Dear Xara (an idea and a list of wishes)

[rsrsrs]

I have a wish!

when click on an color in the bottom colorbar while holding [f] >> all new Fill color
when click on an color in the bottom colorbar while holding [l] >> all new Line color

maybe add [Strg] with replace menu ...

[iamtheblues]

The feedback I have received from Xara is that they are only going to add a feature if there are a large number of requests for such a feature. Support for OpenType glyphs was one feature that a lot of users requested and so that has been added to Designer Pro. And then the feature has to work in the code without effecting the other tools and functions.

I don't know why I believe this to be true, (and I'd like it confirmed if it is just my own suspicions) but the coding problems seem to be at the heart of why very little is being implemented in terms of breakthrough improvements to Xara (especially vector tools). I believe that the code is now old and fragile (rather like myself) and no real improvements are possible without the whole house of cards falling down.

At the time when Adobe Illustrator CS6 was released, Adobe did a thorough overhaul of Illustrator's codebase, which then allowed them to implement drastic improvements to the program. Is this the stumbling block that Xara has right now? If so, we should be told. I believe that TG members have shown a great deal of forebearance over the lack of new vector tools for many years now. It is time for that to change.

[Acorn]

I don't know why I believe this to be true, (and I'd like it confirmed if it is just my own suspicions) but the coding problems seem to be at the heart of why very little is being implemented in terms of breakthrough improvements to Xara (especially vector tools). I believe that the code is now old and fragile (rather like myself) and no real improvements are possible without the whole house of cards falling down.

At the time when Adobe Illustrator CS6 was released, Adobe did a thorough overhaul of Illustrator's codebase, which then allowed them to implement drastic improvements to the program. Is this the stumbling block that Xara has right now? If so, we should be told. I believe that TG members have shown a great deal of forebearance over the lack of new vector tools for many years now. It is time for that to change.

But what is your idea?
It is more likely that the regression testing of new features is the bottleneck, together with the separation of capability into four applications. We already know that Magix application packaging is a lengthy process.

I am finding the only way to get through to Xara is to place a Dear Xara Thread with one (simple) request.

Acorn

[Fred vanderZee]

And may I add these again:
- finally get rid of the maximum of 16383 pixels for an image's size. We are not living in the 16-bit era anymore.
- 16 bit colour channels in stead of 8-bit
- adjustable fall-off for stroke shapes. Now they are static (e.g. from beginning to end), would be nice to adjust the starting point at least.

Not holding my breath though, seems only the features with "a large number of requests for such a feature" are (somewhat) realized...

[iamtheblues]

This may well have been requested before, but not in a way that I can understand. I would like the fill tool to be able to work with user-defined shapes to fill areas in a way that is more flexible than the current offerings of circular/linear/diamond etc. but would adapt to the shape I want to fill: as in the attached graphic, I would like to be able to warp a linear fill so that it would conform to the boundaries of the filling shape. Using the current options I only have the choice of an elliptical or linear fill, neither of which fit the bill for the requirements of the shape.
The Mould Tool doesn't answer my needs either, so I suppose that what I'm asking for is a mesh fill or variant thereof. Unless anyone can point out a workaround in Xara that I may have missed...

[mwenz]

Meshes have been a long-standing request.

You can simulate some bendy effects using blends and eventually clipping them into a shape. Here's a hastily done one...

[iamtheblues]

Aaaahh! Blends, just about the only tool in the box I never thought of using. Thanks, Mike, you are the man.