2016 - 2017 new feature requests

[angelize]

I thought I would open up a new thread for feature requests now that V12 has arrived and we have had a chance to check it out. Because there will no longer be version numbers and new features could be released any time I've titled this as 2016 - 2017 rather than by version number and I've made it sticky Here are a couple to start the list.

Full support for open type glyphs
Improvements to the artbrushes

[mwenz]

And to be a bit more specific--seeing how I doubt that every OT Feature will ever make it into XDP (at least for a bazillion years)--I would like the following, not quite in a specific order but close.

(1) Stylistic Set Support
(2) Contextual Alternates
(3) Ligatures
(4) Access All Alternates
(5) Swash
(6) SALT
(7) Discretionary Ligatures
(8) Fractions
(9) Old Style Numbers
(10) Medial and Terminal Forms

Ought to be several years work there...

[angelize]

Another feature that would be great to have would be Styles. I'm not talking the text styles but rather a more photoshop type style. Kind of like Affinity Designer has but I would like to see Xara do it better.

I'd like to be able to create a shape and give it different fills, bevels even 3d attributes but instead of pasting attributes which is cumbersome I'd like to save that shape as a style and have a gallery of them. then it would be a matter of drawing a shape, or creating text and just click or double click the style you want in the gallery and it would be applied.

I'd like to see these styles include the built in effects like the soften, sharpen, distortions etc.

[mhjgkane]

Reposted from V12 thread.

Why is the variable corner shape only accessible from the more shapes option and why are the rotate and quick style options only available on items inserted from the Insert > Shape menu?

I guess I would just like to see consistency in the way the quick shapes are made available and the funtionality that is applied to them. For example insert a rectangle from the left side toolbar, then insert a rectangle from the Insert > Shape menu. They are completely different yet both perform the same function. Could we not combine the two so that we can drag out the rectangle shape but on release, the handles etc from the Insert > Shape version are applied? Add the option to modify the corners individually and you have reduced three separate shape options to one? All that would be needed in addition is a toggle to lock the corners if you wanted to size and style them all the same?

Just seems to me like the current options provide a bit of duplication and uneccessary complexity in the UI?

[Ed S.]

Text/Typeface/Formatting-Based Needs:

• Full OpenType support - PLEASE
• The ability to add case (upper, lower, title, etc.) formatting to paragraph and character styles - why didn't this make it in with the new case options? Seems a no-brainer.
• The ability to input tabs, margins, indents & outdents outside of using the ruler (menu-based, precise).
• Leaders (..., ---, etc.) for tabs.
• Better text on a path support, more control options for placement of text on a path.
• If we can't have master pages, the ability to display or hide text (or objects) on right or left-facing pages, specifically for page numbers but this would come in handy for other things.
• The inclusion of a baseline grid would be awesome.

[Albacore]

I wasn't going to post an answer here as I think at the moment Xara model for improvement is aimed specifically at the Web area for its development. So I think what''s the point of making requests when there not listening to the traditional users. Look what you can use our software now to do, is so large and to please what I called traditional users ranges from straight vector --- through DTP,--- then onto bitmap manipulation, --- and then to web design. Each user demands hugely different tools and has different request for improvement it is impossible to keep everyone included. So to have one programme to fit all is also getting impossible.

Here is my requests if anyone cares and it is the last one that I will do:
Clean up the programmes as they have tried to do but do more for each when marketing but none to include all. Web Designer ------ DTP ----- Vector
Have really proper vector brushes like Calligraphy, art and pen and ink that can be converted to a shape all with their own profiles.
The inclusion of full support to Open Type fonts
Have a strong look at improving the Mould Tool
Bring back an improved Pen Tool with better functionality
The introduction of Smart Guides

These are the things that I would like Xara to do and as everyone can see my wishes are focused really on the vector area. We have seen no real development in this are for years and years....years...years.

[TrooperJW]

I'd like to give my vote for adding Styles similar to Photoshop/Illustrator. This is one of my favorite features which I would really love to see in Xara Designer.

[Gare]

I'd like to give my vote for adding Styles similar to Photoshop/Illustrator. This is one of my favorite features which I would really love to see in Xara Designer.

+1. These are little recipes that are made up of outline attributes, bevel amount , mask overlays, and other features Xara does indeed have.

Not just presets, but let us cobble our own styles?

Thanks,

Gary

[Gare]

I’d really like to see:

•Consistency between open documents for last-used font, attributes, and so on. Or at least make it an option. Even though Xara has a multi-document interface, I’d prefer to see “last-used” applied to a Xara session, not just one out of x number of documents open.

• I’d like to see last-used apply to Ctrl+Shift+C make a bitmap copy. It’s infuriating to have 12 vectors you want rasterized, and each and every time, you have to set whether it gets an alpha channel or not, and between sessions, the resolution reverts to 96 ppi. Why?

• A dynamic polygon tool, allows editing after shape has been created. Not just number of sides, but connection and line properties, cusp, curves, and so on.

• I don’t know why the color model changes unless I specify it’s, say, HSB in Options. This might be ignorance rather than a feature request. I never use CMYK, never choose it, for example, and yet the model changes to CMYK when I chose a line to color, just a moment ago.

• I’d like to see an implementation of the docked galleries to work more like Adobe’s do. IOW, I’m don’t instinctively know what a pushpin icon means, but in Photoshop (for example), I can tear a palette off the docked position by dragging its title bar, it remains there between sessions, and if I want it to go back to the docking edge, I drag it there and an outline highlight appears when I’m supposed to release the mouse button.

I’m reluctantly opting for the Dark interface, because the Classic has too many bugs and crashes, seeing as this UI has not been updated. Okay, so: make the X and the pushpin icons have a little more contrast? I mean fine, make the UI near-black like every other artsy program, but please remember contrast!

TIA,

Gary

[MarcT]

Hello,

-Join command.
-Adjustments on vector (HSB and levels for example).
-Better Mould tool, one that works on bitmaps (the transform/warp mode in photoshop quite efficient, just clicking in one of the quadrants to warp is great)
-Scalable Light/Dark UI. I mostly work in daytime and find the light theme much more easier to read. An on High-res screens, I find the icons and info boxes too small.

Thanks