

Check out the live version of the site I created. The software will upload to the root folder of the subdomain unless you specify a subfolder, as I did. When uploading to Xara’s Web hosting, you can register a domain name, specify a domain name you already own, or use the Xara hosting subdomain provided to you. While you’re designing a site, the Xara Web Designer 365 preview feature will show you how it looks, and you can even see and rollover actions and animations. If you add elements to a template, be aware that you’ll need to right-click and select Website variants > Share with all variants in order for the items to be added to your site if you’ve selected a template that has desktop and mobile versions. Several of the components I wanted to edit were locked into a group, but I only had to right-click and ungroup before I could access the Replace Photo dialog. And you can add custom elements, too, like photo grids and slideshows. If you're happy with the layout of the template you select, it won’t take long to get a site up and running. While designing in Xara Web Designer 365 Premium, I found the layout reminiscent of Photoshop and appreciated several essentials in the vertical toolbar, like the camera icon (to replace photos), and the T icon (to edit text). My Google+ profile is currently sporting a Xara-designed cover photo (below). I appreciated how the social media templates show you the “safe areas” of the image (where it won’t be covered by other elements). The templates come pre-loaded with filler images and text, so it’s a simple matter of replacing it with your own information. You can browse stock photos, symbols, website themes, single-page websites, social media content, and more.

One convenient aspect of Xara Web Designer 365 Premium is its extensive online content catalog with a wide variety of media and templates so you don’t have to start from scratch. While working on your site, you can see a live preview at any time. You can work from scratch or rely on templates. You can design your entire site visually, dragging and dropping photos, creating text wherever you want, and adjusting layers. Xara Web Designer 365 Premium is WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) web design software. I’m not new to website coding, but I think Xara Designer will appeal greatly to those who are. To find out more, I dove into Xara Web Designer 365 Premium for several hours to design a single-page Supersite, which the company explains is an alternative way of publishing a website that provides instant navigation between pages along with animated page transitions. If you’re looking for a simple yet powerful Web design software that doesn’t require a knowledge of coding, then Xara Web Designer 365 Premium may be your solution. Having a web presence can be tough, and keeping it updated can be even tougher.
