Xara has released a new version of its all-in-one graphic design package, Designer Pro X10. Since 1994, when Xara first launched its vector graphics design tool, this piece of software has rivalled products from Adobe and CorelDraw. Xara combines functionality with ease of use as well as value for money.
Xara’s fast and flexible performance means it is the preferred tool for graphic, image and desktop publishing work within the Meko office as we can use one piece of software for an array of tasks with fabulous results.
The latest updates from Xara continue to impress us. There have been improvements and additions to Xara’s web design facility, the drawing tools, font and symbol options and the online gallery content, templates and widgets. An additional bonus is the inclusion of PhotoLooks, a Photoshop plug-in previously available separately by Red Giant for $199, for some dramatic photo manipulation and also a very useful PDF import facility that allows almost all PDF files to be edited.
To view the full range of features and to download a free trial version, visit http://www.xara.com/us/.
Analyst Comment
We have liked Xara for a long time. Rather than forcing a division between “bitmap” and “vector” imaging, Xara treats bitmaps as objects and the two types of graphics data can be combined. This made it a tool of choice in technical illustration, where the same data could be used for technically accurate drawings, while the bit map features could be used to combine real world images. In recent years, a lot of facilities for page layout and editing have been added, making it even useful for simple desktop publishing. We use a CMS system for our website, so we don’t exploit the graphics fully for web applications. (BR)
