XWDP Outside of Update Service Cover

I decided to let my Update Service lapse for XWDP.
My main reason is to accurately identify what is lost.

I have kept XWDP mainly for testing and assisting TGers who have it as their sole application so that when a solution for a Xara product is offered then I can check that it works for XWDP as well.
My main day use tool is XDPX.

Clearly Xara has declared that the on-line services will end but not what that means exactly.
This Thread will attempt to describe the loss and possible alternatives.

I think it is going to be a long list.
Feel free to contribute about any lost function and I will look into it.
Do not pick on the messenger or Xara. Instead raise a targeted Dear Xara Thread to advise why the loss is iniquitous to you and what you have lost.

Acorn

Great idea Acorn. I have no idea what happens if the software isn't updated but do believe Xara/Magix are conning their users. I detest this new update 'feature'.

Nagging

XWDPv12 - you get the Update Service period expired. Upgrade button takes you to http://www.xara.com/uk/expired/web-d....6&prefix=xwdp.
It can be avoided by ticking the Don't show me again button.
You then get to do the same all over again (Info Pop-ups On) for the next sales pitch: http://content.magix.net/newsfeeds/x....6&prefix=xwdp. This also has a parameter (b), which I assume is the Magix tracking number should you choose to follow the sucker-me-in link.
The latest "Anniversary" offer is now out to 03 May 2018. "Anniversary" of what is unclear. At least it doesn't land on Star Wars Day.
If you follow the Magix link, you get to find out that v15 now has new Smart Shapes & Templates:

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Over 240 website templatesOver 1,000 design elements
100% design freedom
No prior programming knowledge required
Xara Online Designer
Over 130 photo filters
Animations & effects
Advanced image editing
2 GB web storage & domain*
Search engine optimization

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Xara Online Designer is no more; it is Xara Cloud but v12 doesn't understand this (Share > Xara Online Designer).
I want to see what the SEO could possibly be.
No idea about the asterisk.

Oh, the offer ends on 22 April 2018, or does it?

So I quickly rushed to XDPX to check for Updates - nothing.
I tried http://downloadsv15.xara.com/web/catalog/index.html and "table" and got the tired old Table Widget. ditto for http://downloadsv12.xara.com/web/catalog/index.html.
I the assumed that to access the new Smart Table, i would need my application upgraded so I went to Xara to find the Cloud and nothing but the Cloud save one small link Desktop at the page bottom.
I navigated to http://www.xara.com/uk/web-designer/download/ to find it was still a version dated 22 November 2017; only 125 days since an update.

Moving on.
Help > Introductions isn't. It goes to yet another tracking renew screen.
In the Update service period this opens the Online Content Catalogue at First Look > Introduction so you have lost that, which is really self-limiting.

File > New from Content Catalogue -- Nag.
insert > From Content Catalogue -- Nag.
Insert > Image > Stock photo -- Nag.
Same for the Insert button; any access to what was part of the Online content catalogue, with a few exceptions -- Nag.
Oh, it is a tracking Nag.

You do get Symbols: http://downloadsv12.xara.com/web/cha...character.html.
You do get a new Help > More Xara Web Designer Premium > Support Pages link: https://support.xara.com/
You still get to TalkGraphics as the Support Forum.

With all these embedded Nags, you are left feeling you have purchased and downloaded some Shareware or Crippleware.
Just grey out the options, remove the Insert button, and be done.

My one Nag - never Uninstall your v12 version. If you want to re-install, you will lose all your bug fixes and "updates" since the date of purchase.

Acorn

Thanks for this Acorn,

I haven't fired xdp in a few days but now my service has expired I am in no rush to fire it up if it acts as nagware.

Thanks to your previous suggestions, I have v12 and v15 installed.

Finding Content

During the period of your Update service, each fresh use of an item in the Online Content Catalogue resulted in a download to your local cache.
This download is store locally and is usable after expiry (Typically, C:\Users\(user)\AppData\Local\Xara\WebDesignerPrem ium\12\Cache\designs\eng\).
You can use %appdata%\..\Local\Xara\WebDesignerPremium\12\Cach e\designs\eng\ directly in Windows Explorer (not IE) to get to your downloads.

XWDPv15 pathing will be similar (%appdata%\..\Local\Xara\WebDesignerPremium\15\Cac he\designs\eng\).

If you have been following TalkGraphics, we have been advising that, while in cover, to right-click on the folder names in the Local Designs Gallery to download all the Online Content Catalogue content to your local filestore.
P.S. If you try to Download All, you get another Nag message.

If you didn't download what you now need, all is not lost. Contact Magix sales to purchase a backup CD:

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If you have already purchased the product without a backup CD then please contact our Sales team by signing into our Support site and select 'Sales'.

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https://help.xara.com/article/50-the-designs-gallery

If you use this CD then it is probable you will revert your program back to the purchase version.

Let's say you downloaded or installed everything on the CD, you now have up to 2.3GB of files to hunt and peck through as the only search mechanism is gone as it is within the Online Content Catalogue page.

There is nothing in the Sales spiel that categorically states you will lose access to the 200+ website templates and the 1,000+ design elements.
You have to read the EULA, if you know where to hunt (https://www.magix.com/gb/eula/consumer/) and what to read.
Note, this not the EULA you agreed to when you purchased your software so it is probably not enforceable as you were not notified of the EULA change. You have to search XWDPv12 Help > Search: EULA and read:

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UPDATE SERVICEThe license for updates and features delivered within the scope of the Update Service is limited to the installation(s) in place at the first anniversary of the initial registration of the Software, or at the date of last renewal if that is more recent. It will therefore terminate if you re-install the software after the Update Service has lapsed, and you will fall back to the version of the software at the date of your initial purchase and registration, or at the date of last renewal if that is more recent. These limitations do not apply if you extend the Update Service beyond the initial 12-month period.
Any online services included in the Software (M hosting, Xara Online Designer and the Online Content Catalog) will end as soon as the Update Service expires, unless the Update Service is extended beyond the initial 12-month period.

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It is all Magixed away for XWDPv15, which Xara asserts is only an upgrade.

Back to finding content.

In your browser, enter http://downloadsv15.xara.com/web/cat...ex.html?v=15.1 for XWDPv15 and http://downloadsv12.xara.com/web/cat...ex.html?v=12.n, where n is your XWDPv12 sub-version, up to 6.
You now get a tree list of what you might have in your Local Design Gallery, with pictures.

Not perfect. Lots of Nags to Buy and not directly usable back into your application but at least it has a search capability to allow you to zero in on that illusive content you know you downloaded.

Nag at Xara: ensure one path exists to this view (Insert > From Content Catalogue).
I believe that in removing the Online Content Catalogue from access, you may mistakenly change our contract by removing what you told us we had purchased, both content and search functionality.
An online EULA without a date and scope and notification of change is probably not correct either.

Acorn

Stock Photos & Illustration

So now you've lost:

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New in the Online Content Catalog: In partnership with Pixabay we've added fully integrated access to a free library of over 750,000 quality royalty-free stock photos and over 150,000 vector illustrations. All available under the CC0 license.

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http://www.xara.com/uk/web-designer/whats-new/


It, however, is still broken in XWDPv15 for illustrations: https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...245#post584245.

Instead, go to the source and register.
https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...871#post590871.

Nag @ Xara: if you still allowed access to these freely accessible online images, people wouldn't have to discover alternatives:

Attachment 120634 - allows you to download most resolutions without signing in.
Yes, it is a two-step process to get it into Xara but slightly better that the gaping hole that now exists.
Now 1.3M images and all without a "partnership" that is probably just the Pixabay API and its EULA.

Acorn

Photo Filter Presets

Basically what Xara has removed it the grouping of a Transparency attributes rectangle over an image and the means to apply this and others from an Import from the Online Content Catalogue.
The concept can equally be a Enhance photo as an overlay.

Anyhow the principle is quite clever but you are forced to adopt what Xara deems to be appropriate, not you the designer.

You can throw it all away and use Xara's Transparency, Enhancement and Masks ans other features like bleaching another image on top of the base one.
Most can be replicated with Ctrl+C and then Ctrl+Shift+A to paste Attributes.

If you want variety my filter solution offers 14,400,000,000,000,000,000 variations: Attachment 121064

I use this basic concept to build CSS3 animations that cycle through saturations and any or many of the other offerings.

Acorn

Photo Filter Presets - Examples

Using the generator in https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...158#post593158, I have a simple demonstration file showing the results of three CSS3 filters applied to two group objects and one image.
Again, Microsoft has not implemented this so the Xara Preview, IE (and Edge) do not apply the filters. The numbers of IE viewings is down to the few percent, mainly to the rise of Smartphones for web surfing.

Each shape has a Name (equilateral, cube, fruit).
Each Name has a corresponding filter in Web Properties > Page > HTML code (head) of form #Name.

Advanced aspects
If you want to apply the same filter to several objects on a page, you give them all the same Name, but this time it is a class name of form htmlclass=<name>
In in the CSS, use .<name> rather than #<name>
A hash means an HTML ID and a dot before the Name means an HTML Class - only the first ID will have a filter applied; this is a browser standard; a filter will alter all objects with the same class.

Attachment 121103

Acorn

Thanks for the clarification Acorn. Managed to get it working a treat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill

Thanks for the clarification Acorn. Managed to get it working a treat.

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Egg, glad to hear. You'll be wanting an example of animations as well I suspect.

What I found pleasing was you can apply the filters to most shapes, not just images.

Acorn

Photo Filter Presets - Animation Example

A very simple application to the page background: Attachment 121110

Acorn

Yes. Shame about Edge not using this.

EDIT: But it does!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill

Yes. Shame about Edge not using this.
EDIT: But it does!

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So it does! I must have checked between code edits.

All we have to do now is Dear Xara Xara to get the Preview not to use IE - how hard can that be?
Answers on the back of an A0 postcard in 8pt Comic Sans.

Acorn

Quote:

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how hard can that be?

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I've no idea but they can't just stick to IE as the default preview browser. This requires serious attention.

it depends how they built the core modules which I understand used the MS API.. and if so that may mean they are 'stuck' with it without a major re-write..

Hi HD

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... and if so that may mean they are 'stuck' with it without a major re-write..

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No, we are stuck with it and it's another nail in the coffin!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by handrawn

it depends how they built the core modules which I understand used the MS API.. and if so that may mean they are 'stuck' with it without a major re-write..

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Well, Xara could divert the Preview to a full publish to the www folder of the built-in web server, where a background service is sitting for a change index.htm(l) file to appear so that the user's default browser is launched.

Or Xara could expand the Preview current web page and Preview whole site icons to offer back all available browsers. Why there might even be a UI setting where the default could be set by the user.

Or Xara could remove it and publish to a local folder and open the folder.

Or Xara could create Shortcuts to the web server, like “C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe” http://localhost:8000/virtda-de-dum-de-da/index.htm, for each browser and put these in a local folder and display that.

Or...

Acorn

Hello again Acorn,

You posted

Quote:

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Photo Filter Presets - Animation Example

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Is this supposed to animate, it doesn't in preview in Chrome or FF for me?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill

Hello again Acorn,
You posted Is this supposed to animate, it doesn't in preview in Chrome or FF for me?

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Egg thanks for getting back.
By animate, I meant it cycled though an animation of filters using CSS3 keyframes. Keyframes are also used for animating slideshows and sprite cartoons so perhaps my use of the word "animate" was too general but I felt fit the concept.
I checked that the filter cycle round for all browsers apart from IE.

I will be adding another Post at some time to cover slideshows, so tune in.

Acorn

Test Inside - Faux Example

Text Inside is a mechanism to associate text with a shape.
Prior to this, if you wanted a nice background you had to create the shape and place and resize the text on top.
Each change to the background required an adjustment.

Xara has introduced, at Version 15.1, Text Inside where a new structure has been created that embeds any shape within a Text Area such that a change to the shape automatically constrains the text to within the shape.

For v15.0 and before, the old trick of using a wrapping shape with a hole on top and repelling text still works.
The downside is any shape change does require a bit more rework.

The end result is the same and how often do you tweak a design?

Attachment 121242

Acorn

I have the cd for Designer Prox10 but there's no file on it that I can identify as the Catalogue Content. I am running the programme with the update for PRox11 so don't want to reinstall. Does anyone know how to get the content off the cd please.

Frightful. This topic is specifically for Web Designer Update Service. I started a new topic in the Designer Chat thread. Please post any further questions here https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...gner-Pro-11-CD

frightful doesn't even begin to describe how i feel we have been deserted by xara
there's a torrent of complaints that would scare a pirate

Xara Slideshow Widget

The Xara Slideshow Widget (XSW) is delivered through the Online Content Catalogue (OCC) > Components > Image Resources > Photo Slideshows & Galleries: Xara Slideshow Widget. [http://downloadsv15.xara.com/web/cat...x.html?v=15.1]

XSW is different to the other slideshows in that it is a Xara Widget file (*.xwr).
If you no longer have access to the OCC, you might be able to locate it in either your V12 or V15 Cache.
The path & filename is similar to C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Xara\XtremePro\15\Cache\designs\eng\components\imagecomponents\slid eshows\widget_mediawidget_live_xh.xwr. username is your MS Windows login; XtremePro can also be WebDesignerPremium and 15 can be 12. All you need then do is drag the file into your design page.

Happy Searching.

If you have an existing design file, you can copy the XSW from v12 to v15 or the converse, and log in when you select Edit Widget. You then have full access to create and edit slideshows.

Note: your files are not kept local; they are part of cdn.xara-online.com/siba/slideshow with exciting image filenames like https://cdn.xara-online.com/siba/sli...EPKFz8R?q=full.
In other words, controlled by Xara, subject to its servers' availability and not your service provider.

Kate Moir asserts a fully editable slideshow instance will continue to be accessible, out of Update service cover.

@Kate, can the widget_mediawidget_live_xh.xwr file be freely distributed? It has no copyright and is effectively only metadata.

Acorn

Acorn (re post #24)

When using an expired version of Xara Web Designer Premium 12.6.1, after drag n dropping widget_mediawidget_live_xh.xwr on page, you are asked to sign-in (with your Xara details), which opens the online widget, but it eventually 'times out' before you can do anything.

Attachment 122678

Attachment 122679

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Originally Posted by Jonopen

Acorn (re post #24)
When using an expired version of Xara Web Designer Premium 12.6.1, after drag n dropping widget_mediawidget_live_xh.xwr on page, you are asked to sign-in (with your Xara details), which opens the online widget, but it eventually 'times out' before you can do anything.
Attachment 122678

Attachment 122679

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Jono, I have just tried, following my own words in #24, and with the right credentials, it logs in and I can create another slider.

When Magix took over marketing and help, it kindly obliterated my existing password. i had to get Magix to provide a re-enable link.
If you are already able to access https://www.magix.com/gb/support/my-service-center/, then those credentials should work for the slider.

Acorn

Thanks Acorn. I can login to the Magix service centre ok. Here's the message I get. To be honest I don't actually need to use the slider for anything too serious so not particularly concerned. I'm doing a homepage mockup for a local club and was just curious.

Attachment 122680

Sign up for a free account in the Xara cloud: https://cloud.ixara.com/.

You can always then download any of the templates available: http://www.xara.com/templates/.
These are usable in your Xara Desktop application and do not require an active Update Service.

You never know, you might come to like the Cloud.

Acorn

Nice workaround. Thanks for the heads-up.