Requests for new website - Xara-X.com

[Big Frank]

Hi chaps,

I intended to mention this earlier. Michael and Wolfgang are working on a new site hopefully to be lauched in a few months. This begs the question...

[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img] WHY? [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]

The XaraXone is a splendid repository of art, artists, tutorials and Xara stuff. If you guys want to extend what XaraXone currently offers,why not work with Gary to do this. I'm sure people would much prefer to use one website than have to flick back and forth between two sites whose content may well overlap.

...or am I missing something???

[Big Frank]

Hi chaps,

I intended to mention this earlier. Michael and Wolfgang are working on a new site hopefully to be lauched in a few months. This begs the question...

[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img] WHY? [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif[/img]

The XaraXone is a splendid repository of art, artists, tutorials and Xara stuff. If you guys want to extend what XaraXone currently offers,why not work with Gary to do this. I'm sure people would much prefer to use one website than have to flick back and forth between two sites whose content may well overlap.

...or am I missing something???

[michaelward]

Hi Frank,

I unserstand your concerns, but I feel there is plenty more room for another Xara web site.

We don't intend to compete against the XaraXone or the TalkGraphics forum, and we will seek to work as close as possible with them. However, we do wish to create something which is truly unique within the Xara landscape on the Web at the moment. We wish to fill the niches that have been left behind by the XaraXone and TalkGraphics. We wish to create a unique atmosphere at our new site.

I really do understand your concerns, but I feel that the new web site will be beneficial to the Xara community rather than detrimental... If you wish to voice any of your concerns to me personally then please e-mail me and I will be happy to respond,

Thanks for the interest though, :-)

Michael Ward



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[Big Frank]

...there's plenty of room for everybody!

I've just spent the last hour or whatever going through all the previous posts about the pros and cons of xara-x.com to refresh my memory. The way I see things is like this: as long as xara-x.com doesn't overlap with xaraxone (and, reading the various posts, I guess there is lots of room to manoeuvre) there's every reason it could be a success.

One thing worries me, though. There have been precious few offers of help for the new site, unless these have all come in a flood of private e-mails to Wolfgang or yourself, and I wonder how you are going to get the content to make the site 'sticky'. I also think you should have at least one set of banner ads... for Xara products. This, I think, will lend the site greater credibility. You could even earn from it (to help pay for the hosting etc).

However, if you are hosting this site yourselves, I'm assuming you have administrator privileges. How about offering a free xara-x.com POP3 e-mail address to all contributors to the site? Many people are either too busy or need a 'carrot' to get involved (me included). It strikes me that you will need all the help can get to fill the site with worthwhile content. Xara, sadly, doesn't have the coverage of Photoshop, although it certainly should have considering how good it is, but that's why Photoshop has 100's of devotee sites. I personally wish there were far fewer so I wouldn't have to go trawling around dozens of wannabe Photoshop guru sites to find handy hints and tips.

Anyway, although I think IMHO you will have an uphill battle getting this site off the ground, I am prepared to be proved wrong so in the spirit of this most thought-provoking forum I want to wish you and Wolfie the best of luck! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[michaelward]

Thankyou, and I take all your views on-board. You make some very good points and have some good ideas also, and I will discuss some of these further with Wolfgang.

I can see why you have fears about "sticky content", but I am sure that with a large amount of effort, quality material can be produced. Regarding your concern over the lack of help put forward, I have receieved some very encouraging e-mails, and I have also received an offer to publish a lengthy article/tutorial on the site. The article/tutorial is written excellently and covers a lot of Xara's features in a tutorial format, and the German version was published in a top-selling German PC Magazine.

I will be putting much hard work into this site over the coming months to launch it and get things rolling, and this effort will continue keep the site fresh and exciting.

I hope to be proving you wrong very soon... :-)

Michael Ward



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