Is latest Web Designer 'properly' responsive?

**Tallyman** · 02 December 2018, 07:45 PM

I haven't been using Xara for a while now, having stuck to using Wordpress for my needs, but I now want to get back to HTML and so am looking at updating from v11 to the latest - 15 or X whatever the latest one is. However, I cannot see whether the new designer uses Viewport or whether it still uses variants, the blurb isn't really clear so I just want a definitive clarification of how Xara handles responsive websites before I pay for the upgrade.

**Boy** · 02 December 2018, 09:18 PM

Current version is 16 and it still uses variants to allow for WYSIWYG. So, it's adaptive but not responsive.

**gwpriester** · 03 December 2018, 12:23 AM

When you think about it, isn't it better to have variants that work with a specific size range and over which you have design control than one or two variants that arbitrarily adjust and restructure to fit each browser variation?

**Tallyman** · 03 December 2018, 07:06 AM

Many thanks for the replies. I can see what you say, it's just that having just come from WP and looking at many sites around these days, I really want to stick to 'responsive' so I was interested in whether Xara was doing the same.

Thanks anyway.

**restless** · 01 January 2019, 12:43 AM

Originally Posted by gwpriester

When you think about it, isn't it better to have variants that work with a specific size range and over which you have design control than one or two variants that arbitrarily adjust and restructure to fit each browser variation?

Not when Google keeps complaining that your pages are too wide for mobile. I have 3 variant sizes: 320px, 480px, 960px. I am pretty sure that 320px is not too wide for any modern mobile device. But Google still complains. They also complain that I don't have a viewport... or something like that. Ed

**STS** · 12 June 2019, 12:52 PM

Hello Restless:
It appears your comment went unnoticed, as the thread continued on with a discussion of version #'s. I too am frustrated by Google insisting my content is too wide for mobile. I too use variants that are 320px, 480px, 960px, and even 1200px, but Google keeps reporting errors related to content width, viewport not set (but it is!), etc. So, I'm wondering if you did finally receive any resolution from your comment. Thanks for posting.

**restless** · 12 June 2019, 04:16 PM

Originally Posted by STS

Hello Restless:
It appears your comment went unnoticed, as the thread continued on with a discussion of version #'s. I too am frustrated by Google insisting my content is too wide for mobile. I too use variants that are 320px, 480px, 960px, and even 1200px, but Google keeps reporting errors related to content width, viewport not set (but it is!), etc. So, I'm wondering if you did finally receive any resolution from your comment. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for the message. Nope, haven't heard anything else from the forum. For some reason text - the individual characters - is bigger online than it is on my computer, so I am having to to all of our Xara websites and adjust it as best I can.

We have been using Wordpress for new websites, and are slowly switching our Xara websites to WP. The Beaver Builder plugin works great, a lot like Xara. Once we figured out how WP works, it was easy:

We put items side-by-side, and when the page changes to a smaller size they stack up one above the other. The right sidebar (column) goes all the way to the bottom. Now that I know that, I know how to design pages that work okay on all devices. And no matter what the size, the page fills the whole width of the screen.

So far, no complaints from Google about any of the WP pages.

Ed

**onlye** · 12 June 2019, 07:02 PM

Had issues with Xara and ecwid e-commerce not playing well together. Had to find an alternate (I still use Xara most often) that played well with ecwid. I choose WYSIWYG Web Builder, WWB. It offers responsive but allows you to design breakpoint (variants) that you can customize layout for a particular size. A bit of the design control from Xara variants plus responsiveness. The last few WWB sites I built I used Xara to prototype for the customer. Xara is just so much faster. I do wish Xara could figure out how to implement better responsive design AND address the issue with add ins like ecwid.

**behzad** · 16 June 2019, 01:39 PM

onlye, The simplicity and power of Xara none can match. Have a look at what you described, menu after menu and command after command, it is very structured and technical, surely not for the creative minded person. I have been using xara for few decades and when I design something for print, it instantly and with very little work can be used for the web. The mobile variants are great and I just add a one to the main website that I am working on. So my main site is 1130 px and mobile can be 700 px. I have found that this works great on pretty much every tablet and phone. Xara is a force to be recon with and I am sure with time it will improve even more. I would love to see some of your clients work, you can find mine in the Web gallery here on the forum.

**restless** · 19 June 2019, 06:48 PM

Originally Posted by onlye

Had issues with Xara and ecwid e-commerce not playing well together. Had to find an alternate (I still use Xara most often) that played well with ecwid. I choose WYSIWYG Web Builder, WWB. It offers responsive but allows you to design breakpoint (variants) that you can customize layout for a particular size. A bit of the design control from Xara variants plus responsiveness. The last few WWB sites I built I used Xara to prototype for the customer. Xara is just so much faster. I do wish Xara could figure out how to implement better responsive design AND address the issue with add ins like ecwid.

I also tried WWB. It took me a while to get started, and then I couldn't figure out how to make it responsive. Then I tried the Beaver Builder plugin for Wordpress. It didn't take nearly as long to figure out how it works. They have a lot of modules to make things easier. Very nice Pricing Tables - compare 4 products side by side, with picture at top, features list, Buy button. Would take me a long time to do that in Xara. Same with Info Boxes. Then I realized that Info Boxes are just a collection of modules, so I decide to do my own:

I selected a "row" with 4 "columns" and dragged it onto the page. In each column, I put a Photo module, Text module, Button (for more information), another Text module, and another button (to by the product).

True, I don't control exactly what will display on smaller screen sizes, but I know this: When the screen width reduces a certain amount, there will only be 2 Info Boxes per row. Reduce more and only 1 Info Box per row - the 4 will be stacked vertically.

True, Xara gives you more control over complex layouts. But many people seem to like simplicity - something they can grasp in 2 seconds (or less).

We still have a lot of Xara websites, and we are not i a hurry to replace them. They get the job done.

Thanks for your insight, and for sharing your experiences.

Ed