Xara Designer Pro

What do you like best?

Using Xara is like having Illustrator, Indesign and Photoshop in one place, since it allows you to create and edit in bits, vectors. In addition to easily making web designs, no matter if they are for tablet or PC.

The best of all is that its operation is great, even if you do not have a lot of RAM and CPU, its consumption is quite low compared to Adobe.

In the image design part its weak spot is that transparency options are quite limited compared to AI or PS. When dealing with web designs and you make a fairly large website it's necessary to have the elements associated with your designs on the PC where you installed Xara or else it becomes a challenge when trying to make modifications.

When disk space, ram or CPU is limited Xara can fill your needs for every image type and web design.

My travel tablet was constantly saturated with tools that were necessary for my work leaving little space for anything else, Xara allowed me to optimize the operation of my tablet, since I can perform more than one function without having to change software. Now I have a better PC but I still take this tablet with me from time to time and I don't need anything else to perform my work.

PROS & CONS

What are the best aspects of this product?

My job requires me to do tons of advertising campaign materials for our social medial and company websites. I have tried using different applications to create perfect images that are used for marketing and advertising our business. I can easily edit backgrounds and restore old photographs without exerting too much effort. I've used a lot of design software in my entire career. I can say that Xara design is like a one-stop-shop where you'll find a list of upgraded features that are way better than other products. Also, Xara does not take too much space on your RAM, so you do not have to worry about your computer slowing down or crashing during a project.

What aspects are problematic or could work better?

Some of its components need an upgrade so users won't think about switching to another software. One example is its restricted transparency features that are very useful in repairing decade old or faded photos. If you are doing large scale projects, you need to invest in design software that has unique characteristics. Doing this will allow you to work at a faster rate and making any last-minute modifications won't be too cumbersome on your end.

What specific problems in your company were solved by this product?

I can do graphic design work even when I am away from my workplace. Instead of using my laptop, I can create designs and edit images using my tablet or cellphone, which I find very practical and convenient. With Xara, I was able to organize all my files without consuming too much hard drive space. I can do so many things using one software. I am delighted that Xara promotes efficiency by allowing me to finish my projects on time and spend some time attending to other aspects of the business.

Are you a current user of this product?

No

PROS & CONS

What are the best aspects of this product?

The initial package is already complete enough. In its inclusions are tools for creating illustrations, graphic designs, web design, and other marketing collaterals. Naturally, one would need to set aside the time to learn this program. However, once you get the hang of it, you'll know that this is actually easy to learn. The interface facilitates a smooth workflow in design. There are plenty of templates that you can choose from too. This is a time-saver, both in utilities and in the actual speed of the program. I work in a not-so-robust device and Xara still runs impressively fast there. On top of all of this, there are plenty of resources and tutorials on Xara too.

What aspects are problematic or could work better?

The widget. It intermittently crashes or has some issues--be it opened on the phone or in my PC. It would be nice to be able to talk to Xara's support team too. I usually get redirected to their forum page instead. Building tables is quite hard on this platform too.

What specific problems in your company were solved by this product?

I use Xara for multiple things: to design websites, put up ads online, create social media banners, and other things related to my job. I work fast with Xara and I can build a simple website in just a matter of a day or two. This software is perfect for my clients and my workflow.

Are you a current user of this product?

Yes

What do you like best?

Vector-based graphic design and tool. Large array of drawing/graphic tools available with a good vendor eco-system for plug-ins and additional options. Great on-line community with tutorials, help and user support.

Makes working with graphics and designing diagrams easy and fast.

The zooming capabilities for pixel-perfect graphics is just great. The multi-layering tools and colour management is great also.

Not much to dislike about Xara, which is why I use it after evaluating a whole bunch of graphics programs.

Try it out and learn how vector-based systems work. Explore the on-line community for examples, tips and tricks.

Graphic design for software, marketing and sales. General graphics processing and image conversion. We make a lot of our imagery for our product documentation with Xara, and it makes it easy to create re-usable objects that are great for conceptual diagrams and technical overviews.

What do you like best?

Xara Designer Pro offers an excellent graphics package that provides; graphic design, illustrations, marketing materials (brochures, flyers, used as print or PDF, and simple website design. Once you learn the concepts the program gives you a lot of flexibility and is fairly easy to use. The design gallery templates provide a great starting place for many design projects. The program is fast! I have a small 2-n-1 laptop-tablet I use for one on one meetings. The laptop is not very powerful but Xara runs just fine. Learning, support and help via the available help, videos and user forum are very good.

On websites, there are some issues with embedded widgets working on both desktop and mobile variants. Would like to see that improved. Direct support from Xara could be better. I usually get support from a user forum. I would very much like Xara to add a good table tool similar to MS Word. I usually build tables in Word and bring them into Xara.

Download the 30-day trial. Watch the instruction videos on the Xara website. If you have questions go to Talkgraphics.com forum. The advice you get there is usually good and pretty quick. As a website development tool, you can do very nice looking sites but it is not the right tool for complex sites with database backends, cms systems, etc. Make sure you define your project to determine what you need.

As a small business internet marketing consultant, I use XDP to build websites, google static display ads, google animated display ads, social media banners, company flyers, company logos, etc. I can build a small business website, a logo and a set of google display ads in a day or two. My target is small businesses so I can make a fair profit and still offer my services for much less than other providers using more "advanced, complex" tools

What do you like best?

What I like the best about using Xara, is it's fast image tracing, with perfect results, it's one powerful tool, with many functions, such as shadow tool, automatically back-ups, transparency tool and more! Very user-friendly feel more professional than other software I've demoed in the past.

What I dislike the most about Xara, is I cannot use it directly on my macbook pro, which is a shame, since this is the perfect software out there and I cannot use it portable on the go. I hope to see it support MacOS in the future.

I would say try it out first, before you buy.

Improvents and learning abillty of my graphical designs

What do you like best?

Xara Designer Pro is a software that I like because it has a great graphics package, it also has a lot of marketing materials that help me in my business.

This software may have a very simple interface but it is very easy to use, I really like that. It is also a super fast software and I love that.

Xara Designer Pro puts you at your fingertips very beautiful templates and with very creative designs.

I'm really struck by the variety of tools that this software has as well as the graphics options it has. I love the colors, the zoom and the pixels.

The support and help team are very good.

There's nothing that I do not like of Xara Designer Pro but there's something that disconform me from this software and it is the widget, this has problems in both the mobile and the PC that is very annoying.

Mainly I recommend that you first download the trial version and after this start watching the videos that this software offers so you can have more knowledge about the operation and use of Xara Designer Pro.

When you have any problems with this software, you can consult the support team without problems. In the same way there is the online community which you can visit.

I also recommend that before you start a project in Xara Designer Pro you should be clear about what you are going to do and then proceed with the project.

I have noticed that the websites of the company where I work have a better image as well as the advertisements published on the different websites and social networks. It can be noticed that the marketing and sales potential of the company has improved a lot. I find it very interesting to create the graphics to show my colleagues the evolution of the company.

What do you like best?

The most that I love about Xara Designer Pro is the graphics package and all types of marketing materials. Its interface is very simple and therefore very easy to use, that is a feature that I really like about the software. The templates that it offers are incredible. I really admire that this app is very fast. It is support and help are very good. I am also very impressed with the great variety of tools and graphics options that it has. The zoom, colors and pixels are perfect.

There is not something that I dislike about Xara Designer Pro, but there is something that bothers me and it is that it has problems with widgets that work both on the PC and on the mobile.

I recommend that you upload the trial version and watch the videos that this software offers so you can have more knowledge about its operation. If you have any problems do not hesitate to consult the support team. Another thing that I recommend to those who are interested in this software is that you need to have very clear about what you are going to do through Xara before that you start your projects. Do not forget to visit the online community.

The websites of the company where I work has improved a lot as well as the ads that I can put on different websites. It has also greatly improved the marketing and sales of the company. We can make graphics to show the sales potential of our products.

What do you like best?

Xara Designer is a vector based editor. It's not good just for web graphics, buttons, frames etc. but it's absolutely gorgeous for illustrations too. I use it for for cartooning, comics or T-shirt designs for example. It's supersimple to use and really fast to rendering big and complex scenes.

Best benefits

+ cost

+ fast editing

+ multi core and x64 support

+ tablet (pressure support

Well, not much. I think the biggest problem is an absence to switch between RGB and CMYK colours. Xara supports CMYK but can't simple switch between them. Your options are 1 manually change colors one by one for the CMYK ones and it's very long time process - or 2 simulate print colours from submenu. But there is no colours profile to choose so this could be very limited for printing...

If you want all-purpose and fast vector editor, there is no better way. Try it.

I use Xara for illustrations, game graphics (HTML5, IOS,Android or all designs. I would not change this piece of diamant software for another one.

What do you like best?

This program I can say so many things that I like that would not end. I love the workspace very clean compared to other design programs like Adobe that are very saturated. It has very basic tools, but they are large enough to create professional design ideas with nothing to envy of other programs. Creating 2D animations easily with export potential in Flash and GIF. I can open many formats such as: ai, psd, eps, svg, eps without losing valuable design objects. I can create presentations with a variety of transitions and the ability to add different formats such as: flash, gif, video, audio. I really like the Live Effect Tool is used to create effects in your vector formats like png and jpg images and texts with excellent finishes. I love the ease with which I think modern web pages without knowledge of web language. Upload the web created is so easy and also edit it, because it does not require external programs from Xara Designer Pro can create, upload and edit.

It requires a lot of memory when working on different projects divided by tabs. Memory intensive effects when applied to a Live Effect Tools file. Stops working often saturation of memory capacity without warning.It closes unexpectedly when the control rods are unconfigured and corresponds reposition each where we like. No version in Spanish.

Use this program for graphic design easily and without limits. A clean workspace and unsaturated programs like adobe. Use to create modern websites without knowledge of a web developer.

Create professional designs as advertising posters, computer graphics, logos, calendars, diaries, business cards. Amazing 2D and 3D text. Animations, presentations to the institution where I work. Improvements damaged images with amazing results.