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Download Xara X FREE trial! |
Xara X $149.00 US
Upgrade Price Xara X $69.00 US
Web Site: www.xara.com
Certain products, for various reasons, just did not make the impression on the mainstream of computer design as they should have. Sometimes a program can be well designed, well received and work well, and yet not really find its true audience. The common features for such products are innovation, as well as the ability to address a specific need ,or needs, directly. One such overlooked design program is Xara X. However, now that the program is under the control of its original creators, that situation may change.
While it may not have the name recognition of the triumvirate of computer graphic design: Adobe, Macromedia and Corel, Xara was able to set a few standards in the area of vector graphics ahead of many better know applications. What is not so well known is that Xara was the first design application to feature full on-screen anti-aliasing. In addition, text remains indefinitely editable in Xara X, a feature that was not always present in even high-end programs. In spite of being innovative from the start, Xara did not become a household word. What makes this unfortunate is that it is an excellent design package on so many levels. This is particularly true when it comes to speed.
The first distinguishing feature of Xara is the interface. Taking a decidedly minimalist approach to its appearance, there is very little clutter when first opened. This gives the impression that it is as slight as its diminutive size. Demanding about 20 MB of hard drive space, the efficiently packed vector program is light on space, but serious about features and most of all speed. Once you get past the initial appearance and start working with Xara X, you start to realize that there is a great deal under the hood.
Operating it on Windows XP with a Pentium 4 and over 500 MB of RAM, Xara is about as fast as any application can be. One of the first things one notices is that effects take place immediately. Instead of waiting for effects to take place, alterations and modifications of images and text transform before your very eyes. Effects take place in real time. This means no long waits for effects to be implemented. They take place as you do them. What makes this even better is the virtually unlimited undo button.
Rather than forcing the user to pick this and that from long menus, buttons and options appear and disappear with the selection of various tools. Pick on the Fade tool and suddenly the appropriate items appear on the toolbar as if by magic. Move to another tool and only those elements needed are available. The net effect of all of this is a clean window. There are fewer tools to get in the way, and more space to work.
Although Xara is intuitive in some places, in others it is not. Once inside of the application, the program makes sense. Coming to it fresh without being knowledgeable about its basic workings is not advisable. There are too many conventions unique to Xara that really demand that you take time to actually learn how various elements fit together. Fortunately, this is not hard to do.
The first resource to consult is the program itself. Shipping with a healthy supply of clip art, images, and other “goodies,” Xara X includes some comprehensive movies that illuminates the features and tools available to the user. Just an investment of 30 minutes can give you the bare bones of what to do, and open you up to a wealth of design tools. If the idea of watching educational avi files seems as thrilling as watching water boil, do not fear. Xara has taken the effort out of learning on the PC, and in turn shows just what a powerhouse its vector graphics program can be. So you do owe it to yourself to take advantage of these excellent demos.
One feature that stood out in my mind was the “Name Gallery.” Why a feature like this has not become standard is an interesting one. With just one click, you are given an entire list of bitmaps, fonts and colors used in a document. You not only have a list, but you can select those objects from the list to edit or remove them. It is a well thought out tool that gives you yet another access point to control document elements.
The Shadow and Bevel tool are also instantly accessible and offer instant access with little confusion or fuss. The Freehand Brush tool offers the features of both in one menu item. This means that you also have access to painterly brush strokes that can be applied directly and in real time to any freehand line created. The transformations of various strokes are very very fast. Just select and bam, there you are!
Included in this latest version are web tools and of course the expected import and export features one would expect. In short, you can take your document from Xara to the latest version of Illustrator, in this case v10, and not fear losing information. In my casual tests, the results were clean, smooth and with no unexpected surprises.
There is a great deal to admire about Xara. It is fast, feature rich, includes excellent documentation and of course is only a fraction of the cost of higher end applications costing many times more. For those that want the tools and results obtainable from major applications, but do not have deep pockets, the price points, features and included documentation make this an application well worth having.
Not to mention the modest system requirements and you have a program that can work on a number of machines with ease. Even if you are not a graphic designer, Xara X is an excellent choice, if not a necessity, if you are working with images and text. There is enough here for a professional and certainly more than enough for a novice. You will be hard pressed to find a full featured package like Xara that is this easy to use and this rich in features for so little. The export import features are solid, the size and system requirements are a marvel, and it will not hog up your hard drive. Even if you have the larger applications, Xara is great deal of fun to use. It really makes computing just that much easier. However, do take the time to learn it first!
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