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In this issue:
30 Days Hath September
When I first began attending school, we were taught a poem to remember which months had 30 days and which had 31. It went, 30 days hath September, April, June,
and November. All the rest have 31, except February which has 27. Or 28. I never could remember.
In high school, an aspiring journalist had his own version, 30 days hath September, April, June, and November. All the rest eat peanut butter, except Grandma,
who drives a Buick. Made sense to me! I can also remember old jokes, and radio jingles I heard in the 40s and 50s when I was growing up. But I cannot remember what I did yesterday, or what I am supposed to do
tomorrow, or the next day. I sometimes wish I could reformat that hard drive I call my brain, or at least optimize it, to get rid of some of this old flotsam and jetsam that floats around in there taking up valuable
storage space.
What made me think of the 30 days poem is I am writing this issue in August, so I won't have to frantically crank it out next month when your editor returns on
September 13 from presenting 4 sessions at the CorelWorld Conference in Boston. It would not be the first time I cranked something out that fast. But at least this way, I won't need to feel guilty while I am in
Boston and worry about what I am going to write about. September being a short month and all.
The Xara X Online Manual continues with installment #14. This issue is dedicated to the Color Editor and related functions. While the
Color Editor
is a fairly straightforward menu, still waters run deep. There is more than enough material (I am discovering) to more than fill up this issue). A mini-tutorial will demonstrate how to created Connected Colors and create duplicate objects with different colors.
TIP of the Month
The new TIP of the Week continues to grow. I just started page 3 of tips and they just keep coming. At least one a week is what I aim for. If you have a favorite tip, send it along. If I use it, I will attribute the tip to you and immortalize you in the
TIP of the Week page.
Insider Information
No new brushes or fills this month, but to make up for it, I am thrilled to offer The Complete List of Xara Keyboard Shortcut Keys and Commands
compiled in a bunch of different file formats including Word, WordPad, and HTML by John Clements and formatted by Jens G. R. Benthien. You will find a download link on the tip top of the Shareware Page. A big tip of the XaraXone
fedora to John and Jens for this incredible document. And thanks to Sean Sedwards for his help too.
The Featured Artist for September is Vladimyr Savveteew who lives in Siberia, brrrr! and is one heck of a talented illustrator. Vladimyr is an engineer in the day time and finds
time at night to create some incredible images ranging from children's book illustrations to fanciful surrealistic, futuristic. Have a look.
The September Trompe L'Oeil Room Xara X tutorial, continues where we left off in last month's WebXealot and used the Bevel Tool
to create a 3D cartoon character. It was pre-created as well in August.
The September Guest Tutorial #7 was prepared by Ross Macintosh, one of the moderators in the Xara Conferences. In this terrific tutorial, Ross literally shows how to marry two photo
images using his 13 year old wedding photo (you cannot believe was a youngster he was) and his young bride, and a photo with a very old background. Ross not only shows you in articulate detail how to remove an
object (in this case Ross and his child bride) from a photo, he shows you three different ways. It is very informative and extremely useful.
If you have a web site you've created with Xara, let your editor (yep, old you know who) know and we'll add your site to the list of sites in the Xara Links page.
And last but not least, your editor is always looking for new talent to showcase in the XaraXone Featured Artist page. If we don't get some more talented folks to step forward, your editor is going to have to make a guest appearance.
If you think you have the right stuff (10-12 really cool images—created with Xara, or created mostly
with Xara), drop me a line and if possible send me an URL where I can see your images. The world is waiting to see your images, so don't be shy. OK?
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