Layout Feature Enhancements

[mwenz]

OK. As long as Xara is going down the road of "long document" handling, it really, really needs some work.

1. Long documents really need to start on a right-hand page. I kludged together a work-around, but it shouldn't have to be a work-around.
2. Style Management really needs to be in a dialog, not ad-hoc, willy-nilly make "live" changes and update the style. This dialog needs to include the ability to delete styles with the choice of changing instances to another paragraph style, character style, or leave as a local override.
3. Repeating Objects. Choice to repeat on left, right or both L/R pages. Having a "smart" repeat when adding to both L/R (offsets towards/away from spine maintained) would be a bonus.
4. Find & Replace. With long documents, this really needs to get into the 21st century. It isn't enough just to search for a word or word string. How about removing double returns? Finding one style, change to another? Pattern searches, etc.
5. Hyphenation. Needs to be configurable for successive hyphens, exceptions (no hyphenating capitalized words for instance), language based hyphenation rules, etc.
6. Widow/Orphan control. Looks crappy to have a single line at the top/bottom of a page.
7. Keep with Next. Can be less configurable than say ID/QXp/PP. But it would be nice in a text flow not to have to review for separated headings from the following body copy.
8. As Gary has mentioned, page numbering needs to be configurable. Needs to be section based: start numbering anew and or a different style at the start of a new section. And the ability to suppress page numbering (chapter starts for instance).
9. Speed. The text updating needs to happen quicker. Take a 12 page, threaded document and change the leading, then update the style. Cannot think of what an actual long document would be like.
10. Drop caps. Would be nice...

These are the few thoughts that came to me in making a simple 12 page document that begins on a single right-hand page, goes to a two-page spread and ends with a single page. After my little 12-page test, my conclusion is that with how XDP is currently, I think I would rather gouge my eyes out and stab myself in the heart than do an actual long document in XDP.

I mean, one can pick up PagePlus X6 for $20. It has OpenType feature support (not on my list above, but should be). Just what is Xara really aiming at with half-baked long document features in XDP? Either go all in and vastly improve these things or leave it half-baked and improve drawing stuff. More people would benefit from drawing improvements.

[mwenz]

Another...

Add a "Repeat from Here" for repeating objects. That way, in the case of say a header, one could edit on page 16 and choose "Repeat from Here" and it would not affect the previous repeating text.

[gwpriester]

I agree with all. The inability to move a left page text block in a spread layout independent of the right page text block, meant I had to move all left hand text blocks individually. And each time I moved the text block I had to stipulate that it was just this one text block and not every text block. Crazy-making.

[mwenz]

I agree with all. The inability to move a left page text block in a spread layout independent of the right page text block, meant I had to move all left hand text blocks individually. And each time I moved the text block I had to stipulate that it was just this one text block and not every text block. Crazy-making.

Which brings up a point I failed to explicitly state...

The ability to "Repeat" and "Repeat from Here" and choose just left pages, just right right, or left+right pages.

[edm3]

I fully agree with the list!

[Albacore]

Mike I have to agree with your list as Xara is marketing PLG 9 as true DTP piece of software so it's plus 1 from me. But would you really use your Xara product over Serif's PP X6 for a longer doc? It's the same as Gary's cry for better page numbering when he has a copy of Adobe's ID CS 4/5 on his hard drive, I can't understand, I would always use or try to use the right tool. I know it's really handy to keep using the same programme for every thing, I use to work in a prints shop that only used Illy 8 for every thing, but some jobs took days because that ruling instead of hours which is silly. I agree with you again on your statement about drawing tools so let's bang on that a bit more.

[gwpriester]

Pete - My answer to your question to Mike is yes, if I can do what I need to do in Designer Pro X9, then I prefer to work in the Xara environment. I do have InDesign CS5.5 installed and I used it to create our iPad stereogram apps. If I used it every day and it was as intuitive as Xara that would be one thing. But I don't. So when I do have occasion to use InDesign I have to relearn it each time.

Once I got my content pasted into DPX9 and set up my styles it only took me a day to apply the styles and tweak the text (to eliminate the inevitable widows and orphans). And the ability to use tracking to loosen or tighten up the text a bit made this last task very easy.

The Insert Column Break, Page Break, Right Page Break and Left Page Break is a bit confusing but it does work.

Mike - not sure if you added hyphenation to your list, and I am not sure if this would be a good or a bad thing. I suspect bad because most users would abuse the feature. But the option would be useful. I only used about a half dozen discretionary hyphens in the entire book and it is a lot less distracting to the reader.

[mwenz]

#5 is hyphenation.

It gets abused in every application. I recently (last week) fixed an Italian publication set in QXP. I think the hyphenation in QuarkXpress is (can be) far superior to ID. Incredible configuration. With "incredible" configuration can come "incredible" user problems. I think the simple settings in #5 mitigates some issues.

@Pete,

Heck no. I don't think more lipstick is going to make XDP more responsive in its long document text handling. It isn't what the "engine" in XDP were ever written for. The display mechanism was written to be the fastest with graphics primitives there was/is. And it's true, it is. That is part of what makes XDP the current best there is for extending its core purpose: which isn't the web crap, and it isn't long document handling. The core purpose is the drawing and display of graphics. Text is not graphics.

If anyone opens the document I made and is attached to Gary P's other thread, do much with the text in the 16 page document and XDP begins to crawl in comparison to a 16 page document of drawings and images. I don't know if Xara can ever make a long document such as a book near as responsive as graphics/images.

However, being the defeatist I am, as long as this area of XDP is going to divert the oh so limited resources at Xara from actually making their outdated drawing application better in the way of graphics and images, I'll make suggestions.

[mwenz]

To keep the numbering sequence...a repeat of the repeat suggestion:

#11 The ability to "Repeat" and "Repeat from Here" and choose just left pages, just right right, or left+right pages.

A new one:

#12 Page Configuration. Separate the action of "All Pages the Same" from the checkbox for using "Double-pages." They are separate functions and should have separate consequences. A page is a page. It helps in a long, or structured, document such as a book to have "All Pages the Same" checked. One can then avoid the possibility of selecting a page edge and resizing accidentally. But "Spreads," or "Double-pages" as they are called in XDP, should be a configuration option for the current pages, not a global choice when "All pages the same in document."

[mwenz]

#13 Inner Bleeds. There should be an option for page separation of the bleed amount. This can be automatic. If a bleed is specified in the document setup, then have XDP automatically add page separation. Certain document types should have the ability to have inner bleeds, such as wire-o documents.