Workflow Improvements
We've introduced several useability improvements requested by frequent users that will enhance your working experience and save you time!- A much requested change: Designer Pro X will now keep your current settings and options when updating between minor versions (eg 17.0 to 17.1) including custom button bars
- We've made rotating objects around a center point much more intuitive.
- When you insert SmartShapes in a document we now select the Selector tool (instead of the QuickShape tool), for a more efficient workflow.
- The size and offset of the selection bounding box now automatically increase in size on very small objects, making them much easier to select. No more zooming in, just to select small objects!
Document Design
- We've added 40 new Google fonts to increase your typographical choices, see the Release Notes for a full list. You can now access over 900 Google fonts, right within Designer Pro.
- Creating tables just got quicker, easier and more intuitive: you can now use the tab key to move backwards and forwards between the cells, and to add new rows.
- For table of contents with page numbers you now have finer control over the tab leaders (the character between the tab stops) with fully customizable characters and spacing, for a more professional looking table of contents. Make sure your first page creates a good impression.
Import & Export
- There is now an option to import images at original full size into web documents (where previously they were automatically reduced to full HD size), use with caution!
- As requested by frequent SVG users, SVG graphics are no longer scaled on import, they retain their original size (except Pixabay images).
- As always there have been other minor enhancements and bug fixes to all the formats, you can find more information in the Release Notes.
New Content
There's a bumper addition to the Online Content Catalog (available if you have an active subscription to Xara Cloud+ or an active Update Service for Designer Pro X) including website and presentation templates, and the first designs in our new Footer and Diagrams categories:- 2 multi-page websites (Jewelry Online Shop & Creative Portfolio) in Websites > Modern Business Websites
- 10 new presentation templates in Presentations > Presentation Themes
- 9 new diagrams in Components > Print & Web Components (*New category)
- 9 new footer designs in Components > Print & Web Components (*New category)
- 6 new text panels in Components > Print & Web Components
- 5 new tables in Components > Print & Web Components
- 5 new photo frames & Photo Panels in Components > Image Resources
- 38 new Facebook templates in the Social Media category
- 40 new Instagram templates in the Social Media category
New & Improved Handles
New Web Document Options
Designer Pro Web Documents (such as presentations and print supersites) now have the same cool options that were recently added to Xara Cloud 'Share to Web' documents.So for example you can add an option for viewers to download a PDF version of your presentation or SuperSite. They'll also see some handy new ways to step between the pages of your document, zoom in or out, or set it to full screen view.
New Content Types: Footer Designs & Diagrams
- We've added some professional new footer designs to the Online Content Catalog. They're set to 'repeating' by default and automatically size and position themselves at the bottom of the page on insertion. A great time saver!
- Also new: A range of useful business diagrams ranging from SWOTs to T Charts that will help you create reports and presentations that get noticed.
Paragraph Borders & Backgrounds
Some great new styles, perfect for headings or highlighting paragraphs of text. You can have borders either with or without backgrounds. Includes control over border style, color and width and background color.
Photo Panoramas
A collection of significant improvements to the built-in panorama tool, and the more advanced Panorama Studio included in Designer Pro (tip for Pro owners, select Download Content in the help menu to download it!).
See the Release Notes for details.
InDesign Import (BETA)
An important first step in support for import of InDesign .idml files, one of the few significant formats that Designer Pro didn’t already support.
It's a great bonus for anyone using Designer Pro for document design. See the Release Notes for details of what is and isn’t supported at this stage.
Other Import / Export Filters
Improvements to the key existing import and export filters:- PDF import and export
- Word import and export
- PowerPoint import and export
- SVG import and export
See the Release Notes for details.
Tab Leaders
Support for tab leaders (at last!) to make your table of contents, menus and programs look that little bit more professional
Web
A number of changes that will help your SEO efforts:
- Better handling of graduated fills mean smaller file sizes, and that means faster websites - a definite plus factor in Google ranking. And you’ll benefit from faster preview and publish times too!
- A new ‘No follow’ option in the Link Dialog (prevents passing on ranking credit, often recommended for things like testimonial pages and product listings)
- The option to add an image filename (include keywords in your filename to optimize your position in relevant image searchs).
Other Text
- You can now move embedded objects round in text by simply dragging them – a small usability improvement that will be a great time saver.
- 42 new Google Fonts offer new and interesting typography options (top 3 Lexend Giga, DM Sans and Crimson Pro).
New Content
The latest additions to the Online Content Catalog (available if you have an active subscription to Xara Cloud+ or an active Update Service for Designer Pro X) include two new website templates and some new options for your marketing team:- 40 Facebook templates in the Social Media category
- 5 new templates in the e-book category
- 1 multi-page website (Non-Profit) in Websites > Modern business websites
- 1 single page website (Portfolio) in Websites > single page websites
Designer Pro benefits from seamless integration with Xara Cloud, which makes it a great additional service.
Xara Cloud is an ultra-simple way to edit and share your Xara documents and websites online in a web browser, using any computer or tablet. What's more you can work on Xara documents and sites or Xara Cloud templates in collaboration with friends, colleagues and clients, commenting and editing together in real-time.
Xara Cloud is being constantly enhanced, and new features are made available as and when they are ready - you can find news of the very latest updates here and register for the free trial here.
NEW - APRIL 2020: Check out Xara Cloud+, a new subscription option combining Xara Designer Pro and Xara Cloud Pro in one great value bundle.
