THE XARA XONE | XARA.COM | THE XARA CONFERENCES

NEW USERS READ FIRST: As always, we will be using Pixels as our units of measure. Right click on the screen and select Page Options... from the pop up menu. In the Units tabbed section, select Pixels for the Units and 0-255 for the Color Units. In the Grid and Ruler tabbed section set the Major Spacing to 100pix (key it in exactly like this please) and the Number of Subdivisions to 10. Press OK to close the dialog and apply the changes.

To see a tutorial on Xara Basics visit Workbook 20.

NOTE: You will notice from time to time I apply arbitrary colors to objects. I do this to make the objects easier to see. If I do not specify a fill for an object, you do not have to apply a fill or outline color.

When I show an ellipse or rectangle that has just been created, that has no fill, it is because I have set the fill to none before I exported the illustration. By default, all ellipses, rectangles and Quick Shapes have a black outline and a black fill. There is nothing wrong with your copy of Xara.

Naming Conventions. I use bold face to indicate the names of tools, galleries, keyboard shortcuts, and dialogs. Items such as unnamed icons and drop down lists, which have names when you let your cursor rest over them for a moment, are displayed in italics.

The Infobar is the context sensitive menu at the top of the screen and changes to reflect the options for the selected tool.

Some of the tool icons have changed in Xara X1, and this may cause some confusion for new users. If you are using an older version of Xara, click here to see my Rosetta Stone for translating the old buttons into the new.

New Users? I have created some quick start mini-tutorials to get you though the basics. Workbook 20, Workbook 30, and Workbook 31 cover the main things you need to know to get started.

While you should be able to create all the steps in previous versions of Xara, some of the tool icons have changed, and this may cause some confusion for new users. If you are using an older version of Xara, click here to see my Rosetta Stone for translating the old buttons into the new.

I should point out, just in case any of Microsoft's lawyers are sniffing around, that this logo is my design and that it was created solely for this tutorial. My  logo design and this tutorial are ©2009 Gary W. Priester. Windows and the windows window pane logo are registered ™ of Microsoft. That should keep us out of trouble.

The Tutorial

Select the Rectangle Tool (keyboard shortcut M). Hold down the Ctrl key, to constrain the rectangle to a square, and create a 100 pixel square. You will see the size displayed on the Infobar as you drag the rectangle.

TIP: The easiest way to create a rectangle or ellipse to a specific size is to draw any size rectangle or ellipse. Then with the rectangle or ellipse still selected, change the Width and Height in the Width and Height text entry boxes. Press Enter (Return) to apply the change.

Draw a tall rectangle 20 x 220 pixels. Clone (Ctrl k) the rectangle and rotate it 90 degrees. Make three clones of the square and arrange them as shown top left. Delete the two rectangles.

TIP: To rotate a selected object or group of objects, enter an amount in the Angle of Rotation text entry box on the Infobar and press Enter, or click twice on the selection to enable Rotate/Skew mode, and drag any of the corner curved arrow handles to free rotate the selection. Hold down the Ctrl key (to constrain the rotation to fixed amounts), in this case 90 degrees.

Add four new rectangles (shown in pale orange).