Xara as a DTP

Hi
I am looking for some advise from the community who have worked in publishing magazines, e-books etc using Designer Pro X or any related xara versions.

Since I am just new and starting on this I want some advise on how to go about doing this and not repeat mistakes that others have done. The following are some questions that I have and would appreciate if anyone can answer them one at a time.

I am planning to create a e-book and export the final book in pdf to be posted in some website. It will have 10 chapters and a total of about 80 to 90 pages with text, and graphic images in it.

Questions:

1. Can u link me to any Xara videos that demo/show using Xara as DTP. I have gone through 3 videos by Gary was wondering if there are anymore that I am unaware of?
2. If a book has 10 chapters is it a good idea to create one xara file to have all the 10 chapters (about 80 pages in all) in one file OR will it better to create one chapter for one xara file?
3. If one chapter for one file how to do u manage the page numbers, page content creation? how to do u export all of them to pdf and still keep the page numbering correct and page content numbers are correct?
4. in one xara file can I have a mixture of several double-page spreads and several single pages? If yes what I need to do?
5. is there any standard settings that are recommended for page content like left/right page margins, bleed size, top/bottom margins etc that normal commercial printers will accept?

I will be grateful if anyone can be of help with my queries above. It will give me a good starting point.

Best Rgds
Kish:)

Your profile shows DPX 11. The most recent versions of Designer Pro let you indicate a starting page number. I don't think this is possible in v11.

Depending on your computer's memory and the number of images, you may be able to create your book in one file. I did a print book over 200 pages with many images in Designer Pro X15 and 16. It's a little clunky but it worked.

And I have done books in the past one file per chapter which I exported as PDF/X then combined the separate files into one file in Acrobat, though there are other PDF editing applications that can also do this.

I am not sure what you would want spreads and then single pages. Just create your book as spreads and add your single page content as you go along.

Sadly, and not for want of asking, at least a dozen times, you cannot set up separate left and right pages. You would think, but no.

As far as specs for margins, it's hard to say. For an e-book, not an issue.

I have published about a dozen paperback books with Amazon KDP (formerly CreateSpace) and they give you specs for inside margins. I have also used KDP to do e-books using their Kindle Create app. Basically, you import your PDF file and Kindle Create puts it together in e-book format and makes it available for sale/rental on Amazon.

Dear Gary

Thank you for your prompt reply. Much appreciated. Your feedback is very useful indeed. I just checked I have Designer Pro X17 installed in PC.

Regarding spreads what I meant was in some pages I may want an image that straddles across two pages in the top half and have text at the bottom. Then of course I may have some single-page. My question can I create in the same xara file let say a single page first, then followed by a double-page spread, then followed by a single page and then a double-page spread again and so on...I assume this will be possible.

Is there any video on xara DTP usage that is available that I can see?

Thanks again Gary much appreciated.

Best Rgds
Kish

No videos that I am aware of. But here is a link to resources that may be more helpful https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...ining-resource

First off is this print or for PDF viewing?

PDF, I think, I am not completely sure, displays single pages. Acrobat has an option for viewing one or two pages at a time. Not sure about the Adobe Acrobat reader. If you are designing for PDF viewing then maybe create a page that is the width of two pages and place your two pages on the one large page.

But logically, if someone is reading your PDF document, they cannot go from one page to two pages. But you can have two single pages side by side. I hope this makes sense.

I made three books with Xara X v16 with 392 pages each.
I am a professional graphic designer with over 40 years of experience in the graphic arts industry and run my own print shop for 20 years.

It is important in Xara to build a template with guidelines for the left and for the right side. Then another one for the double pages.

Attachment 127581

For the pagination, I create two text frames that I fill with the automatic “Page number“.

Attachment 127582

If I need an empty page, I turn off the visibility of the page in the layer palette.

Attachment 127583

In my example, it is a printed book. Of course, you don’t need bleed for a PDF ebook.

You can probably put elements, images, objects and text over two pages.

Attachment 127584

Hi Gary

Thank you for response. Thanks again for the link for the resources. Much appreciated.

It is for a pdf output. I know reading a pure pdf output we will be reading one page at a time. But I would like to output the e-book as flip-book in which case you will have two pages displayed at one time.

Best Rgds
Kish

Dear "ernie-f"

Your response to my query is fantastic. This is what I wanted to know. Looks like you are the right guy that I need to speak to for a dude like me who is just starting on publishing e-book, magazine, newsletter and print books. I need to get some standard templates that I can follow. By the way I am using Pro X17.

Will you be so kind enough so send me a template with some dummy pages in which there are mix double-spread and single pages that is setup correctly so that I can use it to follow? I need a template say for creating a book to be printed by a printers hence need the bleed, safety margins set as well.

With this template I can then modify for say e-book or any other output.

There was one other question that I started in another thread titled "Headers and Footers" regarding on how do u go about creating them in a true DTP sense using Xara. Can u please provide your response in that thread so that all answers related to this topic will be in one place. Gary Priester, Acron have also given their input. Your valuable input will be much appreciated in this thread to so many of us who may starting out.

Thanks alot...hep much apprecaited.
Best Rgds
Kish

Hello, Kish. Remember,

I’m a professional graphic artist.

Everything I do is paid for. Here I gave you the most important stations for free.
Garry and Acorn did the same.

Now it’s up to you to learn something from it. As written on my homepage (AGB) I demand 65,00 EUR per hour for further support.
There’s nothing free, only the death. For this You pay with Your life.

And YES, you can do headers and footers in Xara.

The best thing you do is deal with Xara and learn it. Then came back for questions.

I never will do a template for people to charge my work for free.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ernie-f

Hello, Kish. Remember,

I’m a professional graphic artist.

Everything I do is paid for. Here I gave you the most important stations for free.
Garry and Acorn did the same.

Now it’s up to you to learn something from it. As written on my homepage (AGB) I demand 65,00 EUR per hour for further support.
There’s nothing free, only the death. For this You pay with Your life.

And YES, you can do headers and footers in Xara.

The best thing you do is deal with Xara and learn it. Then came back for questions.

I never will do a template for people to charge my work for free.

---

Kudos ernie.
For those interested my hourly rate is £50 and I accept commissions where I will negotiate.

I rarely do freebies and prefer to explain a technique so you can learn from it and develop in ways unimagined. Otherwise, you end up with endless requests to alter/tweak/redesign it all over, all for free.

Acorn

Hi

Ok got your point. Thanks for the help so far.
Rgds
Kish

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Acorn

Kudos ernie.
For those interested my hourly rate is £50 and I accept commissions where I will negotiate.

I rarely do freebies and prefer to explain a technique so you can learn from it and develop in ways unimagined. Otherwise, you end up with endless requests to alter/tweak/redesign it all over, all for free.

Acorn

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Right point of view.
I’m happy to help, but when it comes to something you can learn for yourself, I’m not willing to do a job for someone else for nothing.

I live on what I do. It secures my livelihood.

Look at this link and mouse over Tutorials to see a listing of excellent tutorials. There is one on typesetting and a couple on page design that can help you.

Overall, XaraXhris has a series of excellent YouTube tutorials on using Xara Designer Pro X.

And there are also tutorials on XaraXone.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by browj2

Look at this link and mouse over Tutorials to see a listing of excellent tutorials. There is one on typesetting and a couple on page design that can help you.

Overall, XaraXhris has a series of excellent YouTube tutorials on using Xara Designer Pro X.

And there are also tutorials on XaraXone.

---

Thanks a lot will look into these links. Much appreciated.

My Xara based DTPing is pretty straight forward. I use standard two column layout with border art, full page art, half page art, quarter page art, white background with black text around 11 point so as not to be too small, easily readable. Because Xara isn't a full DTP program, I place in page numbers manually. I primarily design for PDF, but sometimes the PDF is specifcally optimized for print, and then I use PDF/x1a format at 300 dpi and printers marks. Here's a free tabletop roleplaying game adventure module I created using Xara, and is what my typical product looks like. You can download it here, though you may have to create a customer account to get it - it's FREE.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product...erm=rude+awake