Xara Designer Pro+ is an image editing program incorporating photo editing and vector illustration tools created by British software company Xara. Xara Xtreme LX was an early open source version for Linux.
Developer(s) | Xara Group Ltd |
---|---|
Initial release | 1995 | (Windows)
Stable release | Xara Photo & Graphic Designer October 2018;[1]
/ October 2018 |
Operating system | Windows 2000 or later |
Type | Vector graphics editor |
License | Proprietary |
Website | www |
The Windows version was previously sold under the names Xara Studio, Xara X and Xara Xtreme, and traces its origin in the late 1980s to a title called ArtWorks for the Acorn Archimedes line of computers using RISC OS. There is a pro version called Xara Designer Pro (formerly Xara Xtreme Pro).
The current commercial version of Xara Photo & Graphic Designer runs only on Windows, although Xara documents can be edited in a web browser on any platform using the Xara Cloud service.[2] Versions up to 4.x can be run on Linux using Wine.[citation needed]
History
editArtWorks, the predecessor of Xara Photo and Graphic Designer, was developed on Acorn Archimedes and Risc PC 32-bit RISC computers running RISC OS by Computer Concepts during the late 1980s.[3] The first version, developed for Microsoft Windows was initially called Xara Studio. It was licensed to Corel Corporation before wide-scale public availability, and from 1995 to 2000 was released as CorelXARA. Corel ceded the licensing rights back to Xara in 2000.[4] The first Xara X version released in 2000 by its original owner.[5] The next version, Xara X¹, was released in 2004.[6] Xara Xtreme was released in 2005.[7]
In November 2006, Xara Xtreme PRO (an enhanced version of Xara Xtreme) was released.[8] Xara Xtreme 3.2 and Xtreme Pro 3.2 were released in May 2007. 3.2 Pro included Xara3D, and both versions had more robust typography.[9] In April 2008, Xara Xtreme 4.0 was released.[10] Xara Xtreme and Xara Xtreme Pro 5.1 were released in June 2009.[11] Features included more text-area enhancements, content-aware scaling of bitmap images, improved file import and export, master-page (repeated) objects, an object gallery (replacing the layer gallery), website-creation tools, and multi-stage graduated transparency. In June 2010, Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 6 and Xara Designer Pro 6 were released. Xtreme was renamed Photo & Graphic Designer, and Xtreme Pro was renamed Designer Pro.[12] In May 2011, Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 7 and Xara Designer Pro 7 were released.[13] Features included "magic" photo erase, user interface improvements to docking galleries and snapping alignment, and (in Pro) new webpage and website-design features.
In May 2012, Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 2013 and Xara Designer Pro X (v8) were released.[14] Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 9 was released in May 2013.[15] In July of that year, Xara Designer Pro X9 was released.[16] Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 10 was released on 16 July 2014,[1][17] and Xara Designer Pro X10 on 23 July.[18][19] Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 11 was released on 29 June 2015,[20] and Xara Designer Pro X11 was released the following month.[21] In 2016, the delivery model was changed to an update service[22] which can be renewed annually. Users are entitled to any updates released while the update service is active. The first update-service updates were in May 2016 for Xara Photo & Graphic Designer,[23] and July 2016 for Xara Designer Pro X.[24]
Version | Description | Release date |
---|---|---|
Xara X | commercial version | 2000 |
Xara X¹ | commercial version | 2004 |
Xara Xtreme | commercial version with commercial plugins | 2005 |
Xara Xtreme XS | commercial version, a light version of Xara Xtreme without plugins or bevel/shadow/outline tools | 2006 |
Xara Xtreme PRO | commercial version with enhanced functions | 2006 |
Xara Xtreme for Linux | open-source version | 2006 |
Xara Xtreme, Xara Xtreme PRO 3.2 |
improved typography (Pro includes Xara 3D6) | May 2007 |
Xara Xtreme, Xara Xtreme PRO 4.0 |
April 2008 | |
Xara Xtreme, Xara Xtreme PRO 5.0 |
June 2009 | |
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 6, Xara Designer Pro 6 |
GUI redesign and tool updates and enhancements | June 2010[12] |
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 7, Xara Designer Pro 7 |
May 2011 | |
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 2013, Xara Designer Pro X (v8) |
May 2012 | |
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 9 | May 2013 | |
Xara Designer Pro X9 | combines photo, graphics, page layout, and web design | July 2013 |
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 10, Designer Pro X10 |
July 2014 | |
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 11 | June 2015 | |
Xara Designer Pro 11 | July 2015 | |
Xara Photo & Graphic Designer with update service | May 2016 | |
Xara Designer Pro X with update service | July 2016 | |
Most recent update-service update | October 2018 |
Features
editXara Photo & Graphic Designer is known for its usability and fast renderer.[25][26] It provides a fully anti-aliased display, advanced gradient fill, and transparency tools.
Among vector editors, Xara Photo & Graphic Designer is considered to be fairly easy to learn, with similarities to CorelDRAW and Inkscape in terms of interface. Alongside the vector illustration tools, Xara Photo & Graphic Designer also includes an integrated photo tool offering manual and automatic photo enhance, cropping, adjustment of brightness levels, red-eye fix, 'magic' erase, photo healing, color and background erase, panoramas and content aware resizing. Designer Pro includes a wider range of tools for other design tasks including the creation of web pages and websites, and text and page layout tools for DTP with the aim of providing a single solution for all graphic and web design tasks.[27]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "Xara Photo & Graphic Designer Release Announcement". Xara Group Ltd.
- ^ "Edit, access and share your Xara documents". xara.com. Xara Group Ltd.
- ^ Wuerthner, Martin. "ArtWorks Progress". MWSoftware.com. Martin Wuerthner. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
- ^ Chastain, Sue. "Whatever Happened To ... Graphics Software". About.com. About.com. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
- ^ Moir, Charles. "Xara Group History". xara.com. Xara Group Ltd. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
- ^ "Xara News". xara.com. Xara Group Ltd. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
- ^ "Xara Takes Xtreme Action". xara.com. Xara Group Ltd. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
- ^ "Xara Release Xtreme Pro". xara.com. Xara Group Ltd. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
- ^ History of Xara up until version 3.2 (2007)
- ^ "Xara Release Xtreme and Xtreme Pro 4". xara.com. Xara Group Ltd. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
- ^ "Xara Release Xtreme and Xtreme Pro 5". xara.com. Xara Group Ltd. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
- ^ a b "Two New Releases". Retrieved 2010-12-01.
- ^ "Xara Photo & Graphic Designer and Designer Pro 7". Retrieved 2010-12-01.
- ^ "Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 2013 & Designer Pro X". xara.com. Xara Group Ltd. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
- ^ "Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 9". xara.com. Xara Group Ltd.
- ^ "Xara Designer Pro X9". xara.com. Xara Group Ltd.
- ^ "Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 10 Release Notes". xara.com. Xara Group Ltd.
- ^ "Xara Designer Pro X10 Press Release". xara.com. Xara Group Ltd.
- ^ "Xara Designer Pro 10 Release Notes". xara.com. Xara Group Ltd.
- ^ "New: Xara Photo & Graphics Designer 11". xara.com. Xara Group Ltd.
- ^ Limited, Xara Group. "New: Xara Designer Pro X11, Creative Software with Online Editing". Xara.com. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
{{cite web}}
:|last=
has generic name (help) - ^ Limited, Xara Group. "The Update Service". Xara.com. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
{{cite web}}
:|last=
has generic name (help) - ^ Limited, Xara Group. "New: Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 365". Xara.com. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
{{cite web}}
:|last=
has generic name (help) - ^ Limited, Xara Group. "New: Xara Designer Pro X365". Xara.com. Retrieved 2017-08-03.
{{cite web}}
:|last=
has generic name (help) - ^ Open Source Xara Xtreme – Performance
- ^ "Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 2013 Review". PC Pro. Dennis Publishing Ltd. Retrieved 11 June 2012.
- ^ "Xara Designer Pro X9 review".
External links
edit- Official website
- XaraXone.com: Xara Xtreme, Photo & Graphic Designer and Designer Pro tutorials
- TalkGraphics.com: Xara user forums
- Top Ten Reviews comparison of drawing software
- PC Pro review of Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 10
- Expert Reviews (Computer Shopper) review of Xara Photo & Graphic Designer 11