Prox 18 nothing to write home about

[behzad]

I marked today in my calendar for the release of v18 of Magix xpro. After looking at it for any new features, there is not much for me to pitch out money at. Glad it is a program apart from v17.
I assume a lot of the improvements from the Xara+ were not transferred over to it either, am I right?

[Initiostar]

Download the 30-day Pro X trial version and take a look.

I'm on v17.0 (unsupported) and the v18 install was easy; it even linked my recently opened files and maintained the FTP publishing profiles. First impressions positive with HiDPI (in my 4K desktop).

Gary

[behzad]

I am poor lol 4k can wait.

[Acorn]

behzad, rejoice! I had expected it for 29 March.

Xara Designer Pro X 18.0.0.61642 DL x64 Mar 18 2021, for once, has been less of a problem to update to.

A weird place for it, but file:///%localappdata%/Temp/result.html is listing the changes:

Release Notes for XARA Designer Pro X V 18.0

Features

* HiDPI support
* New handle controls for QuickShapes and Shape tool
* New Google fonts
* New publishing workflow
* Smart Duplication
* pdf 4.0

Content

* 10 new presentations
* 10 new Header designs
* 3 new photo panels
* 4 new text panels
* 5 new table designs
* 6 new diagram designs
* 30 new Facebook posts
* 30 new Instagram posts

https://www.magix.com/gb/photo-graphic/xara-designer-pro/new-features/ at least demonstrates them working.
Search with "NEW SINCE MARCH 2021".
I suggest when you have a Dear Xara... moment, use the heading MagiXara has used to describe the feature.

A major revamp seems to have gone into the installer, which deserves a mention.
Xara got the right Help file in place. Still no PDF Help Manual though.
Xara has still failed with C:\Program Files\Xara\Xara Designer Pro X\18\license.rtf not opening as a proper MS Word document. Oh dear. I know how to fix it as a TGer told Xara years ago.
My defaults come over quite well. I lost:

• Default template. Just annoying to run around resetting it. Time there should be a Template Gallery.
• All my Colours. Not showing on the Colour Line but are there in the Colour Gallery. Trivial.

For some HiDPI workspace is probably worth the renewal.
The PDF Editor 4.0 looks promising.
Handles with a new look - dire.
Smart Duplication - buggy.
Header & footer designs for professional layout - not experimented with much but has potential.
1000+ Google fonts - why this is fanfared always beats me; Xara always lags what Goggle has already presented
New publishing workflow - this is a good UI integration but extremely poorly documented. Casual users will and do get lost, thinking Supersites have gone!
Header and footer designs - what would be useful is a masterclass as to how these are designed so real users can design their own versions.
Remaining Content - whatever:

• Text Panels - instead teach us about Name Gallery > Stretches then it wouldn't be 105 of them, it would be unlimited.
• e-books - they are not use for ebook publishing unless your output to PDF and jump through hoops.
• Tables - Xara has promised improvements but just churns out badly-designed content that fails accessibility, handling of external data (easily), location of a cell in the Page & Layout Gallery when editing. Also the the content is one basic table template - teach people how to manipulate stuff and unchain them.
• Facebook and Instragram - just saying such ephemera might have some use, but really? Take Google+ (not Google +) for instance. The Google+ developer API was discontinued on March 7, 2019, and Google+ was shut down for business and personal use on April 2, 2019, yet Xara still has a section for it.

Acorn

[behzad]

Thank you Acorn. Still no merit in me spending money when my current version does what I want. However for new buyers that is another story. Will see what the next update has, until then farewell v18.

[Acorn]

New publishing workflow - https://www.talkgraphics.com/showthr...ion-18-problem

I also forgot, we got a shiny purple desktop icon.

Another lost default: XAR/WEB associations went to XDPXv18 while set for Xara Pro+v21.

Note to self: never upgrade during project work!

Acorn

[Acorn]

For interest, the Magix Update Service Upgrade for Xara Web Designer Premium is still offering version 17 up to 28 March.
It is therefore a good guess that XWD(P) version 18 will appear on or just after 29 March.

For those considering an upgrade, do hold off until at least then or even wait until the first bug fix / patch.

I have no idea if it will come with HiDPI.
It should as MagiXara hive off the various products from the one master.
We shall see.

Acorn

[behzad]

1) Considering Xara no longer announces Magix updates or releases, where do I get the info on what is updated with v18?

2) Did Magix skip on updating v17 with bug fixes?

3) Can I download the whole program and have a backup of v17 from Magix before it is totally eliminated and replaced by v18?

[MB365]

Info on v18

https://www.magix.com/us/photo-graph...ures/#c1374992
https://www.xara.com/us/designer-pro/whats-new/
http://releasenotes.xara.hosting/designer-pro-x18/

[Acorn]

1) Considering Xara no longer announces Magix updates or releases, where do I get the info on what is updated with v18?

2) Did Magix skip on updating v17 with bug fixes?

3) Can I download the whole program and have a backup of v17 from Magix before it is totally eliminated and replaced by v18?

Info on v18

https://www.magix.com/us/photo-graph...ures/#c1374992
https://www.xara.com/us/designer-pro/whats-new/
http://releasenotes.xara.hosting/designer-pro-x18/

@behzed, Matt's links answer question 1).

2) As v17 stopped with Xara Designer Pro X 17.1.0.60742 DL x64 Dec 9 2020, it is apparent that then was not or will be not a patch or bug fix for its embedded faults.

3) Download and use v18 and you still have v17 available. You do get a nag screen saying there is an update to v18. This is innovative! For versions prior, you would never know a new major version existed.

A lot has been going on under the hood with MagiXara delivery. As they seem to be corrections to poor delivery design, Xara will be reluctant to mention them.

Acorn