Release of the Xara Cloud

Hi all,

Firstly apologies for the delay, this post is long overdue in announcing the launch of the Xara Cloud (previously called The Online Designer)! I know there's a lot of criticism and confusion surrounded the launch so I just want to make a post to clear the water as much as possible and answer any questions you might have the best I can!

Coming out of Beta and Launching XC
We have officially come out of Beta, but that certainly doesn't mean the end of development! We still have a lots of features that are being added and more content is being added weekly. There hasn't been a big marketing push yet whilst we are still working on a lot of aspects such as the website but this is to come soon. You can consider it a soft launch :)

The purpose of Xara Cloud
This is something that I want to clarify and be transparent on as I know it's been fairly ambiguous up until now. The Xara Cloud is a rich content document creator and editor aimed at businesses. It's core feature set is built around creating documents, presentations, social media posts, spec sheets, print documents and more. It doesn't have much in the way of vector drawing tools, nor in creating websites and that's not an area that would be focused on either. It can however open any Xara .xar or .web file and make limited edits and additions. I know this isn't the background of a lot of the members of TalkGraphics but I want to just make this clear so when we talk about feature sets or what's high on the wishlist.

The website is still being work on and a lot of the points under the pricing page need to be explained / detailed. Unfortunately I have no control or say over the pricing / contents of the website but I still constantly chase marketing to have this improved.

If you have any questions I'd be more than happy to answer them.

Cheers
Rob

thanks Rob [bet you have been busy :)] all this is good to know

Hi Rob

I suspect the biggest question is WHAT ABOUT WEB DESIGNER and DESIGNER PRO X? What is the status/priority of these products?

The 15.1 patch is currently with Magix awaiting the installers to be built and pass testing (on their side). Apologies I know many users are waiting for these to be released and we have been chasing them (daily) now and will continue to do so. It should be due any day now...

Development wise the priority currently is still the Xara Cloud but there is more content that is coming for the desktop version. Just to clarify, development for the desktop hasn't stopped, and more features are in the pipeline for it.

also good to know.. if a little too late for some

Thanks for the heads-up Rob,

As for the desktop version I hope it's more "features" instead of "content"

Thanks for the update Rob ....

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The purpose of Xara Cloud

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This is something that I want to clarify and be transparent on as I know it's been fairly ambiguous up until now.

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Couldn't agree more.

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The Xara Cloud is a rich content document creator and editor aimed at businesses. It's core feature set is built around creating documents, presentations, social media posts, spec sheets, print documents and more. It doesn't have much in the way of vector drawing tools, nor in creating websites and that's not an area that would be focused on either. It can however open any Xara .xar or .web file and make limited edits and additions. I know this isn't the background of a lot of the members of TalkGraphics but I want to just make this clear so when we talk about feature sets or what's high on the wishlist.

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"I know this isn't the background of a lot of the members of TalkGraphics" .... Probably less than 5%?

Most TG members use Xara to create vector graphics. Over recent years Xara has endeavored to also create print & website capability, with various success but to the detriment of vector enthusiasts.

My mistaken belief was that Online Designer would compliment Xara Designer and allow real time editing of website content between client/designer similar to a CMS system.

I must admit to now being completely confused re the purpose of Xara Cloud and totally depressed re Xara vector program being relegated to the backwaters to shrivel and die.

Thanks for the info Rob. I use Xara almost exclusively on my desktop machine. For my needs the Xara Cloud doesn't sound like something I could use, maybe if I were a business or wanted to edit a document it might be useful.

Rod there is a farm load of users in Adobe Muse that are pissed that can potentially be Xara users. How is Magix making use of this opportunity? Also I do not want any photo filters for the next update of web designer, give us the real beef. There are tons of comments and requests on Dear Xara that can be implemented.

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Originally Posted by haakoo

As for the desktop version I hope it's more "features" instead of "content"

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Me too. I do know of a couple of features and improvements in the pipeline although not sure when they will be ready for release. Content is an ongoing process (and unlike features don't break other things in the process of building them) so with any release there should be more content. This doesn't affect feature development though as they are different departments to the content team.

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Originally Posted by Egg Bramhill

My mistaken belief was that Online Designer would compliment Xara Designer and allow real time editing of website content between client/designer similar to a CMS system.

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You can use Xara Cloud in line with Web Designer / Designer Pro as a means to edit a website on the fly / use on devices the desktop product doesn't support, such as Macs and Linux, but we don't have too many features built around this. For example you can't currently edit NavBars / insert widgets but these are certainly do-able.

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Originally Posted by behzad

Rod there is a farm load of users in Adobe Muse that are pissed that can potentially be Xara users. How is Magix making use of this opportunity? Also I do not want any photo filters for the next update of web designer, give us the real beef. There are tons of comments and requests on Dear Xara that can be implemented.

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Good question, although I unfortunately couldn't say anything on this. My background is technical support so I don't hear what happens in marketing / sales often. There is a lot of good suggestions in the Dear Xara section for desktop products and something I constantly push for when they take into consideration what to develop for the desktop version. I'll do my best to keep you guys in the picture when it comes to discussing feature sets.

My focus at the moment is the Xara Cloud currently. You guys know I don't disagree with you when it comes to desktop development, but let's keep the focus of this section of the forums on the Xara Cloud :)

Cheers
Rob