Interface

<Alfred> wrote in message news:12415@coreldraw.com...

Oh yes, ten lashes with the coffee filter is good, therefore I'll forgive you :) As for, ", or it's in Draw, why not in PP?", I agree with you, however I'll bet you your used coffee filters that it is a technical issue which is not easily solved. Draw and PP are completely different animals and I would assume that the code is as well, I feel that Corel has done a great job integrating the two. Many of the features we have asked for are not feasable for this reason and I would think if there would be an easy way to please the user, Corel would do it.

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Alfred

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http://coreldraw.com/forums/p/3308/12415.aspx#12415

Hello Alfred,

Like I said to Stefan in another thread in this post:

Some comments about CorelDRAW X4 interface:

 

Dockers

 

1. You can't change tabs order in nested dockers.
2. When you have two (or more) columns of dockers,

1)     The Collapse button (>>) disappears.

2)     You can't move or undock upper group(s) of nested dockers in any columns other than the left column. For example, if you have two columns of dockers, each column has one docker, you can't move or undock the docker on the right.

3)     The dockers are a mess; no complete and clear separators between columns, entities are lost.

 

3. When the Dockers are collapsed, tabs' lines are cut; the physical feel of tabs is not complete (another incomplete thing).
4. The Roll-down Docker button (the grey arrow beside the X (close) button in a docker's title bar) should roll the docker down to its original extent before it was rolled up.

 

Dockers should get a real redesign.

 

 

Icons

 

1. Now, the Navigator button looks like a thing that has a function (maybe it needs a little emphasis to show the arrows).
2. The Options button icon in CorelDRAW Help is not like the real one in the Standard toolbar or in the Tools menu :)
3. Any body has a comment on the Ungroup and Ungroup All icons?

 

 

Pages

 

1.     I think it is convenient to have a Page Setup button in the

1)     No Selection mode of the Property bar

2)     Page Tab Context menu (right-click on the page border, shadow or page tabs in the Document Navigator)

 

Of course with a new icon (not the Options icon)

For me, I can double-click the border.

 

2.     When duplicating a page, the new page should retain the source page orientation, shouldn't it?

3.     Double-clicking a page tab could be assign to a certain function (like Page Setup or Rename Page…)

4.     I liked the light grey page border and shadow.

 

 

Also

 

1. Contrast for drag boxes, text selection, etc. against 50% gray problem still unfixed.
2. I prefer to reach the Resent Files list directly from the File menu; not grouped in a submenu. What do you think?
3. I find it annoying how the pointer busy icon (hourglass) keeps blinking while I'm panning the drawing using the mouse middle button.
4. I liked the grey dividers in the Color Palettes.

 

Maybe the new interface targets new purchasers and users, more than it aims to make current users upgrade. I was expecting a huge jump in the X4 interface. However, I liked the "new feel and look".

Ted,

I'll make a guess on the Mesh Tool as to why it may not get attention.

Plain and simple, only a very, very small percentage of users actually use
the tool. I would call myself a power user, but not an artist. I have never
used the tool for anything other than documenting how it works. So they
could improve it to be the greatest thing in the world and I probably still
wouldn't use it.

People in the laser engraving business most likely would have little to no
use for it. Ditto for vinyl cutting, embroidery, and some of the other
significant industries standardized on CorelDRAW.

This doesn't mean it isn't used and isn't important for a percentage of
users. People who visit these forums are more likely to be power users who
use all the features in the program. So the percentage of people asking
about this one feature would be higher here than in the general public.

If we look back at Corel-related forums in the last two years, we'll see
several requests made over and over. People wanted a table tool. People
wanted to import files from Microsoft Publisher. People wanted more
compatibility with AI, EPS and PDF files. People wanted to import RAW files.
Each of those areas was addressed with X4.

No upgrade will make every user happy. Believe me, there are features that I
think Corel should have addressed and I am very vocal behind the scenes at
pushing features that I find important. I also try to measure how a feature
impacts the whole of the user base and not a select percentage of users. It
is a very complex equation. I certainly don't have it all figured out and
I'm sure Corel changes the weighting of features on a fairly regular basis
as their userbase changes.

Hello Ariel,

You are right in your analysis however, lets be completly honest, Corel DRAW overall is much better than illustrator but there are areas where illustrator is much better and vice versa. I do know corel draw quite well i'be been using it professionally for 12 years and have been using illustrator for about 8 years along with many other packages vector, raster, 3d, web etc... I love CD but going with the theme of being completly objective and honest there are areas where they could do better, just because there are areas where they outshine illustrator doesn't mean that its acceptable to let illustrator surpass them in other fundamental areas. Why not go all the way and beat them everywhere and with every tool, i know they can but they keep dumping money into uneccessary things like David has mentioned and i happen to agree. i.e. Corel R.A.V.E. (total half ass effort, then it was dumped) money that could have been spent improving tools or go all the way and be a real competitor to Flash but dumping all this money into it then dumping it at the expense of the real needs seems illogical. Buy you are right i would never choose illustrator over DRAW but i do keep a copy of illustrator in the office at all times.

If you are using a Mac, the best choice is Illustrator. If you use Linux, the best option is Sketchup. In Windows, the best one is CorelDRAW

<
center in the "Welcome" window>"Insites from the experts" tab.>>

Showing up in something written by one of the artists does not mean it is
currently used. I get lots of questions about lots of features in classes.
Honestly, nobody ever asks about Mesh Fill. I already listed the industries
where it truly is of no use at all. Corel has huge installed bases in those
industries.

It has a use and it has some users. If I had to guess, less than 10% of
users use Mesh Fill even once a week.


--
Foster D. Coburn III
CorelDRAW Unleashed
http://www.coreldrawunleashed.com
Books, Boot Camps, Conferences and Magazines

 Hello Foster,

I do see your point, however i would love to use it more often but its just too unpredictable and messy, in fact if it worked the way it should i would probably use it a lot but i think most ignore it because it just doesn't work properly. At least that is my problem with it, if you have any experience with illustrator try theirs and you'll see what i mean, it is a very powerful tool for shading.  

I'm one of the users who do not use Mesh fill tool more than occasionally. But then I'm not an artist either but I can see that for illustrators the mesh fill tool is important at least if you work in a realistic style with lots of toning and shadowing. Naturally a tool should be good at what it does and I'd rather have fewer tools that are superior than a bunch extra that does things half way. I never use the Smart Drawing tool either. To me it looks like one of those things that are made just so they can come up with something to advertise a new version with. But there might be lots of people who actually use it, I don't know. 

Hey Lars,

I completly agree with you, i never used the smart drawing tool and quite honestly i don't get the point of it. It isn't a very precise way of working. 

The thing is that Draw is a very flexible piece of software. You can tame it anyway you want. My guess is that it's mostly used for graphic design for print – layout. Then there are lots of specialty users like vinyl cutting, embriodery, laser engraving, technical illustrators, landscape design etc. I believe people who actually create art with Draw are a minority of the users, in spite of its name.

dreamwizard:

i never used the smart drawing tool and quite honestly i don't get the point of it. It isn't a very precise way of working

I believe it was developed for an application called Grafigo for tablet PC:s http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1152105061798 So getting it into Draw was more of a spin-off effect from developing Grafigo.

 I am an illustrator and working very much, kind of daily, with both CorelDRAW and Photo-Paint doing my illustration work. I of course dont have a clue on how many illustrators use CorelDRAW and Photo-Paint. But I dont hink we are so few. Probably the majority uses A-illustrator, because of the general dominans of Adobe, but I have a hunch that more will start using it for illustration work. The more its advertized about, both CorelDRAW and Photo-Paint, more people will use it. And the magazine Corel Painter might have a great impact on sales. The strange thing and something I always have said is that its strange that the editors are so Photoshop oriented, 100%, in a Corel magazine. To NOT show how things can be done using Photo-Paint is a continues mystery.

Ariel:

If you are using a Mac, the best choice is Illustrator. If you use Linux, the best option is Sketchup. In Windows, the best one is CorelDRAW

by using dual intel Mac CorelDRAW and Photo-Paint might be the next big thing :-)

Stefan Lindblad:

by using dual intel Mac CorelDRAW and Photo-Paint might be the next big thing :-)

yes, of course: Mac is marketplace small but the most important, because is specific to graphic design. But Corel must develop a Mac OS native version, 100% new, not a new adaptation of a Windows code. Earlier versions are very bad, and dont' wotk properly, as the same version in Windows. If Corel is not capable to edit a real mac version, it will be excluded of an important sector