Okay. I've had XDP for about 2 and a half years and Ai for about 5 weeks. To be fair, I should have waited until I've had Ai for 6 months (at least). But this is MY take on the two graphics programs:
First, XDP.
XDP is awesome. To put it mildly, there's not much you can't do with it and with a little forethought you can probably do most ANYTHING with it. While I can't speak to the web design capabilities of it (I don't have much experience in web design, I'm only into the print part of XDP), I can speak of its incredible skills that it does have. Xara, is flexible. With it one can design all kinds of cool stuff from logos to desktop publishing to vector art. It even has photo tools that can rival some of the industry's best photo editing software (are you listening Illustrator?). In fact with the photo tools alone, I have edited photos BETTER than my old standby Lightroom. Take that Adobe! Illustrator has no photo editing software (that I know of, if it does, my apologies to Adobe).
Second up, Ai:
Adobe is the industry standard when it come's to vector art posters, just ask Hollywood. Now, Ai does have a LOT of bells and whistles that would make any designer/artist drool and genuflect. But such skill sets come with a hefty price. Illustrator is EXTREMELY time consuming to learn. Just ask me. But I am learning it, slowly but surely, one day at a time. The shaper tool is amazing and wish XDP had one too (pay attention Xara). Plus, the shape builder tool is pretty cool too, in and of itself. With it I can create overlapping shapes much faster than with XDP, and it's easier too.
Over all:
For its photo editing tools that are nothing short of amazing and for the incredibly easy user interface I give Xara 4.5 out of 5 stars. But Xara, hang in there you are still near and dear to my heart.
For its incredible (almost limitless) user tools (some of which are pretty easy to learn too) and for its wealth of user supported YouTube videos I give Illustrator a 4.7 out of 5 stars. Adobe, you may be number one but you've got some work to do when it comes to ease-of-use.
That's about all I've got for now. Maybe in 5 more months I can have a better idea of what Ai can and cannot do. 'Til then...
I hope what ever you use to do your art/designs that you realize that neither XDP nor Ai have any intellect or artistic merit in and of them selves; it's the user that creates the image. It's you who do the magic and not the software. The software is only a tool, a vehicle that helps get you where you want to go.
I wish you smooth sailing...
Mark
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