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Late additions There are many features that have been added since I started this
Workbook and I will cover them here.
The name of the page now shows up
in the status line along with the page
up and page down arrows. So this
Workbook has 7 pages. But the Page 1 is actually the second page (the home page is
index). Having the page identified makes it easier to know what page you are on.
The Link to Page dialog has
two very useful additons, Next
Page and Previous Page.
These links automatically link to
the next and previous pages. So
if you link two navigation buttons
as I have done at the bottom of
each page, you only need to link
these buttons once and they will
automatically change the next
and previous pages. These links
can be used for both images and text and work even if you change the page order.
When you enter an e-mail
address in the Link to Web
Address text entry box and
press Apply, the e-mail
address is translated
into HTML and encoded
to hide the e-mail
address in the HTML
code. (Correct Address
Automatically must be
enabled). This prevents
spammers from adding
your e-mail address to
their spam lists or from spoofing your e-mail address (using it illegally to send spam). This
is really awesome. In addition, you can add additional e-mail addresses. And you can
specify these addresses as CC: (as in carbon copy) and BCC: (blind carbon copy).
Obviously nobody uses carbon copy paper any more but the CC and BCC have
remainded in the vernacular. In case you are wondering what the difference is between
CC and BCC here’s the answer. Any e-mail addresses in the CC line are visible to all who
receive the message. An e-mail address or addresses listed in the BCC line are only seen
by the person with that specific address. So in the above example, only
nerdly@thinkgeek.com will see the message. BCC is a good way to send out a mass e-
mailing while protecting the privacy of the other names on the list. If want to send the text
same message to multiple recipients, add a body:Your message tag. Replace the words
you message with the message you wish to send.
There is a free service
provided by Google that
tracks visits to your
website and lets you know
what pages your visitors
are visiting. The service is
When you sign up for the service, a script is generated which you copy and paste into the
Tracker Code text entry box on the Website Properties > Website tabbed section. This
coded is added invisibly to all pages. You paste the code in the same box if you are using
another tracking service. This also works well with effects generated by Xara On-Line.
There are two ways to trigger a pop up image. The first is to create a Link > Popup
Layer link. But this only displays the pop-up image if your visitor clicks the linked object or
text. You can also create a Mouse Over link in the Mouse Over tabbed section in the
Website Options dialog. You have two options: 1 A pop-up text link which as you can see
when you mouse over the linked text displays a tool tip message. And 2. Show Popup
Layer as shown when you mouse over the last link.
NOTE: The two links in the MouseOver tabbed section do not highlight the text
or show an underscore. So to alert your visitor that something here is linked
change the color of the text and add an underscore.
TIP: You can add a TOP OF PAGE link by simply linking to the same page.
Finally. Embedding a Flash movie or object is now a whole lot easier. Just add a Placeholder
to your site the same size as your Flash movie and then select Replace with Flash in the
Placeholder tabbed section. Browse to the location of your SWF file, seclect the file and
that’s it. You can put your Flash movie on a separate layer and have it activate with a Mouse-
Over link. Mouse over the Browse button above to see an example.
That’s about it. I should add that I created this Workbook with a pre-release version of Xara
Web Designer so some of the things I have covered may change and other features may be
added or deleted before the release date.
So let me give you my personal thoughts. Does Xara Web Designer work? You bet it does. My
congratulations to the Xara team for giving us this application to save us from having to learn
that tedious program Dreamweaver. And it’s really nice to work in the familiar environment
as Xara Xtreme with which we all familiar. The simplification or streamlining is helpful,
especially for new users. And object oriented page design (you put the graphics and photos
and other objects where you want them and Xara writes the code), that’s awesome. There
are dozens of things I really like here. And thank you, thank you, thank you for spell
checking. Extending the page length is pure genius. Ditto for Repeating objects.
HOLD THE PRESSES!!! There has been one major change since I wrote this review.
Remember the Repeating Objects, naming and all that? That tedious feature has been
replaced by a simple Arrange > Paste on All Pages command. So you create your button bar
and or banner and other buttons on one master page. Then select the repeating objects and
Paste on All Pages. The items automatically become Repeating objects and update all at
once. But wait, there’s more! All the time I have been doing this review, I have had to
manually reposition the buttons at the bottom of each page. Now these buttons are
automatically placed on the bottom of the page spaced in exactly the same distance. It’s the
answer to your Editor’s (that’s me) prayers.
I congratulate Xara once again for a splendid web authoring tool. I plan to continue to use it
for some of my website work. And when you combine Xara Xtreme and Xara Web Design you
have an unbeatable combination. At at a price just under $50 US, what a great value!
I’d love to hear your comments and questions. And when you have designed your best website
ever send me the link so I can add it to the Xara Xone Links page.
Gary W. Priester
Your Editor
Page name ID on status bar Next and Previous Page tags