Whenever there is a release of a new version of any program I work with, I read the advanced info releases and decide whether there are enough features to justify the upgrade costs. With Opus v6 I saw a couple of features that looked mildly interesting, but which hardly offered an incentive to upgrade. Anyway, I upgraded and continued with developing new projects.
I guess, like many developers, I'm a lazy sod
because I tend to stick with tools and features with which I'm comfortable and proficient, and I rarely allow myself to stretch the boundaries so that I'm challenged.
Figuring that my new and potentially huge project could become boring, I set a goal of trying to look for alternative methods and to make myself try new features and, where possible, to use different tools.
In so doing, I have turned what might have been a boring project into something more interesting, and I've discovered some little gems.
Layers: Initially, I considered these to be an indulgence. Now, they are one of my most used features. This came about when I needed to design a page with 97 objects on it. I've done similar pages many times, by overlaying several pages one on top of another. This is exactly what
layering is.
I love the
Onion Skins. They just make it so easy to handle complex pages. I have one minor gripe, which might result from my not finding the setting: When I start a new session, the onion skin settings have gone -- be nice if they carried over. So, if anyone knows how to make them stick between session, please let me know.
Next comment is a suggestion: how useful would it be if actions could be associated with the layer in which its object is placed. Consider a page with a series of actions. Suppose you need to test a group of actions, but they don't activate until several minutes into the previewed page. That's a lot of frustrating time that needs to elapse before the testing can begin.
If it were possible to
preview a layer and only have the objects on that layer active, what a benefit that could be. It's probably a difficult programming task, so it's likely to remain a dream. Still...
Import & Export Variables: I discovered this only last night. What a great feature. Gone are the frustrations of previous years.
So, well done DW for these great new features
As I continue my explorations, I hope I come across more of these understated features. Then, when I need a break, I might also report on these. That's if anyone might be interested.
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