XiLayout

A publication has more than one reading path

A reader may begin with a photograph, stop at a quotation, scan a table and then settle into the main text. XiLayout is the XiKey™ page-layout project for editors and designers who want to organise those paths across a publication. The aim is a repeatable visual structure that gives stories, pictures and reference material their proper space.

The project suits curious publishing teams, independent editors and designers willing to evaluate an early foundation. XiLayout's planned release stage is Alpha, but the checked DesignCraft 0.7.1 foundation is pre-alpha. It documents a blocker in manual text threading, alongside other editing and interchange gaps. The tools below are observed in upstream source, not verified in a released XiLayout installer. Alpha is free today. Product status, XiKey progress, upstream workflow blockers, pricing policy.

Structure, compose, review

Structure the publication. Use facing or single-page spreads, columns, margins and guides to establish its grid. Parent pages and page-number markers hold recurring elements. Paragraph, character and object styles support consistent formatting; reported style-editing issues make a test copy important. Page and style foundation, known editing gaps.

Bring text and images together. The foundation has paragraph and single-line composition, justification ranges, keeps, baseline grids, text wrap and tables. It places images, SVG and PDF artwork and imports DOCX, RTF and plain text; its Links panel tracks missing and changed graphics. Autoflow can add pages when placing text. Manual linking of arbitrary frames is still a documented blocker, and composition fidelity against InDesign is unmeasured. Composition scope, import and format scope.

Review the output. Preflight reports overset text, missing fonts and glyphs, absent or low-resolution graphics, and RGB content in print documents. PDF export includes selectable text, font subsets, CMYK/RGB and spot colour, bleed and marks. Reflowable EPUB adds a reading version; IDML offers editable interchange. Native INDD/INDT import is unavailable, and fixed-layout EPUB uses page images rather than live layout text. Preflight implementation, output capabilities and limits.

Three publications to prototype

Cultural heritage: an oral-history museum booklet

Lay out interview excerpts alongside portraits and archival captions. Use a restrained paragraph hierarchy and parent-page furniture to make a short booklet easy to follow. Experiment with text wrapping around a pull quote, then compare the reading sequence in the PDF and reflowable EPUB. Confirm that source references and names remain correct after revisions.

Education: a school yearbook spread

Prototype a spread with portraits, names and activity notes. Establish margins and repeated styles before adding the whole set of content. Place a few representative images, inspect the Links panel and test the available editing operations. Export a proof and review every name and crop before expanding the publication; the current editing gaps matter for repetitive production work.

Agriculture: a cooperative's seasonal report

Combine field photographs, a narrative and tables of seasonal results. Keep figure notes distinct from body text and use references where readers need to move between sections. Review table breaks and overset in a PDF proof. If the report contains Arabic and English, assess both scripts and their reading order explicitly; XiKey's Arabic tools are still being integrated.

These are proposed evaluation projects, not verified production case studies. Their building blocks are described in the checked foundation.

Start with a small, representative document

1. Keep originals and choose a few pages that exercise your real requirements. Set page size, margins and a simple grid; build recurring elements on parent pages.
2. Import text and place graphics, then define a limited set of styles. Use the existing autoflow path where suitable; do not plan a workflow that depends on arbitrary manual text-frame linking.
3. Check line breaks, table fit, links, fonts and references. If you import IDML, inspect every changed page because text can reflow differently from InDesign.
4. Save the editable .designcraft document, run Preflight, and export a PDF for inspection. Check exported IDML in the recipient's app and an EPUB in the intended reader. A clear Preflight list does not certify press readiness.

The checked upstream also has a command-line tool and documented JSON/MCP automation. They can support repeatable layout experiments; they do not establish a finished XiKey assistant. Automation documentation, control protocol.

What XiKey is adding

In progress: an Arabic interface with one-click EN ⇄ ع switching; a font dialog organised by Arabic style; XiKey splash, About and message dialogs; kashida and tashkeel controls, Arabic digit styles and Hijri dates; signed updates delivered through XiLauncher. XiPhoto's bilingual pilot is working, while integration into XiLayout is unfinished.

Planned: Classic and Modern workspace presets, Retina scaling controls, an Islamic geometric pattern generator, and sandboxed add-ons managed through XiLauncher. These statuses describe development intent, not shipped XiLayout features. XiKey status, XiKey roadmap; checked 14 October 2026.

Choose the tool that fits the delivery

Use XiLayout to evaluate an open page-layout foundation and give specific feedback on representative files. Retain a proven production workflow for urgent jobs or native INDD collaboration. The upstream still records manual-threading and editing blockers, text-composition differences, incomplete IDML validation and missing PDF/X-1a and X-3 output. Known gaps, format limitations.

Alpha is free today. The current store registry lists future Beta pricing at US$19/year or US$2.49/month before tax. On 14 October 2026, Adobe InDesign's US individual single-app plan was US$22.99/month, annual commitment billed monthly. InDesign also offers native document workflows and a connected publishing ecosystem that this early foundation cannot yet match. XiKey pricing, official Adobe US pricing, Adobe file formats, Adobe publishing features.

Review record and credit

Reviewed DesignCraft 0.7.1 @ e862e0a613c0793c6fea7cfd37ad4145ed6cf686 on 14 October 2026 (2026-10-14): README and supported desktop targets, feature/typography/format/gap documentation, implementation paths cited in product.json, and v0.7.1 release notes. Review of source is distinct from XiLayout binary validation. XiKey installer availability and numerical hardware minimums remain unverified.

XiLayout is based on DesignCraft by the ArtCraft team (MIT OR Apache-2.0).

XiKey is a trademark of Pioneer Local Development Co. Ltd.