Locally Editable Widgets

Some widgets that you drop onto your page from the Designs Gallery or import from Elements won't open a browser window as described above for Web Editable Widgets. These are Locally Editable Widgets that you edit directly in Xara using a separate document window, and they include Photo Slideshows and Galleries, Photo Hovers and some of the chart widgets.

Editing

After dropping such a widget on your page, double click on it to edit. A new document window opens in Xara (we call this the widget's "editing document"). What that document window shows will depend on the specific widget, but typically you'll see a multi-page document that allows you to conveniently edit and customize all the content for the widget.

Normally there will be some specific instructions shown to the side of or above the first page, describing what aspects of the widget you can edit in the document and other information about the widget. In most cases, you can edit the text you see using the Text Tool, but you can't normally change the font or style of the text. You can replace photos by dropping new photo files onto the images from Windows Explorer, just as you replace photos in normal documents. And you can edit the photos using the Photo Tool, adjust photos using the Fill Tool, etc.

Look at each page in turn and customize the text and photos. Some objects may be locked (clicking on them does nothing) which tells you that you can't edit that aspect of the widget, or perhaps it will be modified by changing unlocked objects on one of the other pages. Any locked objects are present as a visual aid, to help make the context of the unlocked editable parts of the design clear.

Adding more content

Some widgets will allow you to add more content to the widget by duplicating the pages shown (right click on the page and choose Duplicate current page). A slide show widget may allow you to add more photos to it this way. After duplicating a page, change its photos or text as required. The instructions in the widget will tell you whether or not you can duplicate pages in this way to add content.

If you make any changes that the instructions say should not be made, usually those changes will be ignored. However you may cause a widget to malfunction so please change only the aspects of the design that the instructions say can be modified.

Some widgets allow you to add clickable links - the instructions in each widget will make this clear. Change any such links from their default values just as you would change links in a normal website document.

Resizing

Some Locally Editable Widgets are resizable and others are not. Select the widget placeholder in your website document and drag one of the corner handles to resize it up or down. If the widget doesn't allow resizing it will not change size when you drag a corner. After a resize, normally you will see the program re-generate the placeholder image for you, so you can see how the widget will look at its new size.

Saving changes

When you've finished customizing, close the document and you'll be asked whether or not you want to save the changes you've made back to your website document. Alternatively, just hit "Ctrl + S" and the changes you've made will be saved and the editing document closed, returning you to your website document.

The widget placeholder image should update. Preview your page to see the effects of your changes on the working widget.