Contents Text Improvements.............................................................. 3 Paragraph Borders.......................................................... 3 Border Width......................................................... 3 Border Style............................................................ 3 Border Color.......................................................... 4 Background Color.............................................. 4 Sides............................................................................ 4 Internal borders between consecutive paragraphs.............................................................. 4 Use with Text Styles.......................................... 5 Tab Leaders.......................................................................... 5 Alignment................................................................ 6 Position..................................................................... 6 Leader Character................................................ 6 Show Rulers........................................................... 6 Tracking Adjustments...................................... 6 Moving Embedded Objects........................................ 7 Inline objects......................................................... 7 Text flows left/right............................................ 8 Small objects inline........................................... 8 Notes.......................................................................... 8 Improved tables (Nov 2020)...................................... 9 Google Fonts Update (Nov 2020)........................... 9 Workflow Improvements............................................... 9 New handle controls (Nov 2020)............................ 9 Selector Tool.......................................................... 9 SmartShapes...................................................... 10 QuickShape Tool.............................................. 10 Keep your settings (Nov 2020).............................. 11 Photo Improvements..................................................... 11 Panorama Tool................................................................ 11 Web Improvements.......................................................... 11 Graduated Fill Optimizations................................. 11 Nofollow............................................................................... 12 Image filenames............................................................. 12 Image Import Resolution (Nov 2020)................ 12

New Content............................................................................ 12 Import / Export...................................................................... 13 PDF Import......................................................................... 13 Word Import...................................................................... 13 Word Export...................................................................... 13 PowerPoint Import....................................................... 13 PowerPoint Export ....................................................... 14 SVG Import......................................................................... 14 SVG Export......................................................................... 14

Text Improvements

Paragraph Borders

Designer 16.3 added support for Paragraph Backgrounds. Now in 17.0 you can also set Paragraph Borders, with or without a paragraph background. These offer some great new choices for heading and paragraph styles (they are also quite a common style in Word documents, so improve the success of Word import). The Text Improvements heading above and in fact all Heading 1 headings in this document show an example of how this can be used. The headings are set to have a 1px border on all 4 sides, with a paragraph background color also set. As you can see the border and background extend to cover the entire width of the text area. To apply these effects, go into the Text Tool, place the text caret in the paragraph or heading that you want to change, right-click and choose Paragraph Border & Background … from the context menu. The same dialog is also available from the Paragraph Options button on the extended Text Tool InfoBar (press the … button on the end of the Text Tool InfoBar. This new dialog allows you to set the paragraph border and/or background in one place.

Border Width

If you want a line to be shown on all or any of the 4 sides of the paragraph, set the border width you would like here. When you change this from its default value of None (no borders), all 4 side options on the right are enabled.

Border Style

Once you’ve turned borders on by setting a width, you can also choose the border line style here.

Border Color

Set the border line color here. You can either choose one of the document’s named colors from the dropdown list, or click the Edit button so you can use the color editor to choose any other color, or a shade of one of your document colors. You can also set the Paragraph Border Color from the color line, by right- clicking on any color and choosing the Set Paragraph Border option on the color menu. Note that you must first close the Paragraph Border & Background dialog to set colors from the color line.

Background Color

This works in exactly the same way as the Border Color control and again you can set paragraph background colors from the color line. Choose the Default option if you don’t want any background color.

Sides

On the right hand side of the dialog, the Sides controls allow you to turn the border line on or off for any of the 4 sides. You can also choose what size margin you want on each of the 4 sides. The left and right margin values control the space between the edges of the text area and the edges of the visible paragraph border and/or background. So for example if you want the border/background to extend well to the left of a left justified heading, so there is some empty space before the start of the text, increase the left margin value. Similarly the top and bottom margin values determine the space above and below the text respectively.

Internal borders between consecutive paragraphs

If you have two or more consecutive paragraphs with borders, this option determines whether or not a border is shown between the paragraphs. Paragraph 1 Paragraph 2 Internal borders OFF

Paragraph 1 Paragraph 2 Internal borders ON

Use with Text Styles

All the options described above work with Designer’s text styles, and when used with styles borders and backgrounds becomes a very powerful feature. Once you’ve setup one heading or paragraph with an effect you like, select it in the Text Tool and choose the Update option from the text styles menu to update the text style across the whole document. The Heading 1 style in this document has been setup that way, so all the major section headings have the same border and background settings.

Tab Leaders

With Tab Leaders you can choose any character to fill tab spaces. Here for example the tab space between the first and second column has been filled using a “.” character. First column.................................................................. Second column You setup the character to be used for tabs using the new Tab Stop Properties dialog. You can access this dialog as follows: • In the Text Tool, place the text caret next to the tab space you want to change, or select the tab space. Then right-click and choose the Tab stop properties … option from the context menu. • On the ruler, right-click on the tab stop marker to open the context menu and choose the Tab stop

properties … option. Or simply double-click on the tab stop marker.

Alignment

The new dialog allows the alignment of an existing tab stop to be changed, between left, center, right and decimal options.

Position

Normally the position of a tab stop is set using the tab stop markers on the Ruler, but here you can set the position numerically.

Leader Character

Type any single character into this field, to fill the selected tab space with that character. Delete the contents of this field to revert to a normal unfilled tab space.

Show Rulers

This checkbox is provided for convenience, to turn the Rulers on and off instantly. The top ruler shows the postions of tab stops for the current selected paragraph. Use Window > Bars > Rulers to control the same option from the Windows menu.

Tracking Adjustments

You can adjust the tracking on a tab space to control the spacing of the characters of the tab leader. First column..................................................................... Second column Tracking set 0 (default) First column .................................................................... Second column Tracking set to 150 To set the tracking value, select the tab space(s) in the Text Tool. Make sure the extended Text Tool InfoBar is displayed (press the … option on the end of the Text Tool InfoBar) and edit the Tracking field.

Moving Embedded Objects

Now in Designer 17 you can move embedded objects around in text just by dragging on them, a usability improvement that should be a great time saver. As you drag an embedded object over text, a blue rectangle is shown to indicate where the object will be repositioned if you release it at that position. The position of the top of the blue rectangle determines the line into which the object is inserted. Embedded objects can be set to inline, text flows to the right, or text flows to the left. You can control these settings from the Embedded graphic options dialog (right-click on the object and choose Embedded graphic options … on the context menu). The behavior when dragging embedded objects partly depends on which setting is enabled.

Inline objects

If the object is inline and on a line of its own (no text to its left or right), dragging it left or right within the same paragraph, changes only the justification. It can be left aligned, center aligned, or right aligned. In the following example the photo is initially left aligned in the text and on a line of its own: Here it’s being dragged to the right, closer to the center of the text, so the blue rectangle indicates that it will be center aligned if released at this position:

Drag it further to the right, closer to the right edge of the text, and it becomes right-aligned instead, again as indicated by the blue rectangle: On release the embedded object is repositioned as indicated by the blue rectangle. If you drag the object up or down so that it will be embedded in a different paragraph, it behaves as described in the next section.

Text flows left/right

If the embedded object is set to have text flowing to its left or right, or the object is dragged from one paragraph to another, the drag behavior is different. • Dragging the object near to the left edge of the text, will set it to text flows to the right. • Dragging the object near to the right edge of the text, will set it to text flows to the left. • And dragging it near to the center will set it to be inline, center justified on a line of its own (no text shown on either side). Again, as you drag the blue rectangle indicates where the object will be positioned.

Small objects inline

It’s common to embed small objects like this icon inline in text, just as if it were a character, instead of on a line of its own as in the examples described above. In this case the drag behavior is different again, dragging simply allows you to position the object in text anywhere. A red text caret appears as you drag, to indicate the insertion point.

Notes

• You can drag an embedded object from one text area/column to another. • If you drag an embedded object and drop it away from any text, it will be detached from the text it was embedded in. The object becomes an ordinary, independent, ‘floating’ object, which is no longer attached to any text. • You can’t embed a floating object by dragging it over text. To embed an object it’s still neccessary to cut/copy it to the clipboard, place the text caret in text and paste to embed the object at that position. Once embedded, you can relocate it by dragging it, as described above.

Improved tables (Nov 2020)

You can now press the Tab key to move from one table cell to the next, or Shift+Tab to move backwards. If you press tab with the text caret in the last cell of the table, a new row is added. [Note: This tables update includes internal changes that make them incompatible with tables in previous versions of Designer. Tables are converted on document open. After this conversion if the document is saved and then opened in an older version of Designer the tables will look correct but will not be editable - they will be shown as inactive when selected. Text, photos, etc. within the table cells is still editable. ]

Google Fonts Update (Nov 2020)

40 new fonts have been added to Web Deisgner: Alata, Alatsi, Baskervville, Bebas Neue, Bellota, Bellota Text, Caladea, Calistoga, Comic Neue, Courier Prime, DM Mono, Epilogue, Gelasio, Girassol, Gotu, Grenze Gotisch, Gupter, Ibarra Real Nova, Inria Sans, Inria Serif, Inter, Jomolhari, Jost, Kulim Park, Manrope, MuseoModerno, Odibee Sans, Oxanium, Public Sans, Recursive, Red Rose, Rowdies, Sen, Solway, Sora, Spartan, Sulphur Point, Tomorrow, Varta, Viaoda Libre.

Workflow Improvements

New handle controls for various tools (Nov 2020)

Selector Tool

The selection handles in the Selector Tool have been updated. These are shown on all types of object that don’t have their own smart handles, and on all multi-selections as in the example below. Multi-selection with new Selector Tool handles

When you are zoomed out, or have very small objects in your design, the selected object may be very small on screen so there is very little space for Designer to show the selection box with its handles. In such cases you will notice that Designer shows a larger selection box around the object, so it’s easier to work on it without having to zoom in.

SmartShapes

The handles on SmartShapes (tables, charts, shapes, text panels, etc.) have been improved, made more consistent and now match the handles used in Xara Cloud. Example SmartShapes with new handles Furthermore the workflow for inserting a SmartShape has been improved. Whenever a SmartShape is inserted into a document, the QuickShape Tool used to be selected, so that the object’s smart handles would be visible. However since we now have the option to show smart handles in the Selector Tool we select this tool instead when smart handles are on, as they are by default.

QuickShape Tool

QuickShape Tool selection handles have been updated to match the new Selector Tool handle style.

QuickShape editing handles

Keep your settings (Nov 2020)

Users are no longer prompted about settings when starting an updated version of Designer. Designer will use the user’s current settings.

Photo Improvements

Panorama Tool

Improvements • Optimized image alignment with significantly higher speed for large panoramas and increased accuracy. • A better error tolerance against bad control points , which improves the success rate for difficult panoramas. • Exposure correction provides more reliable results, even for panoramas with large over or under- exposed areas.

Web Improvements

In v17 we have introduced a number of improvements aimed at helping your SEO efforts.

Graduated Fill Optimizations

Some older browser versions did not support graduated fills and so Designer has always had to create images so that such fills would appear correctly in all browsers. Depending on the design, those images can

be large and so can add substantially to the overall size of a published document/website, increase the publish time and even preview speed, due to the time needed to create the images. Those older browser versions are now rarely used and so Designer no longer generates these images, relying on the browser to show the fills correctly. That means a reduction in size which results in faster rendering of your webpages (a factor in Google ranking) and faster publish/preview times with designs where graduated fills are prevalent.

Nofollow

This is a new option added to the Link dialog. When this is turned on for a link, it tells search engines encountering the link not to pass any ranking credit to the link target site. Typical usage is on testimonial or review pages, product listings and the like, and it’s intended to enhance the credibility of your content, reduce links to spam content and improper manipulation of the search results. Exactly how search engines use this information varies with search engine and may change in future.

Image filenames

You can now control the filename with which any image is published in a website or web document, which can help SEO and your position in image search. Select the object and open Utilities > Web Properties > Image tab. In the Image section of the dialog you can set the preferred filename to be used. If the filename is not unique within the current website/document, Designer will append a number to the name to make it unique.

Image Import Resolution (Nov 2020)

In earlier versions of Designer large images imported into web documents were always automatically reduced in size to Full HD resolution. Designer now prompts about this so the user can choose to import either the original image or a reduced image, as when importing into print documents.

New Content

As usual we have some great new additions to the Online Content Catalog (Note: The full template set is only available in the Plus version). • 40 new Facebook templates in the Social Media category • 5 new templates in the E-book category • 1 multi-page website (Nonprofit) in Websites > Modern Business Websites • 1 single page website (Portfolio) in Websites > Single Page Websites And in November 2020: • 6 new Text panels in Components > Print & Web Components • 5 new tables in Components > Print & Web Components • 9 new diagrams in Components > Print & Web Components (*New category) • 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 • 2 multi-page websites (Jewelry Online Shop & Creative Portfolio) in Websites > Modern Business Websites • 10 new presentation templates in Presentations > Presentation Themes

Import / Export

Designer is already well known for the breadth and depth of its support for import and export formats, which we continue to expand with each new release. In v17 we’re excited to introduce the first steps to full import support for a new format, InDesign. In addition all the main import and export filters have been updated to support the new Paragraph Borders and Tab Leader features, as well as the improvements listed below. And as always, all filters have many other small improvements and bug-fixes made in response to user and testing feedback.

PDF Import

• Fixed issues with import of ligatures and text line spacing • Improved text reconstruction • Fixed issues with import of bitmap images and JPEG2000 images

Word Import

• Improved clipping of footers. • Fixed rotation of picture objects. • Fixed alignment of floating objects inside tables. • Fixed spacing of embedded objects in text.

Word Export

• Improved export of linked text areas

PowerPoint Import

• Improved mapping of PowerPoint text boxes to equivalent Designer text areas or text columns • Improved accuracy of vertical positioning and height of text areas • Added import of slide titles as page names • Added locked shapes import • Optimizations to reduce memory usage during import • Improved handling of rotated, flipped and grouped text • Fixed issues with wrong attributes on blank lines • Fixed border width and colors in imported tables • Better handling of transparency on background layers • Fixed shadow properties to better preserve their appearance

PowerPoint Export

• Improved group handling

SVG Import

• Fixed deadlock when importing an object with a clip path specified in a ‘style’ attribute

SVG Export

• Fixed rounded quick-shape rectangle export