How To Save Preferences For Page Template Xara Designer Pro 8

I'k kidding about the title of this month's tip, but it did get your attention, and then it served its purpose. Seriously, how would you like to open Xara Designer every fourth dimension and accept the folio size, colors, fonts, and all that other expert and essential stuff gear up exactly the way you want it?

The solution is to build and save a Xara Template, and the following sections show y'all how. Outset, download tons 'o colors.xar using the attractive and conveniently located push button at left here.

The Key To Customization

Whenever you launch Xara, there are some resources that are stored on your system, and some that are local to a new document based on a template, and existing documents you might open. The departure, for example, is when you put a button in the Button Gallery on a toolbar in Xara and then it's like shooting fish in a barrel to access, this modify is stored on your system, and you shouldn't expect to see this button in its custom location if you re-install Xara. However, if you lot've created a template, and specify the template is used for all new documents, and the template is zoomed to total folio, every new document based on this template volition open at full page zoom resolution. And then how cool is that?!

Setting Up the Template's Page

The following sections accept recommendations plugged in for what y'all might want to specify in your template; naturally, it's up to you to define your ain preferences, but I'll give reasoning along the way as to why I advise something.

After launching Xara Designer, printing Ctrl+Shift+O to display Options. Let'south suppose you desire your default folio size to be something other than whatever of the presets offered. I personally want a page that is exactly the size of a full screen for screen captures—1280 by 1024 is my screen resolution. And then the start stop is Units in Options, and I set up the page units to pixels. You lot can't specify a page size in pixels unless the current unit of measurement is pixels.
Click the Folio Size tab and so choose Custom from the Paper Size drib-down list. Now I'll enter my screen resolution afterwards choosing Landscape orientation, click Apply and our first step toward customizing a personal template'southward completed.

Optionally, you might want to press Ctrl+L now, if you want rules bounding your template page from at present on. Personally, I can't get away without rulers, and if you measure things in units other than Inches, go back to Options and cull the Grid and Ruler tab. The rulers in Xara can be ready to any unit you similar, and this unit is independent of how units are displayed on the Infobar.

Customizing your View

Because I have to have screen captures about of my piece of work day, I tend to slum it and utilise PrintScreen a lot, although Evernote and SnagIt are helpful, and Designer Pro vii does have a Screen Capture feature under Utilities. For the sake of convenience, I'd like all my new documents based on this template to open up to full page zoom level, and then later I hit PrintScreen, when I then press Ctrl+Five, the screen capture lands neatly in the middle of the page which is exactly the size of my screen resolution. Endeavour this to always open to full page viewing resolution:

Choose the Zoom Tool, and then choose the Zoom to page icon. Now, don't practise whatsoever zooming until you've saved this template, or perform this step over again only before y'all save the template.

Fonts, Fonts, Fonts

The skillful news well-nigh Xara versions 5 and later on is that when you need to choose a typeface for a design, all you do is choose the Text tool, click the downward arrow to the right of the Font list on the Infobar, so start typing the first few letters of the font y'all want to utilise. The bad news is that with Windows 7, 64x processing, and the availability of quality fonts for free these days, you could easily accept 800 or more typefaces installed. And if yous don't remember the name of a typeface, scrolling your installed fonts list is a pain in the backside. And as a very unprofessional consequence, we tend to pick Ariel or some other font for designs from the top of the listing.

Well, how about this custom template offers typefaces from the middle of the alphabet, then you go a fresh look at what y'all've installed and simply have to gyre halfway to the top and the bottom of the font list?

Choose the Text tool from the toolbox, only don't brand an insertion point on the page, and don't even click or effort to type anything. Click the down pointer to the right of the default font name on the Infobar to expand the installed fonts listing, and then scroll down to the Ms or Ns, and then click on a font. Also, fix the font size, directly to the correct of the font list. Me, I tend to design headlines in my work, without a lot of torso text, so I gear up the bespeak size to 24, although I'm certain this won't suit all designers. Finally, you lot might want to prepare the alignment of your default text, although I see zilch incorrect with Left alignment. Okay, finally, finally (for certain!), you might want to fix the default color for text in your template. To practise this, click a color on the color line, or utilise the Color Editor.

Adding Colors to Your Template

I'grand non big on going to the Colour Gallery and picking out a custom collection of colors every fourth dimension I have an idea and but desire a serviceable palette, and to get downwards to business organization. For that reason, like other Xaraist who've posted them on tg, I created a custom collection of colors, named them and everything, and saved them to a XAR document. To add saved colors to a new document, all y'all need to do is elevate the Xara file into the workspace of your future template.

Put the downloaded xara file "tons o' colors.xar on your desktop and then click the maximize/restore Windows button at the superlative correct of Xara and so you tin see both the program and parts of your Desktop. Then elevate the "tons 'o colors.xar" file icon into the workspace and you now accept a handsome collection of colors organized sometimes by hue on the color line.

Call up to Cap your Pen

…or it'll dry out! Seriously, the blazon of cap a line cease has tin exist set in Xara, and at that place's no reason, if for example, you practise a lot of technical illustration that an finish cap shouldn't be Square or Butt, or whatsoever.

With the Pen tool chosen, get to the Line Gallery, choose the blazon of end caps Xara puts on lines from now on, and while you're at it, yous might want to specify a line width such as 1 or 2 points instead of the default.

Buttons and UI Manner

Earlier I'd mentioned that some customization, specifically the improver of buttons to a toolbar, is not stored in a document but instead on your difficult drive. Ever since version vi, you have had the option to run Xara with the sleek, black, depressing interface, or what's called the "classic" interface, which is a medium grayness and all the UI elements are clearly visible. You make this modify with a four keystroke combination, but before you endeavour this out: if you have any custom buttons in your setup, they will vanish when you lot switch UI color themes. Then think near this one advisedly, especially if you lot accept a lot of custom buttons on toolbars.

To change the UI from the current version's to the Archetype look, press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+South, and if you have small hands, you lot might want to use both of them!

Putting Options in Its Place

Step 8 I've removed several of the default buttons from the Standard Bar and put things I use all the fourth dimension such as Subtract and Intersect (the Arrange>Combine Shapes items) where Undo and Redo used to be. If you've never added a button to Xara's toolbars and you've settled on a UI theme in the previous section (so you don't undo your button work later), here'south a quick move to put Options equally a button correct on the main Toolbar. Why would you want to do this? Well, for one thing, I reset the Nudge distance constantly. Also I use several programs in Windows, I'one thousand non getting younger, and I cannot memorize twoscore,000 keyboard shortcuts with a loftier caste of conviction. Here's how to add Options to the Toolbar:

Choose Window>Control Bars, and then put a check in the Push button Palette, the last item in the scroll window. The palette pops up above the workspace. Concur Alt and so drag the orange wrench button to below the Zoom tool on the Toolbar, or any location you're comfortable with.
As shown in figure 9, you now have all of Xara's Options just a click away.

Saving Your Template

You take merely a few short, simple steps ahead of you now to save this template.

Cull File>Save Template. In the Save Template dialog box, give your template an evocative name considering y'all might desire to build more than user templates in the future, accept the default location for the saved template because as you can see hither, this is where Xara keeps all your other templates, and if you similar, click the utilise every bit default template checkbox, which makes all new documents when you launch Xara (and proceed to create File>New documents) take all the properties you've specified in this series of steps. Y'all can click Save at present, and shut Xara without saving the current file—because y'all've already saved it equally a template.