Pyanepsion

@fde101,
I've seen successful companies bought out, the CEO kept on, and 2 years later the CEO was fired and the company changed its business strategy. The mere fact that the CEO is waffling on these points means that a change of policy is on the cards.
In Canva's acquisition strategy, several companies that initially offered products sold on a one-off purchase model have seen their business model evolve towards a subscription model, in line with Canva's overall strategy of operating largely on a subscription model.

Interesting. Thank you, MikeTo. That said, the word " Majuscule " is not only "not ideal".  It is wrong and leads to major misunderstandings.
French characters:
A, B, C - these are uppercase, capital characters a, b, c - these are lowercase or minuscule characters French words:
APPLE - this word is uppercase, all capitals/all caps, with one majuscule apple - this word is lowercase or minuscule Apple - this word is majuscule French sentences:
Apples are good - this is a sentence case. It begins by a majuscule. Apples are Good - this is title case. This concept does not exist in French. Here we have a sentence that must begin with a capital letter, and good must be in lower case, like the first sentence. Apples Are Good - this is start case, even articles, prepositions, and conjunctions are capitalized. This concept does not exist in French. Here we have a sentence that must begin with a capital letter, and good must be in lower case, like the first sentence. French verse in classical prosody
Gloire à la terre ! Gloire à l’aube où Dieu parait !
Au fourmillement d’yeux ouverts dans la forêt,
Aux fleurs, aux nids que le jour dore !
Gloire au blanchissement nocturne des sommets !
Gloire au ciel bleu qui peut, sans s’épuiser jamais,
Faire des dépenses d’aurore !
(Glory to the earth! Glory to the dawn when God appears!
To the swarming eyes open in the forest,
To the flowers and nests gilded by day!
Glory to the nightly whitening of the summits!
Glory to the blue sky that can, without ever running out,
Spend like the dawn!)
The Legend of the Centuries, The Earth, Victor Hugo
Other French majuscule letters
Book or newspaper titles, political texts, nicknames, company names, public organisations, international organisations, decorations, vehicle names and the names of stars all obey specific capitalisation rules.

@Pyanepsion I agree that Majuscules is not ideal but I think you can blame Apple from whom Serif appears to have taken its lead.  
Affinity and Apple use "Capitalization" and translate it as "Majuscules" Adobe and Microsoft use "Change Case" and translate it as "Modifier la casse" Quark uses "Change Case" and translates it as "Changer la casse" Majuscules = Capitals and not Capitalization so I think it would be better if Affinity switched to "Modifier la casse" like Adobe and Microsoft.
We use Majuscules in English, too, at least us nerds do.
English characters:
A, B, C - these are uppercase, capital, or majuscule characters a, b, c - these are lowercase or minuscule characters English words:
APPLE - this word is uppercase, all capitals/all caps, or majuscule apple - this word is lowercase or minuscule Apple - this word is capitalized English sentences:
Apples are good - this is sentence case Apples are Good - this is title case Apples Are Good - this is start case, even articles, prepositions, and conjunctions are capitalized  

According to the definition in French dictionaries, a ‘majuscule’ is in practice a capital letter, with an additional nuance: it is located at the beginning of a proper noun (Affinity), and certain common nouns ‘l’État’ (The State), ‘le ministère de la Culture’ (The Ministry of Culture), etc., or the first word at the beginning of a sentence, or the first word at the beginning of a verse in classical prosody.
The name of ‘la Grande Ourse’ (the Great Bear) is written with two ‘majuscules’ like in English, the name of ‘la Voie lactée’ (The Milky Way) is written with only 1 ‘majuscule’.

Actually in my experience (unilingual Anglophone here) majuscule is as you describe it, a separate letterform. Again in my experience, it will look like a capital letter but it is not a capital. I cannot recall actually ever needing them.

Distribute with a gap of 0 units.

That’s interesting, but you go on to explain that
It follows that « capitale » corresponds directly to “capital”, and « majuscule » corresponds directly to “initial capital”.

Sent. As usual, these files are confidential.

Funny here in Quebec we use Majuscules, at least in my circles. Doesn’t make it right but its what I am used to! 

Sent. As usual, these files are confidential.

Hello, @Patrick Connor and @Pauls,
I can’t reproduce the malfunction.
For memory, a 320-page book created by Affinity Publisher 2.3 and then updated as and when production updates were made. 2 Affinity Designer resources created in version 1, and the others since summer 2023.
I’ve updated all the linked Affinity Designer resources (except 1), and this has solved the problem.
I’ve updated the book to 2.4.1. Would you like the book file and any other files updated to 2.4.1 for Affinity suite resources?

Hello, @Patrick Connor,
I've updated the files concerned. I'll see if I can find an old version 1 AFDESIGN file that hasn't yet been updated to reproduce the malfunction.
Have a happy Easter.

@fde101,
I've seen successful companies bought out, the CEO kept on, and 2 years later the CEO was fired and the company changed its business strategy. The mere fact that the CEO is waffling on these points means that a change of policy is on the cards.
In Canva's acquisition strategy, several companies that initially offered products sold on a one-off purchase model have seen their business model evolve towards a subscription model, in line with Canva's overall strategy of operating largely on a subscription model.

That narrative is unfortunately still unconfirmed conjecture and is purely speculative. Which in all fairness, is the position we've been put in for quite some time as customers. I'm not saying I don't agree with vast portions of what you are saying. I can see it. We just don't have a clue what is going on behind the scenes. Not a clue. This could've been Phase 2 or a potential fork on Serif's longterm economic map. A thought: 2 months isn't a long time at all to change the entirety of your company's vision from a stable vision to putting all your eggs in the basket of an unknown entity. See how that works? I can introduce some other argument that grinds the other direction and around and around we go, all over again... never-ending speculative projection. This is unacceptable coming from a company that is trying make big huge claims such as Serif/Canva.
And that's the primary issue, is we're again put up against the wall as customers and for many who have migrated from other platforms, this is a position we know all too well. So people are rightly hedging their bets and that includes guessing the direction of the company, because we have no other assurances things will go the way we hope.

Anyway, away from the old, onto the new: If they truly intend to capture a professional audience, then they need to get away from these games of cat and mouse with their messaging and start by being much more transparent with their intended business strategy. They can begin by solidifying these decisions in some major way that cannot be easily reversed. Also, a written commitment to V3, etc, offering perpetual could be a start for some. For others, we need to know that the buglist will start being the major priority. As to features, I'm not as concerned because there's plenty of incentive to add those. I don't think Canva bought the company to let the codebase rot. That would undermine their overall investment there, but I've seen stupider...

As far as preserving Affinity's original vision for the better, it's going to have to probably come from Canva... I know. I'm asking a lot. I'm not holding my breath, either.

Relevant post giving the timing of this one: https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/201423-canva/&do=findComment&comment=1194508 :
 

Cash strapped with 45Million£ in Profits.
 

😱This is very sad news. @Ash, you were always saying that you weren’t for sale, but this takeover by Canva is a dark moment. Didn’t you realize that users trusted you, and that they had left Adobe precisely on the promise of a lifetime purchase of an improved Adobe where we would only have to pay for upgrades?
The world of Canva has nothing in common with the Affinity suite, either in their applications or in their business model.
Affinity will therefore suffer the same fate as most of the companies acquired by Canva, not to mention what happened to QuarkXPress when it decided to change its business model from lifetime purchase to rental.
PS Recalling a fired CEO is an exception. The return of Sam Altman thanks to the support of partners and employees is just the exception that proves the rule. Sadly.

😱It is clear that the Affinity suite will eventually migrate to a subscription model, as this is Canvas' business model.
😱In other words, there's nothing planned after version 2.

😱This is very sad news. @Ash, you were always saying that you weren’t for sale, but this takeover by Canva is a dark moment. Didn’t you realize that users trusted you, and that they had left Adobe precisely on the promise of a lifetime purchase of an improved Adobe where we would only have to pay for upgrades?
The world of Canva has nothing in common with the Affinity suite, either in their applications or in their business model.
Affinity will therefore suffer the same fate as most of the companies acquired by Canva, not to mention what happened to QuarkXPress when it decided to change its business model from lifetime purchase to rental.
PS Recalling a fired CEO is an exception. The return of Sam Altman thanks to the support of partners and employees is just the exception that proves the rule. Sadly.

😱This is very sad news. @Ash, you were always saying that you weren’t for sale, but this takeover by Canva is a dark moment. Didn’t you realize that users trusted you, and that they had left Adobe precisely on the promise of a lifetime purchase of an improved Adobe where we would only have to pay for upgrades?
The world of Canva has nothing in common with the Affinity suite, either in their applications or in their business model.
Affinity will therefore suffer the same fate as most of the companies acquired by Canva, not to mention what happened to QuarkXPress when it decided to change its business model from lifetime purchase to rental.
PS Recalling a fired CEO is an exception. The return of Sam Altman thanks to the support of partners and employees is just the exception that proves the rule. Sadly.

@fde101,
I've seen successful companies bought out, the CEO kept on, and 2 years later the CEO was fired and the company changed its business strategy. The mere fact that the CEO is waffling on these points means that a change of policy is on the cards.
In Canva's acquisition strategy, several companies that initially offered products sold on a one-off purchase model have seen their business model evolve towards a subscription model, in line with Canva's overall strategy of operating largely on a subscription model.

😱It is clear that the Affinity suite will eventually migrate to a subscription model, as this is Canvas' business model.
😱In other words, there's nothing planned after version 2.

😱This is very sad news. @Ash, you were always saying that you weren’t for sale, but this takeover by Canva is a dark moment. Didn’t you realize that users trusted you, and that they had left Adobe precisely on the promise of a lifetime purchase of an improved Adobe where we would only have to pay for upgrades?
The world of Canva has nothing in common with the Affinity suite, either in their applications or in their business model.
Affinity will therefore suffer the same fate as most of the companies acquired by Canva, not to mention what happened to QuarkXPress when it decided to change its business model from lifetime purchase to rental.
PS Recalling a fired CEO is an exception. The return of Sam Altman thanks to the support of partners and employees is just the exception that proves the rule. Sadly.

😱This is very sad news. @Ash, you were always saying that you weren’t for sale, but this takeover by Canva is a dark moment. Didn’t you realize that users trusted you, and that they had left Adobe precisely on the promise of a lifetime purchase of an improved Adobe where we would only have to pay for upgrades?
The world of Canva has nothing in common with the Affinity suite, either in their applications or in their business model.
Affinity will therefore suffer the same fate as most of the companies acquired by Canva, not to mention what happened to QuarkXPress when it decided to change its business model from lifetime purchase to rental.
PS Recalling a fired CEO is an exception. The return of Sam Altman thanks to the support of partners and employees is just the exception that proves the rule. Sadly.

Hello everyone,
v2.4.0.222
With the arrival of version 2.4 of Affinity Designer, it is crucial to pay more attention to the needs of web designers. Exporting AFDESIGN files in SVG format reveals a major issue: the excessive presence of superfluous elements in the source code. This can cause problems when SVGs are used on websites.

Issues
test-text-rectangle.afdesign
Current export vs. ideal export:
Here is a concrete example to illustrate the problem, based on a very simplified situation:
Current SVG source (Exported by Affinity Designer 2.4.0.2222): 3184 bytes
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?> <!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11.dtd"> <svg width="100%" height="100%" viewBox="0 0 889 154" version="1.1" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xml:space="preserve" xmlns:serif="http://www.serif.com/" style="fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-miterlimit:2;"> <g id="SVG-export" serif:id="SVG export" transform="matrix(1.05833,0,0,1.1,0,0)"> <rect x="0" y="0" width="840" height="140" style="fill:none;"/> <clipPath id="_clip1"> <rect x="0" y="0" width="840" height="140"/> </clipPath> <g clip-path="url(#_clip1)"> <g id="Hide-maroon-rgb-115-72-72--tear" serif:id="Hide maroon rgb(115,72,72) tear" transform="matrix(0.944882,0,0,0.909091,76.9626,-7.27273)"> <path d="M774.428,41.82C774.428,41.82 807.548,60.083 807.548,67.91C807.548,82.31 792.708,94 774.428,94C756.149,94 741.309,82.31 741.309,67.91C741.309,60.083 774.428,41.82 774.428,41.82Z" style="fill:rgb(115,72,72);"/> </g> <g id="Purple-rgb-115-72-242--circle" serif:id="Purple rgb(115,72,242) circle" transform="matrix(1.19876,0,0,1.31455,-195.447,-62.4413)"> <ellipse cx="828.307" cy="100.75" rx="60.693" ry="53.25" style="fill:rgb(115,72,242);"/> </g> <g id="Pink-rgb-204-44-255--visible-heart" serif:id="Pink rgb(204,44,255) visible heart" transform="matrix(0.944309,0,0,0.908621,-17.4437,0.166044)"> <path d="M853.979,109.074C861.352,98.868 876.097,98.868 883.47,103.971C890.844,109.074 890.844,119.279 883.47,129.484C878.309,137.138 865.038,144.792 853.979,149.895C842.919,144.792 829.648,137.138 824.487,129.484C817.114,119.279 817.114,109.074 824.487,103.971C831.86,98.868 846.606,98.868 853.979,109.074Z" style="fill:rgb(204,44,255);"/> </g> <g id="Yellow-rgb-255-255-63--Artistic-text" serif:id="Yellow rgb(255,255,63) Artistic text" transform="matrix(0.944882,0,0,0.909091,21.9758,16.3877)"> <g transform="matrix(37.5,0,0,37.5,698.358,103.622)"> </g> <text x="95.08px" y="103.622px" style="font-family:'SimplySans-Book', 'Simply Sans', sans-serif;font-size:37.5px;fill:rgb(255,255,63);">Unnecessary objects and elements</text> </g> <g id="Blue--rgb-0-255-255--Artistic-text" serif:id="Blue #rgb(0,255,255) Artistic text" transform="matrix(0.944882,0,0,0.909091,14.1732,1.81818)"> <g transform="matrix(58.3333,0,0,58.3333,607.818,50.0094)"> </g> <text x="107px" y="50.009px" style="font-family:'SimplySans-Book', 'Simply Sans', sans-serif;font-size:58.333px;fill:rgb(0,255,255);">A plethoric source</text> </g> <g id="Green-rgb-51-193-33--rectangle" serif:id="Green rgb(51,193,33) rectangle" transform="matrix(0.220472,0,0,0.233333,0,0)"> <rect x="0" y="0" width="300" height="600" style="fill:rgb(51,193,33);"/> </g> </g> </g> </svg> Ideal SVG Source: 1555 bytes (1493 without spaces)
<svg viewBox="0 0 889 154" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xml:space="preserve" style="fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-miterlimit:2"> <g transform="scale(1.05833 1.1)"> <clipPath id="a"> <path d="M0 0h840v140H0z"/> </clipPath> <g clip-path="url(#a)"> <path d="M774.428 41.82s33.12 18.263 33.12 26.09c0 14.4-14.84 26.09-33.12 26.09-18.279 0-33.119-11.69-33.119-26.09 0-7.827 33.119-26.09 33.119-26.09Z" style="fill:#734848" transform="matrix(.94488 0 0 .9091 76.963 -7.273)"/> <ellipse cx="828.307" cy="100.75" rx="60.693" ry="53.25" style="fill:#7348f2" transform="matrix(1.19876 0 0 1.31455 -195.447 -62.441)"/> <path d="M853.979 109.074c7.373-10.206 22.118-10.206 29.491-5.103 7.374 5.103 7.374 15.308 0 25.513-5.161 7.654-18.432 15.308-29.491 20.411-11.06-5.103-24.331-12.757-29.492-20.411-7.373-10.205-7.373-20.41 0-25.513 7.373-5.103 22.119-5.103 29.492 5.103Z" style="fill:#cc2cff" transform="matrix(.9443 0 0 .90862 -17.444 .166)"/> <text x="95.08" y="103.622" style="font-family:'SimplySans-Book','Simply Sans',sans-serif;font-size:37.5px;fill:#ffff3f" transform="matrix(.94488 0 0 .9091 21.976 16.388)">Unnecessary objects and elements</text> <text x="107" y="50.009" style="font-family:'SimplySans-Book','Simply Sans',sans-serif;font-size:58.333px;fill:#0ff" transform="matrix(.94488 0 0 .9091 14.173 1.818)">A plethoric source</text> <path style="fill:#33c121" d="M0 0h300v600H0z" transform="scale(.22047 .23333)"/> </g> </g> </svg> A comparison of the two versions highlights the overabundance of unnecessary information in the current export.
Suggested improvements
Automatic code clean-up:
Implement an automatic clean-up function during export to eliminate superfluous elements. Export in Two Formats. Offer the option of exporting the SVG in two versions: Standard SVG file. SVG source optimized for integration into a web source. <g id="" viewBox="0 0 889 154" transform="scale(1.05833 1.1)"> <clipPath id="a"> <path d="M0 0h840v140H0z"/> </clipPath> <g clip-path="url(#a)"> <path id="Hide-maroon-rgb-115-72-72--tear" d="M774.428 41.82s33.12 18.263 33.12 26.09c0 14.4-14.84 26.09-33.12 26.09-18.279 0-33.119-11.69-33.119-26.09 0-7.827 33.119-26.09 33.119-26.09Z" style="fill:#734848" transform="matrix(.94488 0 0 .9091 76.963 -7.273)"/> <ellipse id="Purple-rgb-115-72-242--circle" cx="828.307" cy="100.75" rx="60.693" ry="53.25" style="fill:#7348f2" transform="matrix(1.19876 0 0 1.31455 -195.447 -62.441)"/> <path id="Pink-rgb-204-44-255--visible-heart" d="M853.979 109.074c7.373-10.206 22.118-10.206 29.491-5.103 7.374 5.103 7.374 15.308 0 25.513-5.161 7.654-18.432 15.308-29.491 20.411-11.06-5.103-24.331-12.757-29.492-20.411-7.373-10.205-7.373-20.41 0-25.513 7.373-5.103 22.119-5.103 29.492 5.103Z" style="fill:#cc2cff" transform="matrix(.9443 0 0 .90862 -17.444 .166)"/> <text id="Yellow-rgb-255-255-63--Artistic-text" x="95.08" y="103.622" style="font-family:'SimplySans-Book','Simply Sans',sans-serif;font-size:37.5px;fill:#ffff3f" transform="matrix(.94488 0 0 .9091 21.976 16.388)">Unnecessary objects and elements</text> <text id="Blue--rgb-0-255-255--Artistic-text" x="107" y="50.009" style="font-family:'SimplySans-Book','Simply Sans',sans-serif;font-size:58.333px;fill:#0ff" transform="matrix(.94488 0 0 .9091 14.173 1.818)">A plethoric source</text> <path id="Green-rgb-51-193-33--rectangle" style="fill:#33c121" d="M0 0h300v600H0z" transform="scale(.22047 .23333)"/> </g> </g>
Conclusion
Implementing these improvements in Affinity Designer would enable greater compatibility with current web practices and significant performance optimization for sites incorporating SVGs. This would represent a considerable advantage for web designers using Affinity Designer.
See also:
Iconify: https://iconly.io/tools/svg-cleaner SVGom: https://svgomg.net/ SVG Minify: https://www.svgminify.com/

I used to use Lightwave and almost moved across to Modo after LW stopped advancing. Now I know you said you were out of the game but if you still wanted something to keep your hand in or for personal projects I highly recommend Blender. It has come up in leaps and bounds the last couple of years and is currently better than Lightwave ever was. Also it has some fantastic sculpting tools that are supposedly coming very close to ZBrushes capabilities.