Gary Bouton has at least two great strengths, he is a graphics genius and he can explain how it is done in terms that anybody can understand (I know because I'm definitely in the bottom end of the "anybody" category when it comes to graphics ability). Gary has used these strengths, in addition to his 30 years as a very talented graphics artist, to create Xara Xtreme 5: The Official Guide. He has written a book that is as comprehensive in its coverage of Xara as it is well organized and easy to use; a book full of detailed explanations, step-by-step instructions, and notes, yet it is attractively laid out with a large number of gorgeous illustrations that show you how a graphics element is created. Gary not only shows you how to get the most out of Xara, he also helps you become a much better graphic artist.
To paraphrase Charles Moir, the principle designer of Xara and the company's founder and CEO, Xara Xtreme is the Swiss Army knife for graphics document creation, providing a single application that fuses the best of vector graphics, photo editing, website building, animation, and document layout. With such power and versatility in a program, you would think explaining how to use it would be complex and difficult to get across. Gary, though, has made it clear and easy to understand, as well as fast paced, not getting bogged down in the minutia while providing all the explanation you need. At the same time, the book is also interesting and even fun to read and use.
If you haven't tried Xara, I recommend that you download the free trial version, and then get Gary's book to see what great graphics and document pages you can easily create. You will be very impressed with both the product and the book, but more importantly, you will be even more impressed with what you can create with this combination.
Marty Matthews
