How to create grooved style divider between menu buttons

[mjb]

Hi. I found a way to make these in Xara. Attached is a sample

Thanks for all your input Gary, Acorn and others.

[gwpriester]

Thanks mjb

Can you give us an example of how we can use this?

[Big Frank]

very groovy

[gwpriester]

That's not exactly an example, BF.

[Big Frank]

@gp i'm sorry, here is an example, without the bad manners...

@mjb you could do that easier with named colours tbh

[mjb]

No, your right Gary. It's just a grooved divider and background to create a menu. But it's all done in vector so it can be easily edited. colors, gradients, etc.
I've never come across a fully vector replica of a pure css looking menu but with this attachment and some creativity this look can be closely duplicated.

[mjb]

Sorry Frank, I'm very new to Xara Web Designer. I'm not familiar with named colors. I'm sure there are better ways to do achieve this. I just did what seemed to be the quickest way still keeping the menu background and divider fully editable.

[gwpriester]

mjb - If you create and name a color (the little yellow tag) then you can select that named color in the Color Editor and change the Hue, Value and Saturation for that named color. This is useful if you are creating an illustration of something where you have used named colors plus shades of the named color. So, a orange jacket can be a green jacket, a purple jacket, etc.

For what you have created, it is much easier to select your grooved object, open the Color Editor, switch to HSV Color Model and drag the sliders around to edit the color. The changes will appear in real time as you edit.

BF - Try this method and tell me it's more work than creating a named color and all that.

[mjb]

Hi Gary. Good idea. I originally tried this method of editing colors and just didn't post it in the instructions. It works well. Very versatile.

On another note, Have you thought about having a sharing graphics website? As an example I've attached a sample of 1940's post-war poster text.

Follow a few simple instructions, replace the text and save. It can also work on shapes or backgrounds to give that vintage look. With these attachments being made available for download, effects that could take hours trying to re-create could only take under a minute. Your thoughts?

[wizard509]

Works like a charm mjb. Thanks.