Leaving XWD Because of Immense Frustration

[akubbeng]

Lots of people are complaining that this is much too much work ........ What are the alternatives?

Well Keith, as we know Xara's own Menu Maker can do the job.

Create your multi-level menu in there and paste the code into your Web Designer web page. This cheap ($24.99 US) and fast option was already suggested several times on the forum and could be of interest for some.
At least until Web Designer will have this - or similar - functionality integrated, as referred to by Cursor and others.

By the way, appreciate your time and energy in creating this tutorial, Cursor.

[w00dy]

Try placeholders and Easy Button & Menu Creator (www.blumentals.net) ... I really do like Web Designer .... after using Xtreme, there is a minimal learning curve but I am not making hard work of it.

[slavelle]

I don't agree about the drop down menu being "out of style". There are still a ton of sites being produced that have them. That said, too complicated a menu system is obnoxious and unnecessary.

I DON'T like that horizontal menu of additional choices that comes up under a menu item. If you don't keep your mouse right in the horizontal track of items, then they typically all go away, and it's hard to associate them to the menu they go with (like what you were looking at/for) since all submenus show up in the same horizontal space, regardless of which item was selected.

People are used to this drop down menu interdfae because it's the way that every OS works to some degree, as well as most forums (look up at the top of this page at the search and quicklinks menus - and vbulletin is about the most popular forum around.

For me, the prebuilt options aren't optimal, as they have a certain look about them that I don't really care for - some too simple, and some create menus that look dated at best, with limited options for changes.

As mentioned above, it's not like it's EASY to create these using CSS either. In fact, just getting a basic nav bar to work and line up in all broswers can be quite an endevor. I've done several and each time, I want to tear my hair out by the roots with pixel alignment problems, etc.

Just do a search for "suckerfish" menus if you want to see what a pain it can be. However, from a maintenance perspective, once they are setup, it's pretty easy to reorganize, add, or delete menu items or add entirely new dropdowns without having to address the whole site.

I put together a video yesterday about how to EASILY build up a nav bar with drop downs, but keeping it VERY simple. the whole vid was only eight minutes long and created a basic nav bar with two drops, sticking to text hovers and simple graphics.

Unfortunately, my avi -> swf converter ate the file and I wasn't able to post it. For as many people as I've seen report how hard this is, I will likely redo the video to assist.

[cursor]

I'll certainl look forward to the publication of your redone video, slavelle. As always, thanks for your input. =)

[Boy]

Some sites, just as this one that was posted by jagweb7 in the "Show Us Your Sites" thread, are very suitable to use a multi-level navbar, because it allows very easy navigation to specific information that is searched for by the visitor.

Some sites require some more browsing to acquaint the visitor with the company, its services/products, its history etc. But this site seems to be aimed more at people who already know about the company but need some additional information about specific facts or events.

[w00dy]

Doesn't display properly in Chrome for me.

[infoseek]

I am Leaving Xara Web Designer... because of the massive frustration I am having with the program... and its idiosyncrasies.... and jumbled workarounds... and conflicting information here on the forums.

I have spent over 80 hours trying to make a fairly simple web site with cascading menus. Ive actually paid people to help me with Xara and their work has been as unpredictable as the program, and Ive had several people kind enough to try to help me off-line..and "Thank You" to them....but to no avail...My web site is dead, unworkable and unstable.

I am NOT COMING BACK till Xara makes a corporate commitment to make a comprehensive, bulletproof, non-assuming, easy to understand, not missing any steps, explaining it all, beginners TRAINING VIDEO on how to master its menu buttons, rollovers, popups and ESPECIALLY its cascading menu methodology with the 10 rules you must implement to make it work.

I am tired of workarounds, mis-information, corrections, and temporarily wrong information. There are a large number of very dedicated, helpful, and intelligent people working with integrity here in the forum...but I dont think I can take working with XWD any further till the company comes out with a major fix release or some training that doesnt talk over our heads like this all works just simply fine...and forgets to tell us 5 steps in between that MUST be followed...

Ill be back maybe in a month maybe...after I have cooled down with the frustrations with V5.01 of this software...and the jumble of well meaning unsuccessful workarounds.

Suzzie

That's interesting . . . . . I was able to do everything you had trouble with in less than 2 hours. Absolute beginner too :-)

[pauland]

That's interesting . . . . . I was able to do everything you had trouble with in less than 2 hours. Absolute beginner too :-)

Two hours to create menus in any program isn't great. Suzzie does have a point and for anyone having problems it's easy to see things as being worse than they really are.

[ChrisBro]

Well what a thread, firstly Cursor you are an absolute star always there to lend a hand and help out in any way you can I think your ace. On this occassion its a shame the op hasn't had the respect for you taking so much time to try and help out to even bother posting a reply to your hard work.

I haven't been around for a few weeks now busy creating websites for my client list with this fantastic software, allmy clients are quite a close knit community and know each other so when one website was updated they all wanted it doing great new for me.

Over complicated nav bars are just that over complicated not needed and a waste of everyones time, if Xara thought it would have been a useful feature Im sure they would have incorporated it esily some where along the line, however I think we shouldn't lose focus on what Xara is and who it is aimed at, to me (and I may be wrong) it has been designed with drag and drop capability to make life easy for the "inexperienced" web designer or home user, these bloated nav bars are certainly not something an inexperienced user should be looking to create.

I think this time this problem is outside the realm of what WD was designed to do, and as usual the absolute stars that monitor this forum are trying their hardest to find a workaround to keep people happy personally I wouldn't bother. If its that important for this person to have this bloated nav bar then she simply has 2 choices:

a/ Go away and learn all about Dreamweaver and Expression Web maybe in around 6 months she will have the necessary coding skills to achieve what she is after.

b/ Open the purse and pay a pro

To me this whole scenario is a simple as that, I may be looking at things wrong it wouldn't be the first time so appologies if you disagree with me that fact she hasn't even offered a simple thankyou to Cursor says it all to me frustration or not they guys here dont work for Xara and get no financial recompense for the hours they put in trying to help people simple manners cost nothing.

Well done Cursor patt on the back to you

I will find your tut extremely useful but have to say I try my hardest to stay away from these bloatlike features that at the end of the day have no clear benefit to anything anyhow.

Rant over..........

[pauland]

I think it's always best when we address issues and concerns and not get personal.