Xara Plus - Buttons

[Acorn]

Dear Xara...

...your Xara Plus Buttons XPro+v22:

• render the button's states as images
• cannot be used to construct your NavBars
• have the shapes locked so it can only be stretched
• break ever so easily
• cannot handle MouseDown
• do not allow different opacity or positioned state shadows
• came with no instructions - I had to guess how to adjust Fills
• have a poorly names Smart Control - visibility
• can only be skewed left-right
• do not allow a current MouseOver button to be converted
• force the text into the Alt label
• are particularly uninspiring

Acorn

[gwpriester]

Other than these few quibbles, how do you feel?

[NeilH]

Thanks for your feedback Acorn. Could you expand on your "break ever so easily" comment please? If you could explain the steps that lead to breakage, that would be helpful so we can fix them.

Thanks

Neil

[Acorn]

Neil, thank you for engaging.

Taking just the Gradient I-icon button: Xara plus v22 - Buttons.xar

1. Click+Select the text of either state
   
   1. Skew the text
      
      • It does not replicate through to the other state - Soft-group MOver/MOfff text does
      
      
   2. You can skew outside the button boundary
      
      • You have now lost control and would never be able to recover back to the original position following a Save

1. Ditto for Text Rotation

1. Set text to Shrink on Overflow and add more characters
   
   • Other state text changes to match but retains previous Shrink setting - it does not change in size and Overflows the button

1. Exotic but does occur
2. Changed Text to 2 Columns
3. Errored:
   

   • JavaScript error: "TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'content')"SmartLayout.js (1): define(["./Path","./Shared","./SimpleSmartShape","./Matrix","./Rect","./Point","./Camelot","./ComplexSmartShape","./PhotoLib"],function(t,e,r,i,n,o,a,s,l){var h=s.ComplexSmartShape,p=o.Point,u=n.Rect,c=r.Simpl eRectangle,d=e.HandleID,g=e.FillType,f=(e.printfDe v,e.getResString),y=e.isNearly1;function v(t,e){return void 0===t?"undefined" "0000000"+t.toString(16)).substr(e?-e:-8)}function m(t){if(Array.from)return Array.from(t);for(var e=new Array(t.length),r=0;r<t.length;r++)e[r]=t[r];return e}function x(){

   • Subsequent Drag+Select containing 2-Coumn Button, same error

1. For a test:
   
   1. Add Name type:symbol to the Text Area
   2. Replace with any symbol
   3. Undo
   4. Original Font is lost

1. Cannot Paste Attributes

1. Select a group of buttons
   
   1. Errored with 11988k.no.ts message

1. Cannot have Bold alone

1. Cannot add a Line Width

1. Can only change a symbol and its colour
   
   • Not its size
   • Or Skew
   • Or Rotation

Acorn

[Acorn]

With MouseOver Buttons, I can toggle the layer on & off to see how my page balances.

If I have 20 Xara Plus buttons on a page , there is now no comparable action.

As you have designed the Smart Button to have a singular toggle (Visibility) action, you ought to be able to still toggle MouseOver for the same effect.

Acorn

[Acorn]

If you chose to make the Xara Plus Buttons the same width, alignment is then dependent on the (invisible) size of the Text Area, making any alignment near impossible.

Acorn