Upgrade to Designer Pro?

[gcellison]

Hi, all.

I hope this is not off the topic for this forum, but here goes.

I’ve been using Xara Web Designer Premium since 2014, starting with version 10. I’ve upgraded all along and am now using the current version through my active subscription. I use the software to produce our hotel website and occasionally some graphics, e.g. our postcard.

Though it’s come up several times, today I took notice when Xara’s offer to upgrade to Designer Pro X opened when I initialized the software.

My question is actually a request for advice from those of you who use Designer Pro to design websites. What are the advantages of using the Designer Pro X software over continuing with Web Designer Premium? I understand that it is more powerful and offers more options, but are they applicable to web design? This is particularly pertinent since DPX costs substantially more that WDP.

Any advice is appreciated.

[Acorn]

I have both and I use either and find for web designing each is as good as the other for 95% of my endeavours. XDPX is slicker and has a few more bells but both are identical underneath; it is just the mangling of the UI to cut out functions to market XDWP as a focused product.

If there are some things missing, spend your saved cash or XBuilder (xaratemplates.com); there are freebies so try before you buy.
Also sign up for a free Xara Cloud account. You can use XWDP with its templates: create in the Cloud but modify in XWDP on your desktop.

Acorn

[gcellison]

Many thanks for the honest advice. Though the bells and whistles of XDPX sound enticing, I doubt they would be worth the money for what I use the software for. I have looked at the XBuilder before, and I'll take a look again to see if it would help. Thanks again.

[lex]

I first used only Web Designer Premium, which I was quite happy with. I do some page design, and I used to do it with an old (Win 3.1x) copy of Quark. I thought that Xara would be much easier, but was not ready to buy the full version. So I tried this: I downloaded the Page Designer trial, and copied the page templates to Web Designer. This allowed me to do rudimentary page design work in Web Designer, and print it. I found this quite useful, and have bought the full version afterwards. So if you occasionnally need page design, you can do it in Web Designer, but the full version is always better. You can find earlier versions for less money on eBay (German-language versions have the English version built-in, so they are also an option).

[bwood]

Great discussion. I have WD Premium along with Designer Pro X10. I test on X10 but am considering the recent upgrade. I'm just not a fan of both pieces of software on a yearly subscription, that's why I've kept a couple of older copies of Designer Pro.
I'm also a fan of printed manuals and Pro X10 appears to be the last printed manual. I may take the plunge anyway.

[gcellison]

Thanks, lex. It sounds like DPX allows more options, but isn't necessarily useful if I don't often need to make a lot of printed materials. In fact, I wouldn't mind paying for the most up-to-date version, but I don't want to if I want get any significant benefit from it. Cheers.

[gcellison]

Thanks for your reply, bwood. Your message seems to indicate that you would use both WDP and DPX. For some reason I had the impression that DPX included everything that WDP has, and then lots of other stuff as well. In other words, that if you have DPX, it would be redundant to have WDP. Is that a mistaken impression? Quite frankly, my only reason for considering buying DPX would be if it would replace WDP. I wouldn't want to pay for a subscription for both ! Cheers!

[Acorn]

Thanks for your reply, bwood. Your message seems to indicate that you would use both WDP and DPX. For some reason I had the impression that DPX included everything that WDP has, and then lots of other stuff as well. In other words, that if you have DPX, it would be redundant to have WDP. Is that a mistaken impression? Quite frankly, my only reason for considering buying DPX would be if it would replace WDP. I wouldn't want to pay for a subscription for both ! Cheers!

bwood is being pragmatic in realising he has access to Xara's latest and the online content through XWDP and maintains his XDPXv10 at no cost. This works to a certain extent but will lose out on the (slowly-)evolving SmartShapes as there are struck dumb when copied into XDPXv10. This way allows for a cheaper upgrade within its limitations until such time a jump to XDPXv16+ is seen as vital.

My strategy would be get the Update Service for one year, download all it offers and save locally. Always have a second application copy installed to another device. For recovery, always seek out the Xara download executables and avoid the Magix ones as you cannot control what it may offer after your Update service expiry. Renew after the second year when there is an actual Magix offer bundled that you need. Don't covet a later version as almost any Xara Desktop application is a fantastic product. Keep tuned to TG as there are always workarounds that with a little dedication will save your lots.

Acorn

[browj2]

Ditto what Acorn said.

It is not a real subscription. Look at the details of the Update Service.

I started with Web Designer, then wanted Photo & Graphics Designer. I ended up changing to XDPX as it was just much more efficient, with everything in one interface.

As Acorn pointed out, before the end of the Update Service period, make sure to download everything from the On-line catalogue. The program does not stop working, you just don't get any new features or versions and you no longer have access to the on-line catalogue.

[bwood]

Good idea to download. Anyone know where WD Premium downloads to? It's not in the regular download file - so many in the Web Design folder itself.

-Bill