Big complaint about the widget

**behzad** · 18 April 2019, 11:42 PM

I do like Xara but this pisses me off. On numerous occasions the images hosted by xara/via the Xara Slide Show widget do not appear at all on my clients site.
This adds to a bunch of other dissatisfaction and half ass functionalities that I have reported on Dear Xara only raises my blood pressure and jeopardizes my delivery
as a professional web designer.

Is Xara used as a professional tool or I need to rethink how I deliver websites in the future?

I really like the Xara staff to chime in on this.

**gwpriester** · 19 April 2019, 12:07 AM

Can you be more specific? And provide a link to a slide show widget that is not working?

**Koko** · 19 April 2019, 01:04 AM

One of the slideshow widgets is actually hosted online by Xara. I think its named xara widget too, and its not in my content catalog anymore for Version 11 premium but I've used it before.

Its was kinda neat, but I remember thinking that if their hosting goes down, and I think you had to login to edit it and i lose my password, that I would not use it because its out of my control if/when its' down. All the other ones are saved on my laptop & cloud backup.

**behzad** · 19 April 2019, 01:34 AM

KoKo this is the one that you have indicated. Gary the site is clear sound hearing .ca
This is the widget. I believe Rob said they are making an alternative to it or something but still, it is very unreliable.

**Acorn** · 19 April 2019, 12:17 PM

Originally Posted by Koko

One of the slideshow widgets is actually hosted online by Xara. I think its named xara widget too, and its not in my content catalog anymore for Version 11 premium but I've used it before.
Its was kinda neat, but I remember thinking that if their hosting goes down, and I think you had to login to edit it and i lose my password, that I would not use it because its out of my control if/when its' down. All the other ones are saved on my laptop & cloud backup.

I agreed with your summary. For some perverse reason Xara removed the Widget in an "upgrade" and failed to restore it despite Kate Moir's assurances. The assured up-time of the MagiXara servers is only 98%. I would never rely on a separate server away from my our hosting provider either.

I use WowSlider as I have complete control. I also use the XaraTemplates.com coding as these are well thought out. I am fortunate as I can code my own as well and I have posted some on TG but I do not consider these production ready.

One day.
Acorn

Acorn

**gwpriester** · 19 April 2019, 12:32 PM

Wow Slider is very good and I have used Visual Slideshow in the past. Here for example. http://custom-stereograms.com/

It's a minor hassle because you have to copy the text from the index page it creates and paste it into the Head and Body sections on Web Properties > Page and the two folders it generates also have to be uploaded. But it is easier to use, and has more features.

Link to their page http://visualslideshow.com/

**behzad** · 19 April 2019, 01:15 PM

Thank you gang, without your input and few others like egg, ...... this forum is useless. At this stage additional work is money that the client will not pay, but I feel bad about this being a crap shoot in the dark, so I will take up your suggestions and try to correct this.

Also Acorn. You should make a bank of resources, this and other repeated requests like a contact form, search engine, popup feature, the list can go on and on and yes please charge for them, make some money too.

**Acorn** · 19 April 2019, 03:57 PM

Originally Posted by behzad

Also Acorn. You should make a bank of resources, this and other repeated requests like a contact form, search engine, popup feature, the list can go on and on and yes please charge for them, make some money too.

Thank you, it had crossed my mind. I suppose i thought there was not much demand.
I'll have a go.

Acorn

**gwpriester** · 19 April 2019, 05:12 PM

Maybe we should start a new thread called WORK AROUNDS?

**behzad** · 19 April 2019, 06:16 PM

Acorn are you kidding me? OMG. You can also provide a service now that you are retired from xara to make custom solutions for us users (charge us).

Gary There are so many questions that you and Acorn repeatedly discuss with users. It is always the same question about popups, forms, etc... I am sure that wears you guys down. Why not have a section that has no comment feature and only provides these answers where you can point the users to.