Wish List for V12

[mwenz]

...
I wouldn't bother to be critical if I didn't love this product.
...

Me either.

I do love using XDP above all other vector applications. It just could be a much better competitor and, hopefully, that would translate into a larger customer base. I do think in this day and age it is not priced correctly, either. But that's a whole other subject.

Mike

[tjc]

I'd still use Xara DP at 1/3 the license costs after they remove the "riff raff" features like web page design.

To be honest I never liked how Xara developers just javascript everything to death in their engine anyway..

[Gare]

Can we pre-load or just speed up the Line Gallery? I think the new brushes are causing a 10 second delay on my machine, a Quad Core. I'll see how fast a Skylake system loads the Gallery soon, but this is not a good programming option for the sake of the user: it interrupts the (creative) process, something software should never do.

To matters worse, the current selection to which I only want to apply a Custom Profile is then deselected after Xara enumerates all the strokes in the Line Gallery.

In 12, please, speed it up or pre-load them during the splash screen?

TIA,

Gary

[mwenz]

I think it was the preloading of the brushes that was slowing down the starting. People didn't like that. I believe the solution as implemented was to defer the loading of the brush gallery until first use of a session. That is, if I am remembering correctly.

If I am remembering correctly, perhaps a lazy-load of that gallery could be implemented (background after start). It would help someone who instantly wanted to use the brushes after starting their Xara application. It would me, an occasional user of brushes.

[Gare]

Mike, we can agree, then, that there is a lag, and for me, a stultifying one.

Can we edit a file to remove the new brushes? All I use are the ones from previous versions.

Is anyone else a non Art brush Xara user?

I don't stay in Xara all day; I duck in an out as I need it and loading the brushes EVERY time I lauch Xara, and why is my selection then unselected?

Why can Photoshop load all the fonts on a system on first use of its Type tool within 3 seconds? And I have over 1,000 typefaces loaded, mostly because every program Earth wants to involuntarily adds template fonts to my own list of retail (read "expensive, not shareware stuff or lookalike") typefaces?

We should have an option (in, um...Options) to decide to load or not load Web fonts, which is behind the curve for developers and designers in 2016 anyhow. You rent them from a place that has an incredibly fast server and multiple download points around this planet.

-g

[mwenz]

For me on a relatively slow laptop, the brushes load in under 6 seconds when I first expand a brush category in the Line Gallery or via the context menu when the brush tool is active. I don't mind the time but would think it could be improved.

Re Fonts and Adobe. Adobe applications do not use the OS font subsystem. They use their own font renderer et al. The cache(s) that Adobe makes of installed fonts are, like the OS font subsystem, are simply databases. When starting, Adobe applications add/remove fonts from their caches (you can see the line item go by on the starting splash screen).

In any case, though I rarely have as many fonts actually in the Windows font folder or the shortcuts to fonts my font manager manages to make a font active, the font list is instantaneous. I have XDP set to not use previews of the fonts in the list, nor the type of font (the TTF/OTF/PS) icon. Even with 700 additional fonts active (which I just enabled to test) added to the few hundred Windows uses, the font list is instantaneous. The Font Gallery takes a second or two to display all the active fonts available to the system on first use--but I never use that gallery anyway.

I also remove most any and all fonts an application install from the Windows font folder immediately after installing any application or updating one. There are some applications that install quality fonts. For those fonts, I move them to the folder my font manager uses in the off chance I will opt to use them in the future. But I would say 99% of fonts installed with a given application are moved to a folder in the My Documents structure named, Fonts-Application Fonts, and then in a subfolder named after that application. I don't appreciate applications dumping fonts into Windows under any circumstances, though.

Mike

[Gare]

I'm sorry that one suggestion lead to another, Mike.

We agree that shovelware fonts should not be installed without user consent, then?

Did you ever try to uninstall fonts in version 10? The just kept popping back, this was corrected in this version 11.

Who on Earth would say they don't have enough typefaces in 2016?!

It's a glut of crap, but also some really nice Indie stuff.

you just have to look.

I'll Google it for you. :)

My Best,

Gary

[mwenz]

I never had version 10. I went from X9 to X11.

[mwenz]

We agree that shovelware fonts should not be installed without user consent, then?

Yes, but...I don't think general fonts should be installed without user consent, period. Even quality fonts from Adobe et al. The only fonts that should bypass user acceptance are any special fonts required for the application. Even those I think should be listed.

QuarkXpress is the most recent application to install an application required font here. It contains special characters used by the application. It installs in the application folder and is activated automatically in the OS font folder (via shortcut I believe but haven't looked). On the one hand, this is fine to me. But the OCD part of me hates it. Why you ask? Because I have clients using 3 different version of QXP. Which means I have 3 release versions on this computer. Which means I have three duplicates of that font active at any given time. This doesn't cause any issues, but I hate seeing the dups in my font manager. See? OCD in action...

Mike

[Gare]

What is "Quark Xpress" ?