Xara long term?

I seem to be picking up some concern recently in TalkGraphics about the future of Xara. I just had a potential project show up at my doorstep (OK, my phone) today, a replacement for a WordPress site. This organization has seen some work I've done for similar organizations, and we're just starting to talk about it. I'm not looking to switch to something else, and know that an end to updates and new releases won't stop me from soldiering on, but sure would like to have confidence going forward. I am using the subscription 365, and concur with some observers in thinking that would bring me some ongoing updates and new features, but I haven't seen that happening. Not a dealbreaker, just would like to see more things being delivered regularly.

Also, want to give a shout out to users and especially moderators, of this forum. It has been a very good resource for me over the years. Don't yell for help very often, but when I do, I get excellent responses.

Hi Ken

Xara will continue to develop their products and development continues as I write this.

There has been concern that Xara is placing too much attention on their cloud based solution and that the upgrades have been few and far between.

But to the best of my knowledge, Xara is moving forward on developing and supporting their desktop products.

Times change, move with the times or you can not be a service provider. Also do anyone of us know that tomorrow we are alive? NO! so enjoy the ride and develop your understanding and practices with other tools.

Hi Ken - don't worry, we're certainly still working on the desktop products. You can find details on the most recent Web Designer Premium releases @ http://releasenotes.xara.hosting/web-designer/ and there is another update currently in beta testing. Thank you for great support, and thank you also for the well-earned shout-out of the moderators.

Kate Moir @ Xara

Good morning! I greatly appreciate your response, and shall continue to work with XWD, as it fits my needs, and my ability to serve my existing client base now and in the foreseeable future. I quit hand-coding sites when I got my hands on the first Xara release in 2009, after about an hour of exploring and experimenting. I have been able to get several others up to speed who wanted to do their own sites, and they have become as proficient as they need to be, after struggling with other products. Have periodically looked at and experimented a bit with othersoftware products, but I'm spoiled. Thanks, Xara!

Ken, as Gary states much of the complaining is about the annual update path and access to the Online Content Catalogue. This doesn't however mean that you need to abandon Xara. Development is ongoing mostly on the website capabilities which leads others wishing for new vector capabilities feeling ignored.

Currently I see Xara as more than capable to create great looking site and I can't see this altering in the future. You have invested a lot of time learning Xara and I suggest you persevere.

Good morning, Behzad! Thanks for getting back to me. I have a small collection of clients, mostly with related content. Some are low-activity, some pro-bono. I'm long-retired, and for my purposes, XDP365 desktop is the ideal solution. Have moved a couple clients whose needs required move to other solutions, and am happy to do that. In each case, I do everything for 'em, and will continue to do so as long as I can work as quickly and efficiently as Xara enables me to do. Not looking for new projects or tools, just take those that come to my attention that I can handle with the tools I use now. Have gotten my hands dirty with a few other products, none offer advantages over Xara for the kind of work I do, and the kinds of clients I serve.

Super ... that's what I was hoping to hear. I know you've responded quickly in the past when I've posted, and much appreciate that. This forum is outstanding. Thanks, Egg!

Thanks, Gary ... I appreciate your quick response to this post, and to several others I've tossed out there in the past. Glad to hear that development continues; can't say I'm a power user who pushes the program to the edges of its capacity, just very comfortable that I'm working with something that maximizes what I can do and minimizes the time it takes me to do it. And in addition, I'm enthralled with your stereograms, which I encountered before discovering XWD in 2009.

Hi Ken, Sounds great. I too love working with Xara and pretty much do a large % of my commercial work with it. Ever since the adobe cloud came into play I just use my older on Disk version and it does the job. Wordpress is the only platform that I have indulged in and still prefer having total control over my clients sites with Xara. Let us hope that xara will continue to exist and if not, I am sure my current copy will serve me many years into the future until I retire ;) which I am pretty close to doing now lol.