Unless I am missing something here, it is not the software but the skill of the designer that makes a great website. The best software in the world is useless by itself.

Xara has limitations. It is not designed for e-commerce. Yes you can work with shopping cart add-ons, but not natively. Xara is tiresome with large websites.

But for small to medium size websites Xara is terrific. I work in Designer Pro so there almost everything I need is right there for me. I can design a website and in the same window work on custom graphics, nav bars, edit photos, without having to leave the program.

I have seen over the years many really excellent websites created in Xara. Clean, effective, attractive, and content that is informative and easy to access. At the same time I have seen sites created in other programs that are overworked, gimmicky, hard to navigate and hard to find the appropriate content.

It all comes down to the designer and his skill using the tools at hand. Just like a great painter.