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The map at the top of the page is of Xara Headquarters, Gaddesden Place, in the UK. The map was generated by Google Maps as was the embedded code which has been pasted into the Replace With HTML Code text entry box. What new, and what is really cool, is the new check box, Regenerate Placeholder Image Automatically. This new feature automatically replaces the placeholder object with the embedded image, in this case the map of Xara Headquarters. So instead of just working with a rectangular placeholder object, you can see the actual image. Another new feature is the ability to drag and drop a variety of files from the desktop and have them automatically regenerate a placeholder image. This includes Flash and MP4 files. When you drag a Flash SWF file or an MP4 image, the object automatically regenerates  to the correct size and Web Designer 6 installs the appropriate player. The example below demonstrates this. The Embed link for the YouTube video was added in the Placeholder and the video appeared.
I had to re-size the video to fit my tutorial size. But it’s as easy to do as resizing the object. Google gadgets work the same way (but not all Google gadgets work). My favorite stock is finally going back after a recent setback. Or is it?
Did somebody say Widgets? There are 5 galleries of Widgets in the Designs Gallery. These include simple forms and a few form builders that let you create more complex forms. If you are selling stuff on your site there are widgets for PayPal and Google Checkout. And of course the Designs Gallery contains a whole library of website templates for a wide variety of sites and a bunch of other things to help the non- designer build an attractive and functional website. But remember this; Less is More. Life is not a contest to see how many buttons, gadgets, forms, and other extraneous objects you can add to your site. People are visiting your site for content. Provide it, and make it easy to find.
Gary Priester

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Publishing your site has never been easier. Not only can you preview the changes on one page, or the entire site, but you can also update changes to your site without having to republish the entire site. FTP publishing information for each document you create can be saved for and with that document only! You can create individual publishing profiles that you can select from the Profile drop down list. You have the option to save the FTP password with the document. And last but not least, you can publish only the current changes. So if you simply corrected a typo or replaced one photo, that’s all that will be uploaded to your web server. This dialog alone is worth the price of an upgrade. Xara/Magix is also providing a free Web Hosting account. The details have yet to be worked out however. So stay tuned. The MP4 player (shown above) drops onto the page without a preview image when you drag and drop the MP4 file onto the page. So when you publish the page, all you see is the Play arrow and the controls. If you add a photo behind the player image, it will be published with the page. You can resize the player to any size you want and the MP4 video will automatically resize on play. Steve Ledger astutely observes that the MP4 will loop endlessly (though this may change in the final release version). You can edit the Placeholder code to change this. Change the two instances of loop=true to loop=false in the Replace with HTML Code text entry box.  No sense of color? In the Designs Gallery > Templates folder are several web templates. Also included are about a half dozen Color Schemes. Drag any of these color schemes onto the page and all the colors in the template automatically change to reflect the new color scheme. Can you change the colors from green to orange? No problem. In about 2 seconds actually. Shown above are the available color schemes. I suspect there will be more to follow. Which brings up another point. The Designs Gallery automatically updates. No need for you to do a thing. Just check in from time to time to see what’s been added recently. H    1    2    3    4    5    Download Zipped Version WEBSITE CREATED ENTIRELY WITH XARA WEB DESIGNER 6 Non- functioning video