Tip: Use the Pasteboard...

[covoxer]

If I have chosen to hide a layer in the designer, why does it export that layer and make it visible?
Paul

And why would you put some design elements into your design that you don't want to be exported?
Seriously though, this way we make sure that all layers are exported correctly even if you had disabled some of them during your work.
For example, you have complex graphics placed on several layers and you are editing one element. You have hidden all the other layers in WD to easily work with what you need. Then, in some point of work you want to look on preview. Now, you simply click preview and see your site. If we did it your way, you would have to show all layers before preview, and then hide them again. Not very productive approach if you do preview often.
Another example. Multi page file. Say 50 pages. How can you be sure that all correct layers on all pages are visible? Can you? So, if we did it your way, then you would need to look at every page before you export to make sure nothing is missing. Not very effective approach I think.

Probably ideally, there could be a separate flag for layer indicating it as exportable or not. But this would add some bloat to the layers gallery, which we don't think is that necessary.

[pauland]

And why would you put some design elements into your design that you don't want to be exported?

Well, people are having to put elements off the page to keep them for notes, or to keep reference images, etc intact with the design.

You have a point, I have a point and probably the most effective point is that the layer handling in XWD and Xtreme is not as good as it could be.

In Flash I'd probably make such a layer a guide layer which makes it available in the design for the purposes of reference, but it's not exported as part of the final design. It's great for experimentation allowing people to work on a design, and consider alternatives yet retain elements on guide layers for possible use later.

Imagine being able to work on a complex design in XWD or Xtreme and be able to annotate it invisibly, or be able to present alternative options to a client at ease?

It's a VERY useful feature, regularly used and definitely not bloat.

Paul

[jclements]

Ive used Ross's suggestion quite bit in Xara and Corel (like Steve). It is a good method for template instructions, especially when sharing the templates with others.

I'm going to be putting snippet code on the pasteboard of templates and keep it there until publishing the "final" version.





Related to hidden objects and layers.
You do have to be careful, especially when importing Xara files. Examine them carefully, especially if you haven't looked them for a long time. I reported what I thought was bug last week. I couldn't figure out why some PopUp Photos wouldn't work and others would. There was a rectangle with no outline or fill that was on the top layer and it overlapped objects beneath it. In essence it was "masking" over the popups and making them inoperable.

JC

[BQ]

Nice tip Ross...and you even have spell-check.

[Charles Moir]

Paul (who doesn't understand why Xtreme and XWD insists on exporting hidden layers)

Have a look at the Intro document page 2, or better still page 3, and look at all the hidden layers.

These are all the pop-up and rollover effects. They have to be turned off just in order to work on the main document (you turn them on when you want to edit the pop-up).

So the normal working case is to have lots of hidden layers, that have to be exported into the HTML.

[pauland]

Aha!

Thanks Charles. Layers are a tricky business.