My 2-penny'th. I'd go with Risto's no. 2- Customisable stroke shapes, and add:
1) Multiple pages in a single file. This could be simply storing multiple semi-independent one page docs (with independent page sizes etc.) in a single file, i.e. rather like directly saving/loading to a zip archive. True multi-page (with landscape/portrait control per page) would be nice though.
2a) True stroke shapes for object outlines (like the outline pen attributes in CorelDraw). Could be achieved with:
2b) A "seamless" option for custom brushes that offers proper seamless rendering of the brushed line, whereas currently the user only has the option of setting a tiny brush step and hoping the line comes out smooth, which often fails on sharp line corners and is brutally inefficient.
3) Dare I say fully customisable natural media stroke support a la Expression? personally I don't have the talent to use these, but I bet the true artists out there could achieve remarkable things with this capability added to Xara's current toolset.
4) Strive wherever possible to make the tools more "orthogonal". What I mean by this is-
a) All options work everywhere they possibly can.
b) Similar tools work the same, with the same range of controls.
Examples would be:
1) Why can't I add a bevel to a contoured shape, and vice-versa? If added on the same "side" (e.g. an external bevel on an external contour) the bevel would simply treat the last countour step shape as it's starting shape. If on the opposite side (internal added to external) the two effects would work independently.
2) As already mentioned, give the transparency tool ALL the same control options as the fill tool, inc. custom transparency stations.
5) A "power" option for the std. toolbar layouts, designed for large screens with a lot more of the tools on offer by default.
6) More intelligent toolbar layout control. At the moment if toolbars at the top of the screen are placed anywhere other than stacked from the left, they are treated as in a fixed position.
This means a toolbar at (say) the right of the Xara window will be clipped off if the main window size is reduced, rather than the toolbar being moved inwards to keep all the tools visible.
7) The ability to easily save/export/import toolbar layouts. This would make setting up multiple users, and maintaining a setup across upgrades much easier.
8) An option to control grid symbol size and colour. The current blue is pretty intrusive.
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