Creating a table in Designer Pro

[Theo]

I am wanting to use XDP as a desktop publisher and can't see any hints on table creation. There are lots of other useful word processing functions but not tables AFAICS.

Am I right?

[mwenz]

Correct. You can create a table in Excel or OpenOffice and export them as a PDF and bring it into Xara.

Drawing applications, though they can be used for shorter publications, are not page layout applications in the fullest sense of "desktop publishing." For fuller, longer publishing tasks a different application is best and use Xara as an adjunct to creating the illustrations and manipulating the images needed for such publications.

At least a few of use use PagePlus at the lower end of the cost scale and InDesign at the higher end of the costs scale. Personally I try to use PagePlus as much as possible over ID because it is simply quicker to use. Download the free version of PagePlus to get a feel for the application and if you find value in adding it to your work, it doesn't cost much (relatively speaking).

Take care, Mike

[Soquili]

Theo what are the specific features of a table you need?

Most people use a table for layout, or am I over simplyfing the use of a table?

There are probably as many work arounds for the lack of a table as there are members of these forums.

[gwpriester]

Here's a link to a Xara Xone Guest Tutorial on how to create tables http://www.xaraxone.com/guest/guest82/

It is not automatic, but it can be done.

[mwenz]

The attached screen shots and example Xara file took exactly two minutes to make. The Excel table was copied, pasted in as a metafile. The initial table copied, a few rectangles added below the table lines for providing solid colors under them. Then the moulds and shadows applied.

The way that Gary links to is way too involved and fiddly. Works, but wholly unnecessary.

This method works from both Excel and from OpenOffice's (read free) spreadsheet application. Using the PDF option is sometimes needed depending upon any visual enhancements made in the spreadsheet in order to retain them.

Take care, Mike

[Big Frank]

The way that Gary links to is way too involved and fiddly. Works, but wholly unnecessary.

I think Gary's tutorial is perfect for people who are new to drawing tables in Xara. Theo is obviously a beginner and it would be a very useful exercise for him in getting to know the kerning, leading and tab options using the text tool bar - how many beginners even know they exist? In terms of colour and layout, Xara is vastly superior to those spreadsheet applications unless you know them well and even then Xara, being a graphics app, goes way beyond what they can achieve. If all you want is a simple, not very intricate or particularly attractive table, yes your method is both quick and easy, but I don't think it's fair to dismiss that tutorial out of hand. I'd say it would be a very instructive for a beginner way to progress, especially if LibreOffice Calc and/or Excel aren't his thing.

[mwenz]

...Xara is vastly superior to those spreadsheet applications unless you know them well and even then Xara, being a graphics app, goes way beyond what they can achieve. ...

Just think of the possibilities if Xara built in its own table generator then.

Until then, there isn't a table I have seen in print publications that cannot be replicated in a spreadsheet application and, if needed, gussied up in Xara after a paste faster than drawing each line and mucking about with line spacing, etc. However, I am not dismissing anything. Just pointing out that there are faster ways for the simple fact that manually drawing a table is tedious. To me anyway. Evidently not for you.

To each their own.

Take care, Mike

[Big Frank]

Just pointing out that there are faster ways for the simple fact that manually drawing a table is tedious. To me anyway. Evidently not for you.

But I wasn't talking about you or me, for whom creating a table is something done in a split second using a multitude of long-ago learned methods with our eyes shut after a long rainy night without coffee chasing zombies.

I was talking about it being a valuable exercise for a beginner.

[mwenz]

I understand Frank.

However, shouldn't I "teach" a more efficient means if, after all, I would *never* do it the way of the tutorial? I mean, I can invent all sorts of processes to "teach" how to do something in Xara and then end with, ..."but I do it this way because it is faster/better/more efficient."

If teaching how to manipulate text in Xara is the goal, there might be better ways to do so. I am loathe to come up with some though. Why? Because I really haven't seen any threads with "Hey, I just wanna learn all the capabilities of using text in Xara." Instead, I see threads on how to do something specific, like tables. I personally view learning longhand when I really need shorthand tedium. But here I go projecting again: Other people learn in other ways. I prefer learning something I need, not necessarily something I want to learn to do "just because." Hence, I didn't make for a good little school boy growing up. I needed "the point." The why and how is "this" practical. I drove teachers insane I am certain.

And...how did you know what I did last night? I am still blood-stained...

Take care, Mike

[Big Frank]

Mike, we can go round in circles but in the end a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still so we'll agree to differ. Except the bit about chasing zombies. Have you seen the film "Zombieland"? Had me in fits of laughter. Double-tap, and all that.