Is the upgrade to Designer Pro 7 really all that?

**dthomas** · 10 July 2011, 08:59 PM

I've been trying out the ver 7, and am still on the fence as to whether the newer version is really going to be worth it. I'm not a power user, but I have been using xara since xara 4 and did create one simple website with it. I have Adobe CS4 but find myself sticking with Xara since it's, you know, actually comprehensible.

I mostly do simple graphic designs and inhouse comps which get passed on to full time web or game designers. Maybe I should just wait for ver 8.

What new features do you folks find yourself using to save time or create things you couldn't do with ver 6?

Please hurry, my free trial is running out!

**gwpriester** · 10 July 2011, 11:18 PM

Welcome to TalkGrphics (is the d for "doubting"?)

I could not live without the snapping guidelines. I do a lot of web design and all my own graphics, and so the new web features are killer. I use Xara all the time. So for me, the upgrade is more than worth it.

I have Adobe CS5.5 and I use it primarily to change color modes in Photoshop and Illustrator to occasionally open a difficult AI or EPS file. I do use InDesign and like it quite well, but my go to program is always Designer.

One way to look at it is this. Xara is a small company. The money they make from upgrades and new product sales, keeps the support and development on-going.

To be honest, most of what I do could probably be done in earlier versions. But it is nice to have the new features and once you get used to them, it feels like the stone age going back to an earlier version.

**south** · 11 July 2011, 12:48 AM

Not sure yet here. Just did my first site with DP7 this weekend, and probably spent more than half the time figuring out what had moved / been renamed, etc.

I like the ability to add head content directly without having to put up a placeholder.

Not a big fan of the slide out galleries, but if you pin them, you can drag them out to wherever you want.. and they stay in place each time you open xara! Yay!!!

The tabbed documents is a welcome feature.

Not sure I couldn't "live without" a lot of the new stuff, but I suspect the upgrade price will be more if you skip one, so might not really matter.

**dthomas** · 11 July 2011, 11:19 PM

Since the tabbed pages were pointed out, I found a new appreciation for this feature. There was some strange "snapping" going on, but I didn't have time to track down what was happening, so I soldiered on.

More highlights of the new dp7?