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AMA: Adobe XD 2017

6 years ago from Demian Borba, Product Manager for Adobe XD

  • Dan RodneyDan Rodney, 6 years ago

    Why were character styles implemented so poorly? You can't name them. You can't see what style is currently applied, if you resize a text box, the style connection is lost (with no way to indicate whether it is connected or not). There are no paragraph styles so text alignment can't be saved into a style (plus there's no space before or after a paragraph). Seriously though, Adobe InDesign has awesome style sheets and Adobe XD launches with such poorly implemented styles... it makes me wonder why? InDesign's approach of dealing with overrides, etc is just awesome. This implementation of styles is the weakest of any Adobe app I've used so far, and seems rushed for the sake of getting it to market. That doesn't seem like a good approach as new users are evaluating XD and seeing poorly implemented features... it will not be good for their impression of XD.

    I'll second the comment about CC Libraries being a new window. That's just weird. Everything else is neatly contained in the main window, so should CC Libraries. But why was that feature even implemented now, when basic features like guides and JPEG export are still missing?

    10 points
    • Andrew Shorten, 6 years ago

      There's a balance between putting out a feature that is early, but missing capabilities for some, so as to get feedback and build upon the foundation, and developing something for a longer period of time until is "fully featured" and then exposing it.

      We hear you that additional capabilities are needed in relation to working with character styles and we'll be adding those incrementally.

      Regarding CC Libraries - that's good feedback, we'll continue to iterate on that.

      Regarding layout guides and JPG export - both of those are being worked on and hopefully shouldn't be too long before they show up in XD.

      Thanks, Andrew (Adobe).

      2 points
      • Rocket Singh, 6 years ago

        That early feeedback line sounds a little like lean startup kool-aid. As I recently heard the Pinterest founder say, sometimes the only thing you learn from releasing a mediocre product early is that people don't like mediocre products.

        10 points
        • Brandon ZellBrandon Zell, 6 years ago

          I'll just add this perspective: It seems that Adobe XD is being built fresh, from the ground up, and I think it's an excellent decision. They could have taken a bunch of pieces from InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop, but instead they approached everything with a fresh perspective. The result is a much more intuitive application.

          I'm very happy with how Adobe XD is coming together. Their end goal is implementing these features correctly, not just quickly. I believe part of that is implementing a feature, seeing how people use it, gathering feedback, and then improving.

          Like I said: Illustrator and the other CC apps have fully backed features already. Adobe XD could just use those... but I'm so glad they're not.

          10 points