xara.com getting even further from the Xara DEsigner products?

[handrawn]

I'll just stick at version 12; until xara puts something meaningful and drawing oriented into the desktop pot I'll sit out the game

xara have to move forward somehow, and they are obviously having problems which is a great pity...

also they are embracing a new and totally different market to the one that this forum has up to now represented, and we should not loose sight of that

[Boy]

Methinks you are applying human attributes to Magix/Xara, but you do know that that is very wide of the mark.
Your feelings of loss are not reciprocated by Magix/Xara I'm afraid.
Bob.

My post wasn't about the company, I was talking about TGers sensing that they might have to let go of some much loved apps and doing so in different ways.

[slavelle]

Gosh - now we get tables and more embeddable javascript thingies.

I am now evaluating the Affinity options. I really don't feel like dealing with the learning curve, and Xara products work for us at the moment, but I really feel that the investment in learning something else at this point is warranted, since the updates to the product seem to cost so much for so little. I will keep using Xara in the form we already have it, but there is little chance that I will bne be upgrading our 3 licenses any time soon unless there is a serious shift in how new features are released and how relevant they are.

[Fred vanderZee]

I am sticking to v12 as well for the moment (also because I still cannot load my current images in v15), but am currently looking into Affinity as well. Problem is that I have a lot of stuff that has to be converted to a new format but I am willing to take that step now.
I am not afraid of the learning path though, I have been able to learn software fast enough in the past. Xara will become my - sort of - backup plan.

[richinri]

I am now convinced it is time to jump ship with Xara. I feel bad for those that don't see it. Stop waiting for the magic move or the "OMG, they finally heard us." fantasy. It ain't going to happen. Grab Affinity or whatever and move on.

[lex]

Hello folks,

I am software veteran that has seen how Adobe and Symantec and many others acquired many fine programs, and essentially buried them after a short period. I am afraid Magix might follow suit as has been said here. It seems Magix management has acquired some technology to set up a fancy web design platform. It may well be that desktop programs will be neglected and forgotten. However, Xara Designer is a great program as is for the time being (I have X11 Pro), and I am going to enjoy using it for some years to come (without any plan to upgrade or switch to something new). Let's concentrate on the positive side of things: Xara Designer is a mature program that has lots of uses. Que sera, sera!

[iamtheblues]

Back in the day of Xara Xtreme, the program was fast, slick, reasonably priced and unbeatable in terms of other available software on the graphics software market.
Subsequently however, with the addition of web design features and the involvement of Magix it has become feature rich to excess, at the expense of speed and is now
subject to unexpected glitches and other problems related to the relentless pressure to provide what many here at TG regard as unwanted bloatware.
All the bells and whistles that are bolted on to the original program are basically window dressing.

I know I am not alone in hoping for a Xara design program that was stripped of the web content and the downloadable cloud stuff that is of no interest to many here.
The Dear Xara section contains oft-repeated requests for germane additions to the graphic design side such as:-
a decent bitmap tracer,
improved Open Type support,
vector brushes,
improved Mold Tool,
Smart Guides,
improved vector 3D,
vector mesh fill,
Vector distort tools...
Nothing of value has been added to the drawing tools area for many years now. Sadly neglected.
Xara Designer has become a Swiss Army Knife of a program, a Jack-of-all-trades, if you will.
The other half of the Jack-of-all-trades phrase is Master of None and sadly that is what the program has become.

Along with other contributors here, I have become disillusioned with the Xara/Magix combo and also with the lack of any meaningful involvement by them on Talk Graphics.
I am now more reliant on Affinity for all my needs and still use Illustrator CS6 and CorelDraw. Designer Pro 12 is where I shall stay until most of the requested feature improvements materialise.
I have exhausted all I have to say with regard to Xara's future. They will either sink or swim and it matters not to me whichever happens.
Bob.

[Acorn]

@iamtheblues - +1.

@Xara - time out for a period and write down all the truly innovative things Xara delivered in the day. They were truly groundbreaking. Vector. Sub-pixel anti-aliasing. Zero-byte image copies. Fractals. WYSIWYG positioning...

I even include the smarts around MouseOff and MouseOver layers and web page delivery. Web, however, has become a distraction.
Templates are fine but they are mainly single use and of limited value to a designer.

You have all but parked DTP, limping in with "tables".

Now I believe I am a web designer and not an artist but these are your two main Customers.
Why fragment your products into so many by dicing and slicing the UI controls over the same codebase?

I propose you aim for two products: web and design. Your flagship should have both with a UI that toggles out features not needed based on the document type.
The entry point would be the design application, without web, that handles vector, bitmap and font.

Oh, and blocking on-line content is just petty.
You have traded out your innovative legacy as a hostage to fortune.

Acorn

[Pixelpusher]

The latest email from Matt at Xara proves to me that they are focusing on the Cloud portion of their product.The Line Spacing controls and the SVG support are better in the Cloud version than in the PC version that I paid a truckload for. I can see where this is going since I've experienced the exact same thing with Adobe. I think that the writing is on the wall unless they prove otherwise.

[csehz]

The problem is that it had to be ended like this, TG was a good initiation which involved the customers in the developments, both sides benefited by that.

Also the atmosphere was great, warm and friendly but it is just the past, there are these professional marketing answers now that och the tables are long waited and we listen and implemented. But in the background I am sure the people know in the company that it is just playing the role to have the profit, which is the interest of everyone there.

It is a bit the tragedy of capitalism, no real listening and answering, but pretending both ones as need to keep the illusion that the client is the king. While the truth is that after 4:00 PM or something people going home and who cares about it