Why not greater use of the workspace flyouts?

As a newcomer here, I've already wondered about the low use of the flyout panels on the right side of the workspace. This would seem to be a natural place for lots of tools that are currently squirreled away in menu drop downs. Of particular interest is a publication color palette and standard color palettes, instead of the much slower to set up and more difficult to see color bar at the bottom of the page. Even LibreOffice (attached screenshot) has better use of this panel, with line, text, paragraph, and color settings...as well as much else.

Without resorting to painstaking searches here, has this question been asked before? And, if so, has there been any response about future possibilities.

Having all of these tools available in one spot makes the life of the site designer so much easier.

Welcome to TalkGraphics

I suppose it is all a matter of what you get used to. The galleries are docked along the right and most of us who have used the program since the galleries were added to the right have just adjusted to their presence.

My general comment on suggestions such as yours, and it is a good suggestion, is as new users we tend to expect things to work as they do in other programs. And sometimes this is good and sometimes not so good.

Once you use a program for a while and get into the work flow of the product, the UI and work space starts to make more sense.

Thanks, Gary

I will admit to being spoiled by the Devs over at Serif, and I plan to use WPX8 and XWD365 in parallel for the next couple of years, prolly. Some very nice things are in 365 that Serif should have done some time back, but workflow is a lot faster in WP, as you have found out with the Master Pages issue. WP seems to be the designer's tool, and XWD seems to be more the technician's tool. I downloaded v10 a year or so back...and, then v11 most recently, before deciding on 365. I'm certainly not disappointed. Just looking for more speed and ready access to tools, part of which will come through use and familiarity, as you say. Some of which I hope will come through upgrades and enhancements.

A properties panel would be awesome.

Somewhere where all the attributes associated with an object can be easily changed.

I like xara's software... But it's not ideal

WP seems to be the designer's tool, and XWD seems to be more the technician's tool

That's not an assessment I would make. XWD is targeted at people who want to make websites without learning about HTML/CSS. It works in that regard (mostly) and has always appealed to people who want to make websites and have no desire to become proficient in web technologies and the learning curve that requires. Originally XWD was born from an illustration tool that was adapted to create websites.

I haven't ever used any of the Serif web design products, so I can't really comment on them. I've only ever heard mention of them on the Xara forums!

I would never think of the typical WD user as a technician, though some may well be. We all get used to certain workflows and conventions with our favourite software.

Master pages really should be in Xara, but I think Xara's developers probably have a tough gig - it's a program with a long heritage and I hate to think what the code looks like behind the scenes. Most companies would have done a rewrite by now and possibly just superceded the original program with an entirely new product.

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Originally Posted by pauland

WP seems to be the designer's tool, and XWD seems to be more the technician's tool

and I hate to think what the code looks like behind the scenes. Most companies would have done a rewrite by now and possibly just superceded the original program with an entirely new product.

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Technician, not in the sense of coding, but more fiddling around to find things and get the same job done. WebPlus certainly goes well out of its way to present tools in a way that makes them easy to access, with property panels, context-sensitive toolbars, etc. As to the underlying code, that is apparently the same conclusion their Devs reached, that it was just too old, too patched, too bloated, to go any further. So, all of their "Plus" titles will end here, and they will continue with their Affinity series, although not with a website authoring tool. There will be no replacement for WebPlus. Hence the lengthy research of other products, and the final settling for XWD....although I'll be taking a long look at the free, open source program, Graviton, on Monday.

I'm quite pleased with Xara Web Designer in many respects. However, it is a step backwards in the "ease of use" department, IMO. Of all the things I miss, the properties panel is probably the most significant, with most of the styling tools and a greatly enhanced color swatches tab all gathered in one place. On the other hand, XWD does a far more excellent job with variants. And, some of the artwork content is superior. With time, I'm sure XWD will feel like an old shoe, also. However, with many old Serif hands moving this way, one can probably expect to hear more frequent requests for this, or that tool capability and access.

Riston "often rants loudest on weekends" in NWArkansas