Client Editing website designed using Xara Web Designer 10 Premium

[musicmanbob]

Good evening all,
In my recent post I mentioned my church may have me in mind for redoing their website. If I take on the project I will want to build the entire website using Xara WD 10 Premium. However, new information will have to be added several times week which I am not inclined to do. Is it possible to set up the website so that selected church folk can go into the file and change contend or even add a graphic, video or YouTube video? I understand Xara WD 11 Premium has this feature. Thanks so much for your response. I sure do appreciate.

Bob

[musicmanbob]

Is it possible that the answer to the question I asked can be found somewhere else on this forum? Where can I go here to find out which forms program works best with Xara Designer 10 Premium? I could not find any forms or info about form use. Finally, somewhere here I read that Xara is not good for constructing commercial websites. Does that mean no websites that use Mastercard or Visa for payments? I appreciate all help and thank you so much.

bob

[penmore]

My own personal/business experience of what you are trying to do will be almost impossible because the average person who uses web browsers will have little or no experience of how websites work or how to maniulate/enhance/resize photographs to fit the web page that you have designed.

Where can I go here to find out which forms program works best with Xara Designer 10 Premium?

The short answer to your question is to setup a trial web page and just experiement with the various forms available and see which one best works for you. This will answer the question you have asked and will also teach you something about WDP10 that you can use in the future.

If I wanted a form to use on WDP10 then I would just create one in html code and insert it onto the WDP website I had created.

[pauland]

If I wanted a form to use on WDP10 then I would just create one in html code and insert it onto the WDP website I had created.

Most Xara users don't have that level of skill in HTML and PHP.

[pauland]

Bob,

Xara has no specific features for e-commerce, but as you will have seen elsewhere, people do use it for e-commerce by using placeholders with iFrames to contain e-commerce solutions such as ecwid.

In terms of end-user updatability, there is an online designer being trialed with version 11 of the software, but for me the idea of end-users updating a website, is fraught with problems. People want it but often don't understand the issues involved (or they probably wouldn't ask).

For forms, again people tend to use software such as jotforms in conjunction with a placeholder.

If you haven't already realised, the Xara placeholder is the go-to method for extending Xara websites to include features not provided by Xara itself.

[penmore]

If I wanted a form to use on WDP10 then I would just create one in html code and insert it onto the WDP website I had created.

Most Xara users don't have that level of skill in HTML and PHP.

Thats my whole point about levels of experience, when you are expecting members of your community to change the content of webpages.

If a member of this forum were to post the details of a form they required I would gladly create it in HTML code so they could use it in Xara.

[gsthunder]

Bob,

In terms of end-user updatability, there is an online designer being trialed with version 11 of the software, but for me the idea of end-users updating a website, is fraught with problems. People want it but often don't understand the issues involved (or they probably wouldn't ask).

Agree with ^^^. Don't get involved with that kind of a situation. Not even to help a church. It will be an absolute nightmare for you. Ask me how I know. I actually do a charity site myself( dyslexia center )and that topic came up and I shut it down right off. I was willing to do their site for free but I also realized it came with a commitment to update it when needed for free too. I told them flat out I would not do it unless I was the only one updating the site.

IF you do end up taking it on, and others will get involved and edit the site itself, make sure that the site is in no way associated with you. By that I mean no where is your name on it and such. You don't want a bad site being associated with your work. You will get the blame and rep for a bad site even if not your fault.

If the customer knew how to do website work they would do it themselves. I will NEVER do it again. The only thing I will let customers do is update things like Google calendar, blogs, PDF's they upload themselves, etc... The site itself is off limits if I am to be the webmaster. I am not even inclined to build a site for someone and then walk away, leaving them to keep it updated, because they will always blame you/me when they screw it up. Again, ask how I know.

Don't walk away from that - RUN! IF you don't want to go the extra to do updates down the road just don't even get involved. Justs etting yourself up for hassles and problems. Also, don't think because it is for a church that the people will be nicer. Just a bad situation to get into in my experience.

JMHO.

[musicmanbob]

Good Tuesday Afternoon All,
Each of you have been so wonderful and I thank you all for your great replies. Before I asked the question, I was very leery of anyone but the person who constructed the website would be able to add/remove content from a website. Thank you for supporting what I thought already. While I understand that Web Design 11 Premium permits customers to change content in the clouds, I would rather take that responsibility myself.
I still don't understand why the great company Xara does not include different forms that can be placed on the contact page "ready to go" without having to do any PHP, etc. In my copy of WD 10 Premium I don't see any info about forms in the table of contents and that's terrible as far as I am concerned. It would see to me that all website building programs should offer "contact forms". At any rate I will certainly take a look at "Jot Form & Form Tools" to start. And just to be clear, I totally understand the "down-the-road" problems that could pop up giving someone else the ability to make changes to website content that did not construct the website. Even if asked, I would not do it.
In an earlier post I was on the verge of purchasing WD 11 Premium because of it's ability to permit folk other than the website builder (which will now never happen) and the ability to do "Stretchy Backgrounds". I love this ability. I am trying to wait to see what WD 12 Premium will look like before I upgrade to WD 11 Premium. You all are wonderful and I very much appreciate all you do and the info you offer here. It' helps keep us first timers from going down a very dark road. I am particularly impressed with the fact that you all won't let us "re-invent-the-wheel" and I thank you for that.

Bob

[gsthunder]

Good Tuesday Afternoon All,
Each of you have been so wonderful and I thank you all for your great replies. Before I asked the question, I was very leery of anyone but the person who constructed the website would be able to add/remove content from a website. Thank you for supporting what I thought already. While I understand that Web Design 11 Premium permits customers to change content in the clouds, I would rather take that responsibility myself.
I still don't understand why the great company Xara does not include different forms that can be placed on the contact page "ready to go" without having to do any PHP, etc. In my copy of WD 10 Premium I don't see any info about forms in the table of contents and that's terrible as far as I am concerned. It would see to me that all website building programs should offer "contact forms". At any rate I will certainly take a look at "Jot Form & Form Tools" to start. And just to be clear, I totally understand the "down-the-road" problems that could pop up giving someone else the ability to make changes to website content that did not construct the website. Even if asked, I would not do it.
In an earlier post I was on the verge of purchasing WD 11 Premium because of it's ability to permit folk other than the website builder (which will now never happen) and the ability to do "Stretchy Backgrounds". I love this ability. I am trying to wait to see what WD 12 Premium will look like before I upgrade to WD 11 Premium. You all are wonderful and I very much appreciate all you do and the info you offer here. It' helps keep us first timers from going down a very dark road. I am particularly impressed with the fact that you all won't let us "re-invent-the-wheel" and I thank you for that.

Bob

in WD10 there are a few forms/form builders available. Go to the right and click Design Gallery. Then click Page Elements & Widgets. Then click on Forms ( widgets ). There are a few builders there plus 2 different contact forms.

If you want to do a contact form and want to use a builder that does all the work for you then I suggest Jotform. Go to their site directly( I don't like using the form builder in WD10 - never seems to work right )and after creating an account you can select from templates or just make your own. I usually make my own. It is very simple. You just drag the various items you want onto your form from the various menus to the left and then you can easily edit them. After the form has been made you click on publish in the overhead menu. A popup like area appears and it gives you 3 options. Select platform and scroll down and find Xara. Copy the code and then place it in your website using a placeholder box. Adjust the size of the placeholder box until the entire form shows.

It really is easy once you do it the first time. The only thing is with Jotforms( and I suspect others as well )is that the different web browsers will display the different areas in the forms differently. It is a pain in the tuckuss frankly. IE/Xara Preview/Jotform Preview displays it all as one size, Firefox another, and then Chrome/Opera yet another. By that I mean areas like the form box to enter the message are larger( wider ) in some than the others. On IE/Xara Preview/Jotform Preview you can have it lined up perfectly with the info areas above but in FF and Chrome/Opera that area will be wider. Drives me nuts really. Another thing that happens is let's say you have 3 input sections on a line. In IE/Xara Preview/Jotform Preview they are all where they go. However, in FF and/or Chrome/Opera you find 3 sections won't display on one line( form not wide enough )so it drops the extra section down a line which adds a line and thus stuff at the bottom of the form is cut off. Those kinds of issues.

With all of that said, it is an easy fix on Jotform using custom CSS script/code. You enter some simple code that defines the max size of the input areas and it helps to keep everything lined up( or at least acceptably close ). It is very easy to do it in the form builder on Jotform. If you decide to try it let me know and I will send you the 2 lines of code to enter( under Preferences>Form Styles>Inject Custom CSS ).

The above ^^^ may sound complicated but it really isn't. You just have to dive in and do it. Once you do you wills ee it wasn't bad at all. I am completely self taught with this stuff and I have got a lot of help here and places like Jotform. You just have to ask when you don't know or can't figure it out. I can't always help out here because the others know so much more than me but when I can I try.

Hope this helps you out some.

[musicmanbob]

Again, I want to thank you so much for your guidance and super instructions. I plan to take a good look at JotForm and see how far I can go with it. However, If I have problems I feel comfortable I can come back here with questions. Let me ask a question all. I have some photos that have white backgrounds. Is there any way to blend (if that's the right terminology) the photo background with the background of the page the photo is located on? Is there any way the background of the photo can be colored to more closely match the page it's on? I hope I am being clear. If WD 10 Premium does not have this ability, does WD 11 Premium have it? I just found out what I am trying to describe here. The word is "Transparency" and I am going to print out all I see regarding transparency in the WD 10 Premium Help Section. I will try what they suggest and see what happens.

I am going to the "JotForm" website now. Thanks all.

Bob