Multi-File Projects

[wordmuse]

When I work for projects, whether for myself or for clients,
I generally have a variety of files open for the project. When
I finish work on one project and go to another, I have to
manually close the project files and then manually open the
new project files.

There is very good text editor called Ultra Edit which enables
the user to open up projects. Files can be added or removed
from the project without reference to location on the hard drive.
Files that are open at the time I close Project#1 are automatically
closed when I open a Project#2. And those files are automatically
reopened when I reopen Project#1.

i would find it incredibly useful if Designer Pro X10 could support
project level operations. (Or at least X11)

- Bal

[gwpriester]

Bal

I am not sure I am following this. You can have multiple documents open in Xara and you can navigate between these open documents by clicking the tabs for each document at the top of the window or pressing Ctrl + Tab.

All of these can be open at the same time and you can copy and paste or paste in place from document to document.

How is what you are requesting different?

[wordmuse]

Hi gwpriester,

I appreciate your response. I've created a short video to show you
using Ultra Edit - the text program I mentioned above.
http://www.screencast.com/t/x8bn8wYFEDF

I'm more than happy to answer questions this video might generate.
- Bal

[gwpriester]

OK. I have to admit, I am very dense. I watched the video but it does not mean anything to me.

i would find it incredibly useful if Designer Pro X10 could support project level operations. (Or at least X11)

How would this work in Designer Pro? And how would this help the average user with her and his projects?

[mwenz]

I use UltraEdit for web work, programming, etc.

I am uncertain how Project files would necessarily benefit Xara products any more than keeping all assets for a give client/job in the same folder would do (which is what I do). But, I also don't use XDP for web work. The attached screen shot is of a Joomla site...all several thousand files. So lots of folders and files. I don't suspect an XDP site or graphic design job would have as many files. Mine don't.

The gist of it, Gary, is that all folders and files, and only those folders/files, one adds to a project are shown in the file listing on the left. One can open other files, but they are not those listed in the Project. UE's project view is a tremendous facility whether on such a large scale project or one that is simpler. It does make for quicker opening/editing etc., of all the files necessary for that project.

Serif's WebPlus has a loose correlation to UE's Project files in their Resource Manager. All files add to the web site are readily available from there. So widgets, PDFs, external javascripts, etc., etc.

I am using a mobile connection at the moment, so I do apologize if the screen shot is just a static version of the video which I am not going to watch on the phone...

Mike

As an aside, I have used UltraEdit since Ian Meade first began offering it 20 years ago. It is an excellent text editor. Aside from coding, it is used in whole or in part for all my XML work, reordering large CSV files, etc. Gets used many times a day.

[wordmuse]

That was a very good description - thanks. I would add that even in a project with tons of files, only a few would be typically active at any given time. The UE project manager remembers the state of the project when you close it. When you reopen it, only those files that you last had open are reopened. So if I had many files that were created over time, the project manager would enable me to work with just the active ones while making the others easily available.

If I'm the only one who would find this useful, then it would probably be stupid to develop it. I'm guessing others would, but I have no data to back me up.

- Bal

[gwpriester]

I guess I have worked my entire career to simplify things, whether it is an advertisement, a logo, a website, whatever. My mind does not handle a lot of input at the same time. I overload. This is probably why I am having a hard time with this request.

Maybe some of the other members will feel differently.

[wordmuse]

OK - I'll accept that I'm just not communicating my idea very well. I currently make things work by working with folders named things like Client1/ProjectA/Active, Client1/ProjectA/Archive, Client1/ProjectA/Support, etc. I simply close all files for the project when I'm done and then open the relevant files for Client1/ProjectB or Client2/ProjectA, etc.

The project management feature would simply help me remember which files were open in each project - and then automatically open them - rather than me having to remember and then manually open them. Not a big deal - just a nice-to-have.

- Bal

[amoore]

I don't do multi-file projects any more, but when I did, a feature like Open Project would have been helpful.