Ideas for future versions...

[carygee]

Ironically, since using XaraX, my interest in Adobe Illustrator has been re-ignited (go figure?). AI9 has a series of transformation and distortion features that are nothing short of terrific. Take a simple circle, copy and shrink it, apply a random distortion to the inner circle, fill it with tomato-red and you have the makings of a pizza etc. Applying multiple strokes to a line is another winner.(Comet trails come to mind).

Knowing that the people at Xara are receptive to new ideas, these seem like no-brainers to me. Add the legendary jet-engine spped of Xara and the winner gets even better...

[carygee]

Ironically, since using XaraX, my interest in Adobe Illustrator has been re-ignited (go figure?). AI9 has a series of transformation and distortion features that are nothing short of terrific. Take a simple circle, copy and shrink it, apply a random distortion to the inner circle, fill it with tomato-red and you have the makings of a pizza etc. Applying multiple strokes to a line is another winner.(Comet trails come to mind).

Knowing that the people at Xara are receptive to new ideas, these seem like no-brainers to me. Add the legendary jet-engine spped of Xara and the winner gets even better...

[rico]

- bitmap effects preview window zoom / scalable
- tabs for text (better text options)
- double click text is edit
- double click zoom tool = 100% view
- multiple pages (pdf support?)
- flash animation support (layers to frames)

- a competition for designing the boot-up & setup images because I think they are unprofessional.. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[tonylondon]

Hi carygee,
Thats strange. I have AI9 and feel that Xara options for distortion are way ahead of Illustrator, given the mold tool.
The best distortion tools on the market I know are in Virtualmirror's Vector Studio vector plugin for AI. Now there are some features I wouldn't mind. I hope Xara will steer clear of nobrainers, though, as they can get in the way, clutter up the toolbox and are not in the spirit of the Xara X philosophy as I understand it....
Tony

[Klaus Nordby]

"- a competition for designing the boot-up & setup images because I think they are unprofessional.. "

HEAR, HEAR, XARA LTD.!?

Yes, that "Russian old man" on the bootup is simply a POOR illustration (that Russian guy has done much better portraits, so which pick this inferior one?)

K

[amoore]

I thought the gentleman on the splash screen was Leonardo da Vinci. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

When I start creating images that are better than his, then I'll think about replacing him on the boot graphic.

Allison

[tonylondon]

I owe you an apology carygee - now I've visited Illustrator9 I see what you mean and this brings me to another point.
There is a lot of disagreement by forum members about what new features to add, yet if Xara were to please everyone the result will be cumbersome and too large to download.
Maybe the answer is for Xara to develop some vector plugins and to keep the core program lean.
(e.g. a morph studio, 3D studio, web developers studio and so on,) each set individually downloadable and paid for by those that want...
Tony.

[Clements]

I think you have a good point here. There are some ideas for improvement which may not be hard to implement nor would they slow the program down; it would then be Xara Ltd's decision to implement them provided it fits into their future "direction" of the program.

There are others, however, that would be extremely helpful for SPECIFIC MARKET SECTORS and which would be a bear to implement the user interface or bloat the core code or not leverage their development resources/costs. THIS IS WHERE the "plug-in" or VBA scripting approach would be a good alternative. Things like producing extrusions (for isometrics/anaxometric illustratives), custom bevels, custom envelopes, etc., would then be possible. Enabling Xara X+ to accept plug-ins or scripts might, in itself, mean a major effort. But it seems once done the gates would be open for some creative solutions to be built. Xara Ltd could then continue to lead the pack in illustrative software with new approaches to its interface, new innovative tools and effects, quality of code, and overall market appeal.

[diniel]

That's maybe not as difficult to implement as it sounds, Artworks used to have optional plugins developed by third parties.

See http://www.cconcepts.co.uk/products/awmod.htm

Looks like Computer Concepts has been left to decay away and die (the website still links to Corel Xara), which is a shame.

[leetucker1]

These are a couple of things I think would greatly enhance the usability of Xara XI...

1. Better text control. As I mentioned on the old Xara wish list seemingly eons ago, I wish that Xara would switch from a text column format to a text box format. A text box could be shaped and transformed just like a mold, and the text would wrap and format itself within it. This seems to me to be probably primarily a recycling of current functions, so it shouldn't be hard.

2. Curved linear fills. Although with enough patience this is feasible as a blend, the ability to make a linear fill using a curved blend would help me out greatly in creating 3-d looking objects. Without them, lighting is extremely difficult to replicate once perspective is used.

3. Vector plugins. The inclusion of some third-party plugin interface, whether for Xara only or by third-parties, would be immensely useful. This is understandably a difficult task for Xara; they have to find a method that is fast, small, and reasonably easy to code for. My personal suggestion would be to use an existing object-oriented and interpreted language like Python.