VERDICT: New multiple page support and improved text handling and workflow integration but the program’s main strength remains its underlying speed.

Xara has always stood out for the astonishing speed of its vector handling and for the hands-on creativity that this enables...

On top of this, in its last release, the program’s price was slashed to ensure that it also provided astonishing value. However it looks as if Xara might have thought better of this marketing strategy as the new Xtreme Pro sees a move into high end territory and the original price restored. So what new power do you get for your money?
Well to begin with, Xtreme Pro now supports multi-page documents. Hidden away at the bottom of the Edit menu is a new New Page command and, once added, you can navigate between pages using the up and down arrows in the status bar. There are no advanced options, such as the ability to set up master pages, but you can create double page spreads and reorder pages. You can also quickly duplicate the existing page or spread which is particularly useful when you want to explore different design ideas which of course is one of the program’s main functions.

New multiple page support and improved text handling open up new design avenues

Multiple pages aren’t just useful for experimenting, they are also essential if you want to produce print-based publications - but to do this successfully you need some serious text handling power. That’s why Xtreme Pro’s Text tool has been enhanced with new ruler-based control over margins, tabs and indents and the ability to link text boxes to create column-based layouts. Xara claims that this “brings Xtreme Pro into the DTP arena” which is true to an extent. However, without key features such as master pages, text runaround and style-based formatting, it can’t compete with dedicated DTP apps. On the other hand the ability to apply a drop shadow, graduated transparency, or even both, to your text in real time is certainly impressive.

Xtreme Pro’s Flash animation capabilities are disappointingly amateurish

As well as opening up new print-based opportunities, Xtreme Pro offers new Flash-based animation capabilities. This is the feature that Xara is promoting most heavily and it will certainly be of great interest to many designers as, while the Flash format is an increasingly important web medium, the Flash authoring application is both expensive and seriously intimidating. Don’t get too excited however. To begin with, Xtreme Pro makes no attempt to support the advanced features that make Flash stand out such as audio, video and scripting. Moreover the Flash SWF format doesn’t support those features that make Xara’s graphics stand out, such as feathering, brush strokes and advanced fills.
Xtreme Pro’s Flash output is inherently simple, but sadly you can’t say the same for the process of achieving it. Rather than taking the opportunity of a fresh start, Xara has chosen to extend Xtreme’s existing awkward frame-based animated GIF capabilities - and made them more awkward still. In particular to set up automated tweens you need to explicitly name those elements you intend to animate, copy the frame they are on, then control the frame properties if you want your tween to take anything other than the default half second. Notable omissions include any way to create non-uniform, non-linear animations or to choreograph multiple effects and there’s no internal preview. Work within its limitations and it is possible to create, say, a simple Flash-based banner ad with Xtreme Pro, but it’s unlikely that you’ll do this more than once.
Ultimately Xtreme Pro’s new Flash output proves less than professional which puts the focus squarely back onto print. Here Xtreme Pro’s high-end push is largely based on bringing back capabilities that were dropped in the bargain-basement Xtreme release. In particular the support for Pantone colour libraries has been reintroduced along with the ability to print colour separations and to view the individual colour plates onscreen.
Handling separations locally like this is very useful for proofing but nowadays most colour-separated commercial print is output from PDF-based digital masters. Here Xtreme Pro’s revamped PDF capabilities come into their own, most notably in terms of full PDF/X prepress support. Xtreme Pro’s PDF exporter also now offers full vector transparency support which gives PDF another role as the natural exchange format when taking images into Illustrator. Alternatively, Xtreme Pro can now export to layered PSD format for further processing in Photoshop. And both PDF and layered PSD files can now be imported as well as exported.
With its focus on multiple page documents, commercial print and workflow integration, Xtreme Pro certainly has its attractions - but ultimately there’s a sense of anti-climax. While some advanced users will find the new power useful, Xara’s core strength is its vector and bitmap handling and here there’s little new apart from the ability to manage levels on imported photos. More disappointing is the fact that none of the new Pro features break new ground in either functionality or implementation when compared to rivals such as CorelDRAW. Xara feels better when it is innovating rather than filling in the gaps and so for most users Xara Xtreme remains the better buy.
Having said this, stand back and look at Xtreme Pro objectively and, even at the new higher price, you’re getting an extraordinarily powerful all-round package for little more than the upgrade cost of the latest Illustrator.

EASE OF USE 4/6
FEATURES 5/6
VALUE FOR MONEY 5/6
OVERALL 5/6