Online Designer beat feature is BRILLIANT

EDIT: Ack! Sorry about the wonky title.

Thank you so, so much for putting this feature into Web Designer/Designer Pro. I've wanted to be able to do this for such a long time -- after years of headaches, trying to rig up a client editing solution. CMSes are a pain in the bahooky 'cause I'm not a programmer, and I want the content to show in my own design. This takes care of that beautifully.

It takes a bit to explain the process to a non-geek, but I'm confident that once they go through the steps once it'll all seem simple and obvious, since the Online Designer is so visually oriented.

I know it's just a beta, but please keep and develop this feature, because it's superb, very well done, and there's nothing else out there like it.

My one request (aside from "please, please keep it!") is that the client editing function remain free. I've paid a fair chunk for Designer Pro and am happy about it, but I don't want clients to also pay for this. (It's difficult enough to explain hosting and domains without adding another layer of complexity about what they need to sign up to and pay for. "But I'm paying you to design it. Who are Xara?")

Thanks for your great work!

I am not crazy about letting clients fiddle with their website. Even though the online designer is great, it still involves some learning curve. As you can see from this video, it is quite complex for a non tech savy user like a client who needs to focus on their business rather than trying to be a web designer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCjICjRi8p4

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Originally Posted by hamishmacdonald

My one request (aside from "please, please keep it!") is that the client editing function remain free. I've paid a fair chunk for Designer Pro and am happy about it, but I don't want clients to also pay for this. (It's difficult enough to explain hosting and domains without adding another layer of complexity about what they need to sign up to and pay for. "But I'm paying you to design it. Who are Xara?")

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If companies are to develop features, they need to make money from them. Is it fair that Xara users who may never need this feature to be paying for it's development?

If you don't want your clients to be faced with paying for an update licence, there's an easy solution that makes you look good. Simply offer two prices for your website design. Price X for a design only you can change, price X + Xara online licence for a site they can change themselves. Then you buy the license for them.

So a license cost, should it ever be introduced, needn't be a problem. Customers appreciate things they have to pay for.

Companies have no problem with features that earn them money. They dump features that cost them money.

Not a bad idea Pauland. How much is the cost?

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Originally Posted by behzad

Not a bad idea Pauland. How much is the cost?

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There is no cost. There may be a cost in the future, or there may not.

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Originally Posted by pauland

If companies are to develop features, they need to make money from them. Is it fair that Xara users who may never need this feature to be paying for it's development?

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For years now Xara has been dumping photo filters and dubious other effects including symbols and some seriously rotten web templates inter alia all wrapped up as new and exciting "features" into the program, features that I've never wanted, never needed and, having seen them, never used. But I've paid for them anyway. Is it fair that Xara users who may never need this feature to be paying for it's development? I've paid for them because I've, up to now, believed in supporting the company I thought was devoted to the premise of creating excellence in vector illustration. That maybe once upon a time was Xara's ethic, it isn't Magix's. XDPX11 was my last contribution to the collection plate. I won't be paying again. We, the designers and illustrators, are not Magix's cash cow and, frankly, the work I do now in X11 I could have done in a much older version and saved myself a bunch of money over the years. But for a long time I really was a devoted fanboi.

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Originally Posted by pauland

Companies have no problem with features that earn them money. They dump features that cost them money.

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Well at least that explains why we get mickey mouse symbols and photos instead of better drawing and dtp tools.

+1

In truth, my business is illustration, and sites I've done for others have just been favours -- favours I invariably later regret taking on. It's so hard for other people to create sites, and relatively easy for me -- thanks to programs like Xara Designer -- so I want to help. The problem, though, is the inevitable maintenance of these sites. (One day I'll learn to just say no in the first place, and save the fun of playing with Xara for my own site!)

Back to the point...

The thinking behind Online Designer is ace, because users who sign up for a client account are only able to change text and pictures, so I'm not asking them to "design" their website at all. I'm not trying to give away Xara's features to them; on the contrary, I want them safely constrained to making minor edits.

I do agree that developers should be supported, and that's why I upgraded to the bigger, better Xara package. But I'd rather other people didn't have to pay, too, for the sites I've created in Xara Designer.

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Originally Posted by hamishmacdonald

It's so hard for other people to create sites

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i'd change that to

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It's so hard for other people to create good sites

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