Release of the Xara Cloud

[Rob-Xar]

Hi all,

Firstly apologies for the delay, this post is long overdue in announcing the launch of the Xara Cloud (previously called The Online Designer)! I know there's a lot of criticism and confusion surrounded the launch so I just want to make a post to clear the water as much as possible and answer any questions you might have the best I can!

Coming out of Beta and Launching XC
We have officially come out of Beta, but that certainly doesn't mean the end of development! We still have a lots of features that are being added and more content is being added weekly. There hasn't been a big marketing push yet whilst we are still working on a lot of aspects such as the website but this is to come soon. You can consider it a soft launch :)

The purpose of Xara Cloud
This is something that I want to clarify and be transparent on as I know it's been fairly ambiguous up until now. The Xara Cloud is a rich content document creator and editor aimed at businesses. It's core feature set is built around creating documents, presentations, social media posts, spec sheets, print documents and more. It doesn't have much in the way of vector drawing tools, nor in creating websites and that's not an area that would be focused on either. It can however open any Xara .xar or .web file and make limited edits and additions. I know this isn't the background of a lot of the members of TalkGraphics but I want to just make this clear so when we talk about feature sets or what's high on the wishlist.

The website is still being work on and a lot of the points under the pricing page need to be explained / detailed. Unfortunately I have no control or say over the pricing / contents of the website but I still constantly chase marketing to have this improved.

If you have any questions I'd be more than happy to answer them.

Cheers
Rob

[handrawn]

thanks Rob [bet you have been busy ] all this is good to know

[gwpriester]

Hi Rob

I suspect the biggest question is WHAT ABOUT WEB DESIGNER and DESIGNER PRO X? What is the status/priority of these products?

[Rob-Xar]

The 15.1 patch is currently with Magix awaiting the installers to be built and pass testing (on their side). Apologies I know many users are waiting for these to be released and we have been chasing them (daily) now and will continue to do so. It should be due any day now...

Development wise the priority currently is still the Xara Cloud but there is more content that is coming for the desktop version. Just to clarify, development for the desktop hasn't stopped, and more features are in the pipeline for it.

[handrawn]

also good to know.. if a little too late for some

[haakoo]

Thanks for the heads-up Rob,

As for the desktop version I hope it's more "features" instead of "content"

[Egg Bramhill]

Thanks for the update Rob ....

The purpose of Xara Cloud

This is something that I want to clarify and be transparent on as I know it's been fairly ambiguous up until now.

Couldn't agree more.

The Xara Cloud is a rich content document creator and editor aimed at businesses. It's core feature set is built around creating documents, presentations, social media posts, spec sheets, print documents and more. It doesn't have much in the way of vector drawing tools, nor in creating websites and that's not an area that would be focused on either. It can however open any Xara .xar or .web file and make limited edits and additions. I know this isn't the background of a lot of the members of TalkGraphics but I want to just make this clear so when we talk about feature sets or what's high on the wishlist.

"I know this isn't the background of a lot of the members of TalkGraphics" .... Probably less than 5%?

Most TG members use Xara to create vector graphics. Over recent years Xara has endeavored to also create print & website capability, with various success but to the detriment of vector enthusiasts.

My mistaken belief was that Online Designer would compliment Xara Designer and allow real time editing of website content between client/designer similar to a CMS system.

I must admit to now being completely confused re the purpose of Xara Cloud and totally depressed re Xara vector program being relegated to the backwaters to shrivel and die.