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  1. #21
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Australia: GMT+10
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    265

    Default Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?

    After the demise of MS FrontPage, Xara Web Designer was the main reason I ended up on V10/11/12. I won't upgrade to 15 unless the problems are fixed and it is made possible to run it into the future without www access. Sadly, Affinity has no website design equivalent as far as I can see

    When the axe falls and Xara products fail to function when their www connection evaporates, it looks like I'll be back to a hotch-potch collection of disparate software, all with it's own way of working. Cloud-based design software might be great if you live in a country with reliable and fast www access, but I'm in Australia where we have huge distances between centres and the sh!tt!est, piecemeal, slow, costly, unreliable web access our 'leaders' could have devised.

    Xara was on the right path with their integrated modules in XDPro, but they seem hell-bent on jumping off! If you're reading this Xara I hope you realise what's happening and decide to make standalone keys available at reasonable cost before the axe falls. And you need to come out into the light and say something definite and encouraging. Not happy.
    IP

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Canberra, Australia
    Posts
    121

    Default Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?

    Quote Originally Posted by jaydear View Post
    Cloud-based design software might be great if you live in a country with reliable and fast www access, but I'm in Australia where we have huge distances between centres and the sh!tt!est, piecemeal, slow, costly, unreliable web access our 'leaders' could have devised.
    Me too. Only ADSL2+ is available to me and the speed I get varies from 0.01 Mbps to 3 Mbps (if I'm lucky). We're located too far from the nearest exchange to get anything faster, and that's heavily congested anyway. What the Govt calls high speed broadband (which is a joke in itself) is still years off for my area.
    IP

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Canberra, Australia
    Posts
    121

    Default Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?

    Quote Originally Posted by David Strover View Post
    May I ask what you are looking at? I've downloaded Inkscape and have started doing their tutorials, my big problem is I found Xara very easy to use very quickly whereas as Adobe style products, my wife has Photoshop for instance, I just don't find intuitive.
    I haven't really found anything suitable yet. For websites I have looked at the Coffee Cup products and WYSIWYG WebBuilder. For general graphic design work I haven't found anything I like so far.
    IP

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Location
    Canton, GA
    Posts
    666

    Default Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?

    Well, based on the responses thus far, it looks like I am far from alone.

    And here we are several days later and no response from Xara and not from the new ceo specifically.

    I am looking at Affinity like many here, but honestly, the learning curve is there to deal with and it would have to knock it completely out to get my money.

    We don't really use a lot of web features in Xara except for two things... 1 design mockups with some live parts that are just better than a flat jpg and 2. Splash pages, which are really easy and fast. It may stay around for the second option, but I really don't want to support Xara with things going SO far away from the desktop, even when the core of that part of the program has been begging for years for new and improved drawing tools and what we get is more and more dumbed down, cloud based, least common denominator desktop software... With no new drawing tools and a complete lack of respect for the very users who made Xara even possible to look at professionally. But they seem to want to give that all away for the entry level masses, even at the pro versions... Provided you can find them. SMH.
    IP

  5. #25
    Join Date
    May 2014
    Location
    Australia: GMT+10
    Posts
    265

    Default Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?

    Quote Originally Posted by stevegill View Post
    Me too. Only ADSL2+ is available to me and the speed I get varies from 0.01 Mbps to 3 Mbps (if I'm lucky). We're located too far from the nearest exchange to get anything faster, and that's heavily congested anyway. What the Govt calls high speed broadband (which is a joke in itself) is still years off for my area.
    You have my sympathy! High speed broadband? Here we have fibre to the node and then 1.2Km of ancient copper which is terminated in a pit at our gate... a pit that fills with water every time it rains. A joke indeed; they only pulled in one bundle for the whole suburb, so when all the schoolkids come home the already pitiful speed plummets. We still don't have broadband and likely never will because they didn't drag in enough fibre to connect everybody. The assumption by companies like Xara and Magix that everybody is connected is a fallacy and basing products on a fallacy is doomed to failure.
    IP

  6. #26
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Isle of Man
    Posts
    47

    Default Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?

    Speaking of Affinity - as an alternative, albeit not same, there is Gravit that might have potential. I reckon between GIMP, Inkscape, Affinity (not free mind), Paint.Net and Gravit - (Scribus somewhat too) there are alternatives. As for Web Page design... not sure.
    IP

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Swindon, Wiltshire, United Kingdom
    Posts
    188

    Default Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?

    Quote Originally Posted by Panchdara View Post
    Speaking of Affinity - as an alternative, albeit not same, there is Gravit that might have potential. I reckon between GIMP, Inkscape, Affinity (not free mind), Paint.Net and Gravit - (Scribus somewhat too) there are alternatives. As for Web Page design... not sure.
    Thanks for all the comments everyone - Gravit doesn't look too bad, the controls seem more intuitive for me, which means they're probably be hopeless for everyone else!
    IP

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    ...Granada province, Andalucia, Spain
    Posts
    5,302

    Default Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?

    I'm not sure what all the fuss is about, to be honest. OK, Affinity is not free, but neither is Xara. If you bought Xara's latest iteration and there are no further updates, it can still be used, providing that Magix/Xara do the decent thing and provide a furure-proof user key to all current license holders.

    Once Xara goes the way of all flesh, a new product will be the only choice - if updates to new features are desired, so CorelDraw and Affinity are the only realistic choices unless the unpleasant prospect of a subscription service might be considered a realistic option for the more affluent among us. Corel already costs an arm and several legs, so Affinity is pretty much a no-brainer. If I remember correctly, Serif used to produce a web design product, Webplus 8, I believe. So there is that option, too. Who knows, the Affinity marque may soon cover the web option, too. Even if Xara survives, it isn't cheap to keep up with hypothetical updates beyond what has already been paid for. Perhaps now is a realistic time to cut the umbilical cord.

    I would not give up on Affinity, it's pretty cheap, their future looks bright, they even have a roadmap for Christ's sake! A little pain in adjusting to their ways of working may be the best option in future.

    But hey, who knows? Xara may surprise us all and release regular and prolific updates, the powers that be might deign to let TG members know what their plans are and we will all live happily ever after in a world where there is peace and goodwill to all. But you would not bet on any of the above.
    Bob.
    ** Detailed "Create A Spinning Logo Tutorial" is available in .pdf format for download at this link **
    Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx.
    IP

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Posts
    4,501

    Default Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?

    Quote Originally Posted by iamtheblues View Post
    I'm not sure what all the fuss is about, to be honest.
    Death itself is often not the problem, we'll deal with it when it comes, but the process of dying often is. Then there can be strong feelings of fear, hope, resentment, anger etc. Especially when it concerns a loved one, and Xara's desktop apps are loved by many. Others turn to strategies of denial, run off or look for a substitute.

    Ain't life wonderful?!
    IP

  10. #30
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    ...Granada province, Andalucia, Spain
    Posts
    5,302

    Default Re: xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?

    Methinks you are applying human attributes to Magix/Xara, but you do know that that is very wide of the mark.
    Your feelings of loss are not reciprocated by Magix/Xara I'm afraid.
    Bob.
    ** Detailed "Create A Spinning Logo Tutorial" is available in .pdf format for download at this link **
    Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read. Groucho Marx.
    IP

 

 

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