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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    4

    Default Responsive Web Design using Xara

    Hi,
    Responsive Web Design is the need of the hour. All my clients are asking for. Going by Xara's 1 year release cycle, we can expect something about RWD only late next year. That too if RWD is on their roadmap. This timeline might be too late. An earnest request to Xara team to make an intermediate release of DP8 with support for RWD before end 2012.

    VJ Anand - An ardent fan who does not want to look beyond Xara for RWD.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Placitas, New Mexico, USA
    Posts
    41,487

    Default Re: Responsive Web Design using Xara

    This came up recently. It's just a guess, but I would not expect to see this any time soon.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Posts
    4

    Default Re: Responsive Web Design using Xara

    I understand, but I thought I would still give it a try.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Responsive Web Design using Xara

    I'm wondering just how much Responsive Web Design is really needed. Maybe this is a case of sour grapes, since I use Xara and Xara can't make the fluid designs that make up RWD, but is this really the next big thing, or is this something that's being hyped. Is it really better to build this way, or is it just as good to develop separate web pages that are designed specifically for tablets and smart phones (and whatever else may be out there). I notice for example that some of the major news sites switch to mobile versions of their pages, which appear to use less graphics, and text links instead of nav buttons. This seems wise since dl speed may be a consideration on mobile devices. Thoughts?

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Location
    Bracknell, UK
    Posts
    8,659

    Default Re: Responsive Web Design using Xara

    Responsive web design is a big thing. It's about being able to tailor what the user sees to the media - which could be various devices/sizes/formats/print - without having to build a different version for each one, or needing special code to switch web addresses. Importantly this feature is part of web standards and supported by modern browsers, so HTML developers are going to use this ability to optimise their web pages.

    Mobile devices really have two major differences compared to desktops - a need for lightweight pages because data can cost money or downloads are slow, and also a different usage pattern on a touch screen and small display. Mobile sites designed for phones tend to be very lightweight and hone in on the essential data rather than flamboyant graphics. A lot of things that exist on desktop sites are very clumsy on a phone - drop downs, sliders, small buttons.

    So the mindset for mobile websites is different to that on desktops and it's different between phones and tablets. Even if a desktop site is viewable on a tablet, it will be a poor cousin in comparison to one designed just for a tablet (or mobile).

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Bradford, England
    Posts
    1,827

    Default Re: Responsive Web Design using Xara

    As someone who has based a business on xara web designer (now nearing 90 websites with xara) I have had many requests over the past year, the top of the list is CMS - content management so that the client can make changes themselves, blogs and ecommerce, xara is a no no for the fist two but ecommerce with ecwid can be easily achieved to mimic and have almost the functionality of most ecommerce software. Now very, very recently we have been asked about mobile websites and with certain scripts it is a viable thing with xara but responsive sites will never happen with xara webdesigner in it's current form. We are working with wordpress to create some very nice responsive sites and will hopefully have some posted in the non-xara web section of the forum.

    As far as how much responsive websites are needed? I wouldn't say that it is a necessity but let me give you some stats: half of our clients websites have over 50% of visitors from mobile browsers, some (mainly beauty/fashion sites) have over 80% of mobile browser visitors, you can expect that by the end of next year most sites will be visited mainly though mobile browsers, especially with 4G becoming widely available. There are as I see it three options, just have a desktop optimised site only (most phones can still view the sites but the user experience is ok to terrible) have a desktop AND mobile optimised site and a script to re-direct to to the mobile version or have best of all have a responsive site which can be viewed comfortably on any screen size and keep the branding and the way the site is used the same. Responsive sites are of course in their infancy but things change very quickly and I would not be surprised that all major sites will be responsive by the end of the year, microsoft will have their responsive site live very soon as will apple and the rest are sure to follow, people like sony have already done so and it works very well. As an example head over to wordpress theme seller sites and you will see that the majority of new themes/templates are responsive.
    Flawless Form. Faultless Function. Crafted by Cloud

    https://www.cloudwebagency.co.uk

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2000
    Location
    Bracknell, UK
    Posts
    8,659

    Default Re: Responsive Web Design using Xara

    It's not that Xara software has becoming worse at what it does, it's more a case of the world in which it operates changing, very fast.

    I remember when Xara software didn't make websites and it was a remarkable thing to take illustration software and grow it into a multi-page document and website creator. It's not been that long ago.

    Since then, as Sketch says, people now want self-updateable sites that adapt for all kinds of devices.

    It's going to need some thought from Xara to accommodate these wishes, but they are bright people.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Kildare, Ireland
    Posts
    906

    Default Re: Responsive Web Design using Xara

    I have had many requests over the past year, the top of the list is CMS - content management so that the client can make changes themselves, blogs and ecommerce, xara is a no no for the fist two
    Skech have you tried out my cms? It works with web designs published straight out of Xara and has blogging and e-commerce capability all under one hood.
    XT-CMS - a self-hosted CMS for Xara Designers - Xara + CMS Demo with blog & ecommerce shopping cart system.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2000
    Location
    Hautes Pyrénées, France
    Posts
    5,083

    Default Re: Responsive Web Design using Xara

    Hi Tom

    I like your CMS. I never bothered to look at it properly, but the more Xara-designed sites I do, the more I see a use for XT-CMS. One question (I'm sure there will be more): how does the e-commerce facility in XT-CMS handle delivery charges?
    If someone tried to make me dig my own grave I would say No.
    They're going to kill me anyway and I'd love to die the way I lived:
    Avoiding Manual Labour.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Kildare, Ireland
    Posts
    906

    Default Re: Responsive Web Design using Xara

    Thanks Frank, you can apply a flat rate to all orders, variable rates depending on total order price or weight etc. One of my own clients wanted to charge per parcel so they used the product weight as a parcel volume so .5 would have taken half a parcel for example. If you needed a particular shipping calculation I can look at getting it added, it's usually something that is quick enough to do.
    XT-CMS - a self-hosted CMS for Xara Designers - Xara + CMS Demo with blog & ecommerce shopping cart system.

 

 

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