Xara Designer Pro+ Update 20.3.0.59963

[Acorn]

Thank you all! I could not find a way to shrink/stretch any photos on v18. I changed the register line as indicated and it works! What a relief. The "show selection bounds handles" button is back and I can Alt-shrink.
Please make sure that this capability is not taken away in future versions. Some of us depend on it for our daily work.

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Xara\XtremePro Sub x64\18\Options\Selector Tool\ShowXCBoundsBlobs.
Change the value from 1 to 0 to turn on the "show selection bounds handles" button.

Sorry to hear you have had problems. It is not really anything to do with the new UI handles, it is the conflation of Xara forcing the Photo Tool actions on us for selected images despite the Selector Tool being active.

You have to click a second time on the image.
This toggles the Show rotation centre On.

The conflation is the need to know if Smart Transform is active (On) and if you need to hold down the Alt key all with the removal of the Show selection bound handles button.

Simple when you know how.

Acorn

[davelash]

Adding one more deficiency with the new selector handles: it's more difficult to find the center line of shapes. The old selector handles had small black boxes along the sides, small enough to eyeball a center line pretty quickly. The new handles are much wider, making it harder to find estimate the center lines. (I've learned to turn the Show Rotation Center on, and use that, but it won't stay on!)

I've been using the new selector handles daily for a year, and I still yearn for the intuitive nature of the old handles. The fat dashed line is constantly interfering with my desire to see edges cleanly. Hope Xara will find a better solution.