The user interface has been completely overhauled: Palettes can now not only be stacked but also minimised, opened and combined in new groups. The palettes are displayed in the same way on all platforms and, with just a few exceptions (Mac OS), provide the same functionality. An additional new feature is the “Quick Access” bar palette with the most important attributes. The new user interface is a great advantage, particularly for Mac users.
Previous versions support PDF formats up to PDF 1.6 and PDF/X-3. With Version 9 you can also create documents in the formats PDF 1.7 and PDF 2.0. Furthermore, Version 9 supports the PDF/X-4, PDF/X-4p and even the PDF/X-5g and PDF/X-5pg formats. The user interface for the creation of PDF/X files has been improved from the bottom up, so that even beginners should be able to create correct PDF/X documents. Version 9 also supports PDF layers.
Working with Smart Guides has been drastically improved. The option now also addresses normal guides/guide objects as well as the new bleed option that can be defined in the document settings.
With the new HTML import you can import HTML text perfectly with all its attributes. The tags or class definitions used in HTML are automatically mapped to existing style sheets in the document. In this way you can create text in any browser application and display it in VivaDesigner in different styles, always with typographic perfection. This all works fully automatically without any programming, complicated tables of manual editing. This option is particularly suited for working with CMS or publishing systems and VIVA publishing servers.
Documents are shown as tabbed windows. If you move the mouse over the tab, a tool tip with the complete document path will be shown. You can open the document path directly with the help of the context menu.
You can now create and choose between multiple workspaces.
UHD support was already established with version 9.0. Now the program also supports Retina displays.
A new design for palettes was established with version 9.0. Now this new design is also available for dialogs.
The limitation of the layout file size to 2 Gigabyte has been removed. This is particularly relevant to the embedding of large amounts of data for images, as you will find in a photo book application.
If you create layouts in color that will later be printed on monochrome, it is often hard to imagine the effect of the layout. With the new option “Grayscale View” you can simulate this effect directly on your screen.