Is this Possible in Xara Web/Extreme

[Big Frank]

But surely the original point of Flash was that you could achieve things with vectors that could only be achieved in HTML using (bitmap) image files. Hardly a misconception to think that a vector graphic is likely to be smaller than a raster graphic, is it?

The original point of flash was to enable rich media content without the bloat. Now with so-called web 2.0 that is still its intended purpose, albeit far more complex, but many people missed the point and used it to create animating bloated animated websites. Many of those remain and people are still doing it. It is a misconception to think that simply because you are doing something in flash it will be lean and mean.

On the Minchin Fellows website? I can't find any such large image file there, am I looking at the wrong page?

http://www.minchinfellows.com/images/icons.png 513Kb

[gwpriester]

From the elegant design of the site, I suspect that Minchin Fellows are appealing to an upscale market with a high end product. FWIW the site loads instantly for me. But if you have a slower connection, r a dial-up connection then a site like this is a real bother. And I suspect that most people if they have to wait any time at all will move on.

Which brings up an important point. Design for your market. If you are designing for an upscale market, people with lots of money, and who probably have access to high speed Internet connections then this kind of design is fine. But if you are creating a website for all types of users who have a variety of Internet access speeds, then simpler is better. Common sense of course, but that never stopped a lot of people from designing elaborate Flash sites that take 2 minutes to load at high speed.

[Big Frank]

Which brings up an important point. Design for your market.

I agree 100%

[jwhitham]

Loaded instantly for me too, hence why I was looking for the big bitmap. Designing for the market or no I rather think I'd have have shied away from using quite such a large image, particularly if the only reason for not using a jpeg is the corner radii.

Unfortunately, whether websites or desktop applications, the code tends to expand to fill the RAM/HD/bandwidth available. I'm currently writing a web app for smartphones, now that imposes a bit of discipline, but I'm going right off topic.

[gwpriester]

The original question was Can this be done in Designer. And I believe the question has been answered.