Can I say how much I hate.. ?

[pauland]

.. The align dialog Box.

It should be a dockable panel, not a floating one and/or it should be available with other menu panels. I won't bother to ask for real time alignment guides..

..The lack of nested layers.

Examples courtesy of Flash 8..


OK, I feel better now..

[Big Frank]

Overall, I like the functionality of the Alignment dialog, but...

I have two monitors side by side with my Xara window full-screen in the left monitor and all my galleries open in the right monitor, by default. There is one thing I hate over and above everything else about the Alignment toolbar. Let's say you launch it and leave it open. Then you launch or select another toolbar like a Bitmap or Layer Gallery which then sits on top of it. The Alignment toolbar button is now greyed out so you can no longer select it. But because the dialog is behind all of your other dialogs you don't know where it is. You have effectively lost it unless you close all other toolbars / galleries until you find the one it is behind. That sucks über bitter lemons in my book.

[Albacore]

Do you really like the user interface of Flash compared to Xtreme's? If you had stated you liked Illy's instead of Xara's I might not replied and said "well everyone has their own opinions" and left it like that but when you have to work in such a small space due to the terrible user interface set up I have to strongly disaggree. When Xtreme came out with its dockable galleries etc. the first questions in this forum was how do we make them undockable.

Nested layers I would say is something that I would like but its not a the top of the list. The aligment tool works and it works easily and it can be brought to use with the press of 3 Keys so the only difference is that the operation of the aligment tool is that you have to use drop down boxes instead of a graphic button and if that is your complaint thats sad.

[pauland]

Do you really like the user interface of Flash compared to Xtreme's? If you had stated you liked Illy's instead of Xara's I might not replied and said "well everyone has their own opinions" and left it like that but when you have to work in such a small space due to the terrible user interface set up I have to strongly disaggree. When Xtreme came out with its dockable galleries etc. the first questions in this forum was how do we make them undockable.

Well, I don't have AI; Flash has these features so it's easy to use them as an example. I think it's perfectly reasonable to illustrate a point using parts of the Flash interface - it doesn't mean make Xtreme the same as Flash. Where did you get that idea from?

Nested layers I would say is something that I would like but its not a the top of the list.

I like to use Xara to build graphic assets and assemble them according to their use. If I'm making a web design, I might use one layer for individual assets, another layer as a web page background template, another layer as an alternative template, another layer to hold a populated page using Template 'A' as the layout, another layer shows the populated page using template 'B' as a layout in the background, etc.. As I go along I'm flipping between pages and assets and there is a natural hierarchy in my design. I might also have print designs sharing the same assets for the customer. Layers are a real irritation for me.

I'd like to be able to simulate my web pages just by turning on and off the visibility of a layer folder, rather than flip the visibility of many layers.

If Xara really got their act together we could have poor mans multi-page layout using nested layers.

The aligment tool works and it works easily and it can be brought to use with the press of 3 Keys so the only difference is that the operation of the aligment tool is that you have to use drop down boxes instead of a graphic button and if that is your complaint thats sad.

Well maybe I am sad. Why am I looking for a lost dialog that loses visibility and requires me to click around drop downs and buttons, when I can have a docked panel that would always be visible (my choice) and can do the same with a single click. If that's sad, that's exactly what I am.

Paul

[Egg Bramhill]

It's strange how different users have different preferences. I loathe docking panels or more accuratly floating panels that dock automatically. I don't want docked panels, never, ever, at anytime, so please don't have an auto dock! Or at least an option to toggle it on/off. You should see me rant and rave when my Bitmap Gallery suddenly devours half my work space. It's MY workspace you ****, who told you you could **** park yourself ***** there? etc

I prefer Xtremes single click operation to that of Flashs 2 click operation, but it's not something that bothers me greatly either way.

I've never used nested layers in Flash (Used nested library objects tho) and whilst it might be a nice feature, I personaly have never had a layer gallery that long that it needed nesting.

One of the features I think's great about Flash is the ability just to hold down the left mouse button & drag show/hide or lock/unlock layers. The ability to wire frame individual layers is great as well. But all in all Flashs user interface is a nightmare, with so many panels the workarea ends up the size of a postage stamp. Thank god for dual monitor displays.

[amoore]

I'm very happy with Xara's alignment dialog. I find it much easier to read than all those little symbols.

The only complaint I have is the one I keep voicing: there's no option to align to selected object.

Perhaps the solution is to add an "advanced" extension to hold additional options, as in the Color Editor. For example, SWiSHmax allows you to align to the objects' anchors in addition to the standard positions. That could be useful. (The anchor position stays with the object until you specifically change it.)

Of course, SWiSH determines the object's position according to the anchor, no matter where it's placed. And you can't put the anchor just anywhere, as you can in Xara. The possible positions correspond to those in Xara's Origin Position control.

While I was thinking about whether a similar anchor/position/alignment approach would mitigate my problem with the bottom-left ruler origin, it occurred to me that an "anchor magnet" could help out the people who want to snap one part of an object to a particular part of another object. Since I'm not a programmer, I have no idea how feasible that is.

[masque]

I'm with egg on the docking panels, they are a pain in the **** as they dock whether you want them to or not so don't add the alignment menu, which is fine as it is by the way, to the list of stuff you don't dare move about the screen.

[Odat]

I'm very happy with Xara's alignment dialog. I find it much easier to read than all those little symbols.

I like how when you open the dialog, it remains open so that you can perform multiple operations, like if you want to align several groups of objects the same way.

In fact, if I have a peeve about the dialog itself, it's that it's not (yet) correctly implemented in the Linux version of Xara. That'll fix itself eventually, though.

The only complaint I have is the one I keep voicing: there's no option to align to selected object.

I miss this option as well. My main use for Xara is creating graphical UI's for games, etc. The ability to align objects in this way (without the selected object moving) would make this a lot easier.

I used to use Microsoft Image Composer until I found Xara. One of the features of IC that I miss is the ability to lock the position of an object. You could still select it and edit it, just not change it's position. Of course you can simulate this by putting the object on it's own layer and locking the layer for edits, but it's not really the same.

The only thing that really bugs me about Xara is (as others have mentioned) the fact that the origin is the bottom left of everything. After I mock up a layout for a Gui using various objects, I have to break out the calculator and do a bunch of math to figure out where exactly everything is positioned. I understand the reasoning for a bottom left origin, but I still wish there was an option to invert it.

[accessD]

The aligment tool works and ... ... you have to use drop down boxes instead of a graphic button and if that is your complaint thats sad.

No, NO, NO once again !!!!

You shouldn't use dropdown boxes at all !!!

Just try select several objects and Click / Ctrl+Click /Shift+Click on small window with shapes in Alignment dialog. And see what happens.

------------------------------------------------------------
2 pauland

It is not true that you don't like cats. You just can't cook them well

[DukeofThomas]

Do you really like the user interface of Flash compared to Xtreme's? If you had stated you liked Illy's instead of Xara's I might not replied and said "well everyone has their own opinions" and left it like that but when you have to work in such a small space due to the terrible user interface set up I have to strongly disaggree. When Xtreme came out with its dockable galleries etc. the first questions in this forum was how do we make them undockable.

Nested layers I would say is something that I would like but its not a the top of the list. The aligment tool works and it works easily and it can be brought to use with the press of 3 Keys so the only difference is that the operation of the aligment tool is that you have to use drop down boxes instead of a graphic button and if that is your complaint thats sad.

No, it isn't 'sad', it's a completely justified complaint. Drop down menus are a waste of time. They are almost NEVER implemented out of necessity. The ONLY time they are necessary is when the space on the screen is insufficient to show ALL of the options in the drop down menu. So far, having used hundreds of programs, I've never seen that occur. You simply show ALL of the options, immediately, without making the user click, click, and click again, every single time they want to adjust something. It's BAD design. You are plainly unable to think outside of what Xara have given you - now THAT'S sad...