In Praise Of Xara

**jimhanus** · 31 March 2010, 12:58 PM

There's been a lot of complaining lately about several things, mostly Web Designer 6 doesn't do what I want, or it's too much money and I'll wait for the next version. Well here's my 2 cents worth. Between XX5 and WD5/6 I might have $150 US invested in software. Yesterday I made probably double that amount in work directly from this software. I did website updates, made a magnetic sign for the side of a car, made vinyl graphics for 3 sides of a truck, updated logos for print and web, started a tri-fold 2-sided brochure for properties for lease. I'll finish the tri-fold today and do some more web updates. I use these 2 softwares (is that a word?) every day and couldn't be without them (and Paintshop Pro). There are a lot of features I still can't quite get the hang of using, but that's my intelligence getting in the way, not the software's fault. If I want a car that goes 150mph I don't buy a car that goes 120mph, keep it floored, and wish it makes it to 150. If I need 150 I buy 150. If I need to edit html, I buy a product that can edit html, not one that doesn't and keep wishing that it does. I still have to use FrontPage (now Expression) to update sites made with it and dread having to use it. Full version of Expression is $599 US, $349 US upgrade. Don't think I'll be going there any time soon.
Thanks Xara!

Jim

**steve.ledger** · 31 March 2010, 01:05 PM

Absolutely agree. And this is how all professionals approach their budgets for tools of the trade.

Just one website job (for example) can easily pay for the cost of Xara Xtreme Pro! And look at the power you still have when the job is done..

**ChrisBro** · 31 March 2010, 01:13 PM

110% right Jim and very well said

WD6 is an excellent piece of software and deoes what it is supposed to do very very well indeed.

Your attitude to costs is spot on as well, I probably like you and Steve spend well more money than I care to mention on software and hardware every year but these are the "tools of my trade", have never made a loss yet and have no plans to do so

I also hate opening Dreamweaver or Expression Web as well now, I am always glad when I am shutting it down and getting back to XXP5 or WD6.

Chris

**Squeaky** · 31 March 2010, 01:21 PM

I agree. Xtreme Pro is my Swiss army knife and Xara Web Designer is genius. There are areas they could both improve but the bottom line is that I still use Xara products when I have the choice of anything else to make my living with.

One slight winge is that XXP 6 will make web designer 6 obsolete but then again £25 is not a bad rental price

**bcire68** · 31 March 2010, 01:42 PM

Jim,

I have to agree with you that XWD6 is excelent value for money. I also agree that it is an excelent tool that can allow someone to produce quality websites in a very short time, making someone money faster than in other programs. I for one love this program and if I didn't I wouldn't have purchased it. However there are some things about the new functionality that I wish worked differntly (or IMHO better). I don't think that this is complaining necessarily, even when it is posted on this forum. I like to think of it as constructive criticisim. As most talkgraphics veterans are aware, the great team at Xara read these forums and pay attention to what their end users are saying. It's one of the things that makes Xara products so great.

In support of my stand, I submit that even the great Guru of Xara (Gary Priester) himself, has things about the products that he doesn't like. From his latest workbook.

"That said, as a former CorelDRAW user (from 1990), I really miss the left click for fill and right click for outline color without the tedious pop up menus. And I will never accept the Spacebar = Push Tool instead of selecting the last selected tool. I would prefer a two tier list of Page Options that allow users to customize the program. XaReg (available for free in the Shareware Page) addresses some of these complaints. But Xara should not have to rely on users to create workarounds for these omissions. The gadget menu in the Designs Gallery has a lot of potential, but still needs a lot of work. And the simplified color palette is still disappointing. Especially compared to how other graphics programs handle color menus."

Eric

**Seagull** · 31 March 2010, 02:39 PM

«I really miss the left click for fill and right click for outline color without the tedious pop up menus»

Hello Eric..........download XaReg........the very first option under the general tag deals with this very effectivly. Ask and you shall receive thanks to the great work of a couple of anonymous members

**bcire68** · 31 March 2010, 02:53 PM

Hi Seagull,

I have XaReg. I'm not the author of those comments, and I'm not sure that you read my post completely. If you had you would know that I was quoting Gary Priester and if you had continued to read you would see the rest of his comment.

"XaReg (available for free in the Shareware Page) addresses some of these complaints. But Xara should not have to rely on users to create workarounds for these omissions."

My point is that you can be fully behind a product (Who could be more behind a product than Gary is behind Xara?) and still think it needs improvement. Is this complaining?

Eric

**Intbel** · 31 March 2010, 07:56 PM

[QUOTE=Seagull;356183]«I really miss the left click for fill and right click for outline color without the tedious pop up menus»

Me also. I never knew there is a workaround for that.
Thnx Frank.

**Karateed** · 31 March 2010, 08:47 PM

Hi Folks,

As far as I'm concerned, this forum is not about complaints. It's about a great community supporting an even greater product. It doesn't matter which product you own and support, they could all use some improvements. That's not a complaint, it's just that the users here are so versatile with the programs they use that they keep coming up with new ways of using them and seeing how a tweak here and a tweak there would improve functionality of a program.

I think the fact that Xara staff look in on this forum from time to time (read very frequently I would say) is a testament that they are not only willing to try to augment their programs but do so with input from the ones that matter, namely the users, after all, who better knows what they want than the users? Many other companies just pay that lip service.

By looking and playing with WD6, it's obvious that Xara takes this forum very seriously and we should all be extremely grateful for that, it's very uncommon in the business world.

All I have left to say is that XARA ROCKS!!!!

**BobfromCA** · 31 March 2010, 09:28 PM

I charge $95 for a "Business Card" 1 page site... includes hosting for 1 yr. and URL reg. 1 yr. -- with Xara, it takes me less than an hour to create. Most clients eventually want to add pages at $50-$100/pg... Everyone should have a website and with Xara, I'm making that happen. Not a bad ROI! :-)