Xara Menu Maker 1.1

Posted Jan.17, 2012 under Products

Xara Menu Maker enables you to create professional menus and stylish navigation bars – and there’s no artistic or technical skill required! Menu Maker makes it so easy to add your NavBars to your web page – even your granny could do it.

Menu Maker incorporates the world’s most advanced vector rendering engine and its unique ‘smart button scaling’ technology which allows graphical buttons to accommodate any length text without distortion. All graphics are super-optimized to create the smallest file and the menu DHTML is the industry’s most compact to ensure fast loading websites.

This provides tight control of the size of the finished menu. It shows the current width and height and a slider can make instant changes to the size of the overall menu. Resized text is initially jagged before being rendered smooth by the software. The width of the buttons can also be adjusted.

Key Features:

Quick and easy solution

- Do not worry about UI bloat for it is a dedicated tool for creating NavBars and menus
- Graphics are automatically optimized for the web to keep file sizes small
- Creates dynamic NavBars and menus in just a few clicks

Professionally-designed fully-customizable NavBar templates

- Change color, texture, font, text, background and size with absolutely no loss of quality due to Xara’s world beating vector graphic engine
- Choose from vertical or horizontal NavBar designs
- Customize in real-time so you can view changes instantly

Create hierarchical DHTML menus

- Vertical or horizontal pop-out menus
- Uniquely compact menu code produces small file sizes

Great value for money

- The cheapest professional solution around for NavBars & Menus
- NavBars & menus can be created for multiple sites with no extra payment.

What’s New in This Release:

· Extended browser compatibility – In addition to IE 5 and NN6 , Menu Maker 1.1 now supports: Opera 7 , Mozilla
· Updated FrontPage Add - in and Dreamweaver Extension – The Menu Maker integration has been updated to support the latest releases from Microsoft and Macromedia. Menu Maker 1.1 now supports: FrontPage 2000, 2002 and 2003, Dreamweaver 3, 4, MX, MX 2004 and Ultradev
· New Templates – 23 new NavBar designs in up to 4 variations each, most with both horizontal and vertical designs, making 55 new NavBar templates in total, increasing your choice by more than 20%. See the previews on our site, or download the new Menu Maker 1.1 trial.
· Minor Enhancements – Various minor enhancements and fixes in response to user feedback and requests.

Xara Menu Maker 1.1 is simple to use and its output is compact, so its menus are not a drain on bandwidth. Users will no longer find it a chore to create and edit website navigation bars.

So why do it in hours, if you can do it in seconds!

On Xara Guide you get tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your Xara Software.

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Xara Photo Graphic Designer 7.0

Posted Dec.21, 2011 under New Versions, Products

Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 7 is a comprehensive photo editing, web graphics-creating, drawing, graphics design and deskop publishing tool. No need to keep a library of apps for your various graphics needs – Xara Photo & Graphic Designer can handle them all.

This package sets a new standard in image design with its unique combination of universal image editing, professional graphics and layout functions, intelligent portrait optimization, and foolproof slideshow creation features.

Xara Photo & Graphic Designer advantages:

  • Optimize, edit & design photos
  • Illustrate, draw & paint
  • 3D design tool (e.g. for logos)
  • Create multi-page documents, incl. text layout (e.g. brochures)
  • Complete PDF workflow (import, creation, output)
  • Create animations
  • More than 3,000 professional design templates

Productivity and Interface:

  • Speed – The fastest graphics software to be found with highest performance vendor rendering engine.
  • Direct Action Tools – Allows you to create effects such as transparency, shadows, bevels or gradient fills in an interactive, fast and intuitive way.
  • Drag and Drop – Enables you to use the drag and drop principle, which is the most intuitive way of working and a great time saver.
  • Zoom – Allows magnification up to 25,000%, perfect for detailed work.
  • Anti-Aliasing – Brings maximum screen quality and a pioneer with the fastest, highest quality anti-aliasing available in any drawing program.

Xara Photo & Graphic Designer software is a comprehensive graphics application that comes packed with useful functionality. Interface issues mean it may take a while to find your way around, but there’s plenty of help and you’ll soon feel at home.

On Xara Guide you get tips and tricks on how to get the most out of your Xara Software.

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Xara 3D Maker 7.0

Posted Apr.13, 2011 under New Versions, Xara 3D Maker

Making 3D graphics and animation is a real hard work doing it the traditional way, but with Xara 3D, everything is just a piece of cake!

Xara 3D Maker is a program to create 3D text and graphics. It provides a professional and high quality to that image that you are working on.

Now on its 7th version, Xara 3D has some  great new animation types and even more bevel styles to experiment with. There are also new controls over X & Y position and viewpoint, a wireframe mode and some essential updating for Win 7.

For more info, check out Xara 3d Maker


What’s New in XARA 3D  Maker 7.0?


‘Scroll’ animation type added. Now you can scroll text vertically, horizontally or into and out of the screen, with full control over the speed. Both the scroll and new scroll in & out animations are perfect for movie and video opening titles and closing credits (export as AVI, compatible with any movie software).

‘Scroll in/out’ animation type added. A second new ‘scroll in/out’ animation type, which includes separate control over how the text enters and leaves the screen – so for example it could scroll in slowly from the right, hesitate and then exit quickly upwards!

Integration with MAGIX movie & slideshow products. Xara 3D Maker 7 can export animations with a transparent background in a proprietary format called CFX which can be imported into MAGIX slideshow and movie editing software, Photo story on CD & DVD 9 and Movie Edit Pro 17, which makes 3D Maker the perfect choice for creating overlaid 3D captions for movies or slideshows produced in MAGIX software.

Bevel types added. 7 new bevel types, increasing even further the range of different styles you can create.

‘View options’ panel’. A ‘View options’ panel which gives additional advanced control over the X/Y position of an image against its background, allows you to precisely change the angle of rotation and viewpoint, and offers a new wireframe mode which can simplify the display and speed up animation viewing time.

Save & restore. Automatic save and restore of the current design on program exit and start-up, or on Windows shutdown.

Compatible with Windows 7. Official Win 7compatibility. Also optionally for Windows 7 rarely used fonts are hidden to unclutter the font list.

Easy access to samples. Instant access to over 700 readymade Xara 3D Maker samples via a new Open Samples option in the File menu.

Other software compatibility. You can now cut and paste your 3D images to Microsoft Word and other programs.

With Xara 3D Maker 7.0,  it will make a more dramatic yet stylish image that will lift up the presentation of your web page, movie or mail shots. You can even give your desktop an artistic life by creating a personalized animated 3D screensaver in minutes!

For more info, check out Xara3D Maker

Until next time ;-)

Peter – Your Xara Guide

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Xara Web Designer Beginner’s Guide

Posted Sep.15, 2009 under Tutorial


wd_logoHello Friends,

Does the thought of learning Dreamweaver or a programming language  like HTML sound daunting?  If yes, then the idea of designing your own website seems  like only a dream!

Time to Stop Dreaming and Worry No More – Xara Web Designer can Save your Day and Save Your Money! No need to hire an expensive web designer or continue procrastinating on that website that your business desperately needs for a boost in sales. 

DON’T MISS THE EXCELLENT XARA WEB DESIGNER VIDEO AT THE END OF THIS ARTICLE

Create your Professional Website with limited or no HTML skills.

Xara Web Designer is different from other web editors due to its simplicity and user friendly features. It’s an all-in-one application where you can design and publish your website. It specifically aims to aid people with limited or no HTML knowledge to create professional websites.

User Testimonial
“You’ve done a great job taking complicated tasks, in all of your software, and making them simple and intuitive, the next generation of GUI in advanced software.” says Scot Ranney.

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Some of the exciting things that Xara Web Designer can do for you:

Create Websites

Xara Web Designer gives you total freedom in creating your web site, from the:

a. Designs - Choose your website design from a wide selection of graphical professional-designed templates;

b. Customization - Customize colors, drag-and-drop web objects, import or create images and more;

c.Widgets - Add various kinds of widgets – YouTube movies, slideshows, music player, chatbox and so much more; to

d. Publishing - Catch a glimpse of your actual website with the Browser Preview function and upload to your FTP site by entering the FTP site details, then Voila!

Create Web Graphics

With Xara Web Designer, you can either use a template design (for buttons, headings, text boxes and more) or create  custom graphics with the help of the drawing tools.

Or if you prefer advanced and comprehensive drawing tools, you may use Xara Xtreme.

Create Flash Animation

Use Web Designer to create Flash animations that you can export as .swf or add to any page you’re creating.

Rapid Website Prototyping

It doesn’t take a layman to be an expert to design a website prototype with Web Designer. It is the fastest tool for website prototyping in the market – a trustworthy tool for both beginners and pros.

Now  sit back turn the volume up, watch, enjoy and learn from this Xara Web Designer Beginner’s Guide video.

Hey no need to continue sitting back and building castles in the air grab Xara Web Designer today and create an extraordinary website like a Pro!

If you find this software interesting you can read more here.

Until Next Time ;-)

Peter – Your Xara Guide

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3D Image with Xara Xtreme’s Bevel Tool

Posted Aug.06, 2009 under Feature

Hello friends!

Xara Xtreme 5 is famous for its speed and unrivaled ease of use, making it not just a highly productive tool, but a pleasure to be creative.

Using  Xara Xtreme’s Bevel Tool you can easily transform a simple and dull image into a Professional 3D-like image.

Now fasten you seat-belt and get ready to roll!

beveltypeFirst you must create an object, whether free-hand, shape or text, you decide. Once you have created your object (text, shape, freehand etc) click on the Bevel Tool from the Tools menu.

You can now modify your object any way you desire with the use of the Bevel menu located on top. Click on the drop-down arrow to see all the options of Types of Bevel.

For example, you can increase the depth of the bevel and light angle by dragging the arrows:

beveldepthbevellightangle

Image

You can also control the bevel depth, light angle, contrast, or light elevation and see the change preview on-screen as you move the slider and change the percentage value.

bevelmenu

Image

On the Bevel Menu, you may also choose your image’s bevel to appear in or outside the object and even change the color of the bevel by just selecting on the bevel and then choose your desired color from the color palette.

bevelinout

IMAGEThats

That’s not all  you can change the corner shapes of the bevel – mitered, round or beveled.

beveledge

The examples above are very simple and for demonstration purposes only. With these tips, you can now create a much better and more professional-looking image out of it. The images on these pages Groucho and Fusion show effective use of bevels:

You too can  create these wonderful work of art with the use Xara Xtreme’s bevel tool and many more.

If you already own a previous version Upgrade to Xara Xtreme 5 or if you are new to Xara Xtreme  get your own Xara Xtreme 5 and let that Xarartistic side of you shine!

Until Next Time ;-)

Peter – Your Xara Guide

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Xara Xtreme 5 Released

Posted Jul.24, 2009 under New Versions, News

xaraxtreme5_box

Hello Friend,

Xara Xtreme, the ultimate graphics software has released Xara Xtreme Version 5. By far one of the world’s best graphics tool, whether you’re working on that website design, flash animation, photo composition or a vector drawing, I tell you if you’ve got Xara Xtreme  you’re using the right tool!

Here are the some of the new features of the Xara Xtreme 5 that makes it stand out among the rest both in print and on the web.

  • Text Handling *Updated* – Now Xara Xtreme allows you to enter text in lines, columns or even across multiple pages and gives you powerful control over the formatting,  making Xara Xtreme an ideal tool for DTP projects like brochures and newsletters that combine drawings, photos and text.
  • Spell Check *New* – includes a multi-language spell checker with check-as-you-type, word suggestions and a user dictionary.
  • Object Gallery *New*- it replaces the Layer Gallery as general method of selecting pages, layers and objects. It’s the most powerful and flexible tool, best for viewing, re-ordering, hiding and locking layers and pages in your document.
  • Object Gallery (Xara Xtreme Pro) *New* – It has everything from the Basic edition plus more advanced features.
  • Content-Aware Image Resize *New* – Intelligent image scaling technology that allows images to be stretched or squashed while retaining the proportions of important parts of the picture.

xara5

  • HTML website Creation *Updated* – includes a complete ‘website creation’ feature that enables you to design multi-page websites with ease, including mouse-over and pop-up effects, animations and widgets. One click preview and FTP upload included. It’s the world’s most advanced WYSIWYG web page layout – and with no HTML skills required.

Plus 100 more enhancements. Read more….

Web User interface *New* - With lots of features such as links, placeholders, image type and quality, improved mouse-over and more.

Don’t miss out on this one, give your clients more than they could ever imagine and  grab your own copy of  Xara Xtreme 5 now!

If you already have one don’t miss out on the great new features that are unmatched by any other web design software, upgrade to Xara Xtreme 5 at our special upgrade price.

Until Next Time ;-)

Peter – Your Xara Guide

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Xara Xtreme Artwork Competition

Posted Jun.17, 2009 under Contest, News

XaraXtreme2 Xara has came up with a competition for everyone. A competition that will test and showcase the talent, creativity and artistic sides of Xara artists.

The six winners of the competition will have their artworks showcased and published in an upcoming book, Xara Xtreme: The Official Guide by Gary Bouton. The book will be published by McGraw Hill and will be released this fall.

Gary Bouton is an Xtreme artist himself and an author of many software guides. His works are mostly on writing about graphics and multimedia applications. Through his works, he expresses all the techniques, tricks and tips about the softwares he write.

XaraXtreme3


Here are the rules on how to make it to the competition:

• The images can be of any theme or style of your choice, multiple entries are accepted. Your artwork must be created entirely using Xara Xtreme (either the full version or the 30-day trial version) and must be entirely your own.

• You can’t enter artwork that’s already been published, including on the Xara CD or featured in the Xara Gallery or Outsider. (But Xara have also reserved a few additional pages to showcase some existing Grandmaster’s work)

• It must be decent and it must be legal (no incorporating copyrighted material), judges have the final say on what is decent and legal!

• Make sure to submit your entries before June 30th, 2009.

There are five judges, all from the graphics industry who will decide on who are the six artists who gets the chance for their product to published and be known to the world.

For more information about the contest and to submit your entries, see Xara Competition page.

Now head’s up Xara artist and start working on that entry.

Good luck!

Peter – Your Xara Guide

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Xara WebDesigner Released

Posted Apr.30, 2009 under News

xara-web-designerXara has just launched a brand new product called, Xara Web Designer, a web page editor that gives a complete design freedom for your web pages.

With Xara Web Designer, performing the following functions is easier even for you people with completely no skills in HTML, you can layout your text, graphics, animations, photos and widgets and publish your pages – no third party software required – so easy and no experience required.


Exciting features to expect from Xara Web Designer:

- Ready-made Templates and Graphics

From designed templates and customizable graphics such as headings, navigation buttons, logos, text panels and more, all of which can be simply dragged and dropped from th Designs Gallery onto the page.

- WYSIWYG

Be it using one of the many customizable templates available on Xara Web Designer or create your very own, it’s genuinely WYSIWYG, what you see in Xara Web Designer is exactly what you get on your web page.

- Auto Text Tool

Allows text flow between columns or pages and even around objects such as shapes and photos. Also includes a spell checker.

- Ultra-fast Photo Tool

This tool has many enhancement functions such as automatic adjustment of photos to its correct web resolution.

- More clever stuff

Clever tricks provided by Xara Web Designer which will surely save you time and trouble.

• Easy Mouse-over

• Thumbnail and Pop-up Creation

• One-click change of site wide theme colors and shades

• Automatic color matching of imported objects

• Automatic stretch of buttons and panels as text is changed

So, what are you waiting for? Go grab your own Xara Web Designer now!

Until next time ;-)

Peter – Your Xara Guide

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Xara Xtreme 4.0 Out Now

Posted Aug.25, 2008 under New Versions

A new version of Xara Xtreme was released recently, Xtreme 4.

Here are some reviews:

Chicago Tribune
“This software draws on all the powers of a modern PC to give even beginners the ability to enhance our surroundings with home-brewed works of professional looking art.”

Los Angeles Times
“…the greatest thing about Xara Xtreme is the enjoyment one gets from just playing. It is the adult equivalent of that first tray of watercolors that enraptures children during art time in kingergarten.”

Computer Arts – Recommended
“Xara’s latest release is a superb illustration tool …One thing we particularly like about Xara is the live solid object scaling and dragging…It soon becomes a tool you’ll pick up again and again for photorealistic vector ‘painting’ – seriously rivalling Expression and thoroughly spanking Illustrator’s bottom…Xara Xtreme Pro is well worth splashing out for.”

Digit
“Live Effects is the standout illustration feature. This will let you edit an object (including vector drawings), even after you have applied an effect to it. DTP tasks are made easier by new support for multiple page documents and an enhanced text tool.(tools) such as the colour picker – are one-click simplicity. The Transparency tool in particular is fast and easy to use.”

PC Pro
“The program’s main strength remains its underlying speed. Xara has always stood out for the astonishing speed of its vector handling, as well as the sheer hands-on creativity this enables. ..the ability to apply a drop shadow, graduated transparency, or both, to your text in real-time is impressive…You’re getting an extraordinarily powerful package for little more than the upgrade cost of the latest Illustrator.”

Practical Web Design
“Although it’s primarily known as a vector-drawing program, Xara Xtreme has capabilities that extend into photo-editing and animation, making it a great all-round tool for the creation of web graphics. Optimised for quick learning and rapid workflow, this is a deceptively powerful package.” “Importantly, Xara seems committed to maintaining its software’s innovative edge.”

Click to read more about: Xara
Xtreme 4.0

Until next time ;-)
Peter – Your Xara Guide

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Xara Xtreme 3.2 Released

Posted Nov.04, 2007 under New Versions, News

Xara Xtreme 3.2Recently Xara released a new minor upgrade of Xtreme – version 3.2.

It’s called a minor release as it is not a complete new version e.g. not Xtreme 4.0, but 3.2. But I wouldn’t call it “minor” anyway.

Read on to find out why this is more than a minor release…

(Read More »)

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