Page & Layout Designer 365?

[CharlieJeit]

Hi

I have been waiting patiently for Xara to release Page & Layout Designer 365 so I can upgrade to the latest goodies.

I currently use Designer Pro X11, but as all my web work has moved to Wordpress I can't justify the expense of upgrading to Designer Pro X365.

Page & Layout Designer seems to have become the modern product the old Computer Concepts "Document Processor" Impression aspired to be. I feel Page & Layout Designer 365 would be absolutely ideal for a stack of users out there who are fed up trying to do layout with Microsoft Office or maybe remember the old Aldus Pagemaker fondly.

Please Xara!

Charlie

[gwpriester]

Welcome to TalkGraphics

I'll send a note along to Xara and see if someone can comment on this.

[Rob-Xar]

Hi Charlie, thanks for your post and comments about Page and Layout designer :)

I don't know if there are currently any plans for Page and Layout Designer 365, we don't really have demand for it (this is actually the first post I've seen asking for it lol). Can you tell me though what sort of features you are after from the other programs (or any) that you would like to see in the next version of PLD? (if we do make one)...

[angelize]

I think there is no demand for it because it doesn't provide enough features to persuade enough users to switch from tried and true desk top publishing programs like Indesign or Page plus. And when Affinity Publisher comes out It would need to be in a position to compete with that. It needs things like master pages, better columns functionality, export to epub, etc, html5 Page flip effects, The ability to generate an embed code which would allow users to embed their publication into a website would also be beneficial.
Make it easier to do a large publication like a book with chapters, add the ability to publish as an ebook to Google books and Apple ibooks and maybe there would be more demand.

[Boy]

Well said!

[CharlieJeit]

OK - looks like I am out on a limb here re interest in Page and Layout Designer. Let me see if I can explain.

The Xara Products "Designer" page offers 4 products:

1) Photo and Graphic
2) Page Layout
3) Web
4) All of the above

Option 4 costs approximately 4 times as much as the other programs (with the Web program being the second most expensive).

I have bought every version of the premier product (with the exception of Designer 365) since before the Xara name existed and I like it very much. Now however I have moved all my Web work away from Xara, so don't need any Web functionality. However I would be very loath to lose the multi-page functions of Designer Pro. Logically therefore I should buy the Page Layout product. However the Page Layout program has not been upgraded to a 365 version and I don't want to waste my money on a dead end product. It is not that I want something different - I just don't want to spend 4 times the money buying a Web design program I wouldn't use.

Hope this makes sense

Charlie

[gwpriester]

Makes all the sense in the world, Charlie.

It would probably make sense to have 1) a basic design, illustration and photo editing application and 2) a web design application. But young people go to college and come out with marketing degrees and one of the things they learned in college is "market segmentation." (How many flavors are their of the toothpaste you buy). Or something for everyone. And at different price points.

So Xara/Magix decided to break the market down into these categories and price points. The success of this endeavor remains to be seen.

[mwenz]

Xara conditionally compiles. Which makes it really easy to segment XDP into too many products.

I see no advantage to having two web applications. Not in the face of the growing semi-WYSIWYG market. Take https://mobirise.com for instance (do note i haven't tried it).

I don't see much sense in three "vector/page layout" applications. I can almost see the point of two graphic drawing applications. But not quite.

Make a single web application. Roll the image editing stuff from XDP into it.

Make XDP. Cut the dumb price on XDP—it costs 5 times as much as Affiinity Designer for crying out loud for a new license of each. The upgrade to XDP costs 4 times as much as one for AD. It is also not as capable as any other decent vector drawing/editing. Especially with the word "Pro" in the title.

And as long as Xara is at it, how bout not waiting for one of the 4-months apart updates to actually fix stuff?

[Boy]

I seem to notice a hint of irritation but I might be wrong.

[Egg Bramhill]

I don't thinks so Boy, I sense the natives are getting restless.