fair to dismiss adaptive solutions as inferior because they aren't responsive solutions.

Responsive solutions are commercially attractive because there's only one site.

Adaptive solutions can result in a better user experience by changing the content to suit the mobile platform and reduced bandwidths.

My comment was about the automatic assumption that adaptive solutions are inferior.

The best thing is to have a website with adaptive characteristics as well as being responsive.

You should check out muse 2016, it's fully responsive but has the benefits of adaptive in that you can place items exactly as you want on each breakpoint.

I appreciate the discussion on adaptive vs. responsive design. I've been doing adaptive design, but with NetObjects Fusion it is all manual - I have to create multiple sites and manage the scripts to display the appropriate site based on the browser. Xara's content carryover through multiple variants, and having the scripting built into the software is a huge time saver for me. I do like the idea of having control over the way the content displays for each variant; but, Cloud, I will also check out Muse 2016 as you recommended. Thanks.

I am not arguing your point, but if so, why do companies like xara design their site as responsive, not adaptive?
leonard

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Originally Posted by pauland

It's interesting how adaptive solutions are perceived - as inferior to a responsive design - when they can be superior in some ways.

A pure responsive design responds to the browser windows changes at all times and the content does not change. An adaptive one changes the design itself according to the browser size and can change content to suit - something that a responsive design doesn't do.

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I found a good example of a situation where an adaptive approach is used because (in this case) responsive would simply be far too complex to create because mobile devices would mess this up hugely. Notice the massive difference between the desktop and mobile variants. (don't just resize the browser, view on mobile)

http://le-mugs.com/en/

I found a good example

That's a fantastic example. Thanks for sharing it.

I'm really impressed by that site. Especially the desktop version.

I tend to go through sites to see if they can be recreated within muse and after a good look at how the site was put together I realised that it can be created in it's entirity within muse, even the parallax header which moves with the mouse cursor. I would always advise designers trying out new software to find a site they like and try to recreate it (obviously just for practice purposes) that way they learn how to do somthing and will discover the limitations of the software.

I would like to do the same thing on this site but it looks complicated [Link removed]

Hello Lucie

You have posted in a very old thread (Last post in 2016). You do not list any Xara software. So, do you want information about Xara Web Designer?

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Originally Posted by lucie123

I would like to do the same thing on this site but it looks complicated [Link removed]

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Do read the TG rules.

You posted a link to your own Home Page, asking how to built the same.
You have no declared Xara product.
You have resurrected a stale Thread.

At present, i can see no evidence that you are benign in your request.

Engage with TG properly and you will be helped.

Acorn