Xara is well known for producing high-quality, low-cost, graphics programs that are jam-packed with functionality and features. Their new offerings: Xara Photo and Graphic Designer 6 and Xara Designer Pro 6 are no exceptions. They continue to offer superlative capabilities at a price that won't break the bank.
Version 6 is the biggest makeover of the Xara UI that I have seen since I first started reviewing it back in 1996. Gone is the pedestrian Windows interface that we have come to know and love. In its place, is a shiny, new, charcoal-colored interface with revised icons, fly-outs and buttons. The design gallery now has a hierarchical arrangement. There were numerous drawing tool improvements, enhanced pressure support for tablet users, an enhanced text tool and a great new vector-based photo-editing capabilities.
As always, using the program is a dream. The screen refreshes are lightning fast and, with a bit of creativity, there is very little that you cannot do using this program. It exports to a wide variety of file formats including JPEG, TIF, Adobe Photoshop, scalable vector graphics, PDF, EPS and many more.
While casual graphic designers will probably be more than happy with the feature set of Xara Photo and Graphic Designer 6, professional graphic designers will appreciate the more advanced feature set of Xara Designer Pro 6 which includes all of the capabilities of Xara Web Designer 6 plus support for CMYK, color separations, Pantone, PDF/X., multi-core processors and HD photo import.
Xara Photo and Graphic Designer 6 is only $89 US and Xara Designer Pro 6 is $299. For the capabilities that both of these programs offer, they are an amazing bargain!
www.xara.com
