How Figma beats Adobe Xd

Adobe Xd vs Figma. It's time to get excited about Figma, because there are many things which are so much better in Figma than in Adobe Xd. This for me was also important to discover because switching is always a painful proces, but not so much when the new tool has some really cool features. I hope you like the new video!

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[neoniquestudio]

Components and Auto Layout are the killer features in my opinion!

And for the small things:
the Outline View (cmd+Y) – basically like in Illustrator – love it!

[gzusrock]

We have come a long way. I remember mocking sites up in Macromedia Fireworks, then slicing them up to export the pieces for table-based HTML layouts.

[MazenMikati]

The number Scrubber is also available in XD, long time ago, but it works vertically not horizontally.

[AnphonicDJ]

As a storyboard artist, there is one feature that prevents me from switching to figma and that is "right click on a png or jgp, and edit in photoshop. this treats the image as a smart object, once you save your work in photoshop, the image updates on xd automatically. best feature that's missing in figma for me. not to mention copy pasting assets from illustrator to XD.

[rinodeboer]

It's time to get excited about Figma, because there are many things which are so much better in Figma than in Adobe Xd. This for me was also important to discover because switching is always a painful proces, but not so much when the new tool has some really cool features.

[jamesgarnham]

Rino, A few thoughts addressing your 10 points:
1) Numbers: In XD you use up and down arrows with shift if you want larger changes. The slide in Figma is helpful but overall and especially for the final pixel precision, the keyboard model is better.
2) Fonts: Figma is a nightmare with fonts, a lot of designers have font management - figma cannot handle this. (Installing a plugin is the only way and that feels weak) No previews, only fonts loaded in font book appear - that is not good for multi-project designers. Also an option to turn off Google fonts should be in the settings. Who wants a a massive list of fonts most of which they will never use.

3) Line height (leading): Couldn't disagree more, in XD if you have the text set on the first text option (auto width) simply dragging the object actually scales your font size and line height together which as a typographic nerd is much better because of the numbers but from a user functional perspective it smashes it! Figma's text handling and scaling is poor and unintuitive. For example dragging the bounding text box of any of the three text modes just enlarges the bounding box without touching the text?! Madness. I definitely don't to be forced to use a line-height percentages as a fix for a usability problem.
4) Comments: Couldn't agree more, this feature in Figma is fantastic! I have asked XD for this for years, it is very poor of Adobe not to have implemented this within the design canvas - I think they just thought we have a similar thing on the prototype but that is really only good for stakeholders and clients. When a designer is designing they often will be having the thoughts as they go. Brilliant Figma!
5) Spacing: This is a fair balance between the two in my opinion. I personally like the XD approach better, normally with consistent elements you would group them by nature anyway. The stacking and padding feels way more intuitive, instant and flexible but I accept that on this point both have pros and cons. I think where XD fails here is that it doesn't default to a group mode by default and doesn't have handles like Figma to adjust the elements without double clicking. I think I have to agree with you Figma's handle's are the killer feature here for me. Both products have a few small annoyance's here.
6) Backgrounds: Yep couldn't agree more! Amazingly better on Figma! Well done Figma! XD take note. One thing that does bug me about Figma re. images though is that I can drag an image from a browser straight on to the canvas in XD and but cannot in Figma, that is sad. XD's 'paste appearance' is less clear than Figma's 'Paste here' command when pasting an image into a shape however. Changing the canvas colour though is a better function from Figma which XD does not have - a nice to have!
7) Groups: I don't think this works like this any more... (Feb 2023) This is something I learn from you, I didn't realise framing items made them respond differently to added objects.
8) Software updates: Mmm...
9) Staking: Mmm...
10) Stroke direction, yep ok, good point. Pretty helpful, well done Figma.
11)
12) Restoring old files: Yep good point. Much better versioning interface.
13) Autosaving: Not really a big deal. Working in the cloud with XD generally is the way to go.
14) Border: Totally agree, a small point but very annoying! Should at least default to nothing if that was your last use for example. Well done Figma.
15) Colours: Totally agree. Also in 2023 Figma now handles colours better generally. Well done Figma!

My comments on Figma:
Auto layouts have a steeper learning curve, can be really frustrating
For someone who is passionate about typography - I find Figma frustrating
The lag and lack of clear direction for viewing prototypes I find frustrating

Ultimately I guess I'm going to have to switch to Figma as it does feel like they're going to kill off XD but I wanted to share some of my initial comments regarding your video. Generally though thanks, fantastic videos and instruction.

[waynoswaynos]

I'm a print designer of 30 years. Haven't used web tools much. The question I have is, other than visualising and developing the look, feel and functionality of a site, is there a Wordpress Figma Theme and plugins so you can publish your approved design in a couple of clicks, or do you have to build from scratch?

[certtechwebsolutions]

I made the switch to Figma from Adobe XD. Glad to see you did as well!

[Rippegaming]

You can click and drag numbers (font sizes etc) on XD. So I don't get why you included that in the video

[joebt]

Really looking forward to your Containers Explained video. 🙏🏼 Great content, thank you so much for your detailed explanations

[carmelohinoguin]

Thank you! Looking forward for more! Cheers!

[mradford]

👋 Great video. I use both Figma and XD at work. Given Adobe has decades of type experience with Illustrator, InDesign etc I’ve always struggled to work out why XD has had such limited text features. Try doing a bullet list in XD for example. Adobe supply a plug-in, but it’s terrible. Thankfully Figma has this sorted.

Figma just released ‘Sections’ which is an answer to the common problem of how to communicate what wireframes belong to a specific section of an app or website. I’ve been using workarounds in both Figma and XD for years - but Figma has cracked it.

Keep up the great work and keep your videos coming!

[mibetter]

I also like how Figma has pages so that various stages of a website design can be contained in a single Figma file (strategy, wireframe, layout, etc). From what I'm aware, XD only has a single, massive canvas that you can add unlimited artboards to (correct?)

[zeeq]

A thousand percent agree with Adobe XD versions unable to open. That made me learn Figma and a week later, I signed up for the Pro plan because it just works better. With the plugins, I don't even have to open any Adobe softwares unless dealing with intricate imaging, vectors or illustrations.

[todavidkyu]

I'm a student using Adobe XD in our web design class and this is so freakin frustrating relatable.
And yet, a common sense that these features has in Figma is so much worth the time saved and n
ot to be bothered in changing a lot of things.

I wonder if I used XD and can be opened in figma. I'll be transferring for good.

[erikvilla__]

I’m working on my startup right now. Trying to design the UI, Wireframes, and a basic/demo idea of how the app will look.

My goal is to launch it this year

[AbulHaj]

Can you do a video explaining how creating master components on XD vs Figma and which one does it better?

[henstradesign]

The things that drive me nuts with XD is that the rulers don't always work...and when they're gone...they're gone! Another thing is, that if you bring a gradated SVG file into XD, it will change the direction of the gradation! And you're right...why can't XD keep your palette colors in the color picker, and you should be able to select a palette color for your Border as well in there. And yes, the default border on a box is stupid! Time to switch to Figma!

Personally I am loving right click on the element and save it as png/svg/or even CSS. That is nice. But probably the most important benefit are plugins. Some of them are turning Figma into incredible tool. Example? Pitchdeck Presentation Studio or Bannerify.

[mochamadrizky]

Thanks, Rino, I really enjoy your video and waiting for another video about Figma.