Galleries poorly implemented

[Kevin Clifford]

As a new user, the Galleries seem difficult to use and poorly designed. The only way to get items into some of the Galleries appears to be to locate a folder on the hard disc and then import some sort of record of what's in that folder. If you add further items to that folder they don't show up. What's wrong with a gallery like Serif's Webplus where you simply drag objects in and out of it?

The other thing that is obviously missing for me is some form of recording font styles and formatting in a palette so that it can be easily applied to future text. Every DTP programs and word processing program has this facility.

Don't get me wrong XWD has some tremendous parts that other companies I suspect have failed or struggled to implement - such as text wrap (repel text) and it import facilities (the PDF import allowing text changes is truly outstanding and demonstrates that XWD surely was designed from scratch to work with Postscript). Nevertheless, there are other parts that are not so clever. I know the same applies to all programs but I'm just showng my frustration because at first I though I'd discovered the killer web designer...

[gwpriester]

Welcome to the Web Designer conference Kevin

You can create a folder of designs, images, whatever. Then in the Designs Gallery press Disc Designs... Browse to your folder, and press Add.

Web Designer will display a dialog asking if you want an Index for this folder. Say Yes and the folder will appear at the bottom of the Designs Gallery.

I agree with your designer for a way to apply styles to text. Here is how I work around this. Create a small example of text with all the sizes, styles, and fonts you want.

Select the appropriate text and copy it to the clipboard. Select the text you want to apply the style to and Edit > Paste Attributes or Shift Ctrl a.

For sure an eye dropper tool like Illustrator would be terrific. But then there are many things Illustrator cannot do.

[Kevin Clifford]

Gary,
Thanks, but as I said this method indexes the items in the folder. Apart from being a bit involved (compared to drag & drop) if you add further items to that folder the Gallery doesn't know they are there. Just seems an old fashioned and bit convoluted way of doing things. Maybe improve in the future?

[cursor]

If you add further items to that folder they don't show up.

You may already know this, but I'll post anyway.

Updating the contents of a Design Gallery folder necessarily involves the creation of thumbnail images. After dragging and dropping your new designs into a folder that has already been introduced to Xara Web Designer, simply click the Disk designs button, navigate to the target folder, then click the Update button. Your new thumbnail images will be created.

[slavelle]

There are absolutely limitations to certain aspects to the program. I think, like iwth a lot of apps, the templates and examples are provided to show an example of some of the things the program can do. Maybe you only do a few pics here and there with these techniques.

Where XWD does well in its ability to allow for HTML/flash/java/whatever code to be placed in the design. If there is a particular gallery that you like the way it works, then you can plug it in, and it's not really even that hard. I've seen a few done with Simple Viewer and it's pretty impressive and looks fairly easy to implement.

There are a number of Flash slideshows and Java list-based shows available for free and they really open up some options for what can be done with Xara.

See if these options don't make you feel a little better about your purchase. There are happy mediums to be found.

Hope this helps.

[ss-kalm]

..... Every DTP programs and word processing program has this facility ....

Xara Web Designer is neither a DTP or a word processor. Expensive CAD systems do NOT have this facility either, but they aren't DTP or word processors either .......

[Kevin Clifford]

Keith,
XWD certainly appears to have has a lot of aspects of a DTP program to me - it's a lot nearer to a DTP program in its concept than the old way of typing HTML code into Notepad.

You draw a box on screen with a tool and click on another menu to put colour in it. You import a picture that you drag around on screen and wrap text around it. That's a DTP program to me that instead of converting the program's internal code into Postscript converts it into HTML.

[covoxer]

Kevin, XWD is essentially a graphics application. There is a difference between graphics and DTP software.

[slavelle]

But covoxer, you have to admit that although it has its roots in graphic design, it is absolutely marketing as a website creator. Xtreme Pro is marketed as a graphic creation studio, but also a place to make things like business card, brochures, multi-page documents, and now websites. Obviously, with the inclusion of such features as color seperation, Pantone matching pallettes, PDF/X export and other things of this nature, it is being pushed as an application you would send things "off to print" - this sounds like the purpose of a DTP app. - and Xtreme Pro 5 doesn't have these facilities either.

While not all things to all people, it would be REALLY handy to have a few settings that can be stored. I mean, the application already has the ability to copy the formatting of a selected bit of text, it already has the ability to assign names to things - why not take that a step further and combine the two, add a dropdown menu with the saved formats listed and allow us to use that, rather than having to scroll up to another page where you "think" you used that format to copy it.

It would REALLY nice if there were a way to assign a style like that and modify from a single location (like CSS rules), but I understand that would likely break the WYSIWYG aspect. All I'm looking for is a shorter way to apply a style to something. Like I said, all of the facilities are already pretty much in there, it's a matter of being able to more quickly and easily getting to them.

[covoxer]

But covoxer, you have to admit that although it has its roots in graphic design, it is absolutely marketing as a website creator.

Precisely - it is Web Design program. But I was answering one particular post. My intention was to explain that WD is not closely related to DTP as Kevin had suggested. So, do you say that WD is more like DTP than graphics software?

...and Xtreme Pro 5 doesn't have these facilities either.

Because it is not a DTP.

...it would be REALLY handy...

Did I say it wouldn't? I just explain why this feature is not implemented in the first place, as it is less important for graphics software than some other features that, on the other hand are not important for DTP.

It would REALLY nice if there were a way to assign a style

Yes, agree.

but I understand that would likely break the WYSIWYG aspect.

No, no problem with WYSISYG if the styles concept would be implemented in the WD/Xtreme.