Ana-Irina

Big thanks to everybody to spent the time answering my rather vague question, especially @bbrother!
On the other hand, I always find it strange when a simple, not-in-least ill-intended question unleashes a storm of unnecessary defensiveness. We all use Affinity here and I assume we all want it to see it grow and become a good, solid platform. But that cannot be accomplished if simple questions and constructive criticism are viewed as attacks. Maybe we could all tone down the irritability and focus on giving feedback and maybe even proposing solutions.
That being said, here are some conclusions:
The stability of good software should not be machine-dependent. The computer should only influence speed, not overall software reliability. So, if V1.10 doesn't yield corrupt files, one would expect V2 do the same under same circumstances. Any other outcome is a software-related issue. Bad code runs badly on any machine. Didn't you notice that even though we keep upgrading our computers, the apps themselves don't run any better? This is just a general observation. Please don't take it to heart. Affinity apps have a great concept behind them. The parametric mode of editing shapes, the ability to visualise your work at full resolution, the ability to focus purely on design, the unitary feel of the 3 apps -- are all amazing. The parametric editing could be a very good base for a future animation app. I will continue use Affinity V1 for most of my projects.  I will continue to test every new big release of V2 until my license stops being eligible for new updates. We're at 2.4. Fingers crossed for 2.9! I will continue to use Adobe apps whenever something serious is at stake. Also, having to go back to InDesign from time to time is also good brain training. It makes you apreciate the simple things in life😂. That's it. I wish everybody great inspiration in their design work!🤗

Big thanks to everybody to spent the time answering my rather vague question, especially @bbrother!
On the other hand, I always find it strange when a simple, not-in-least ill-intended question unleashes a storm of unnecessary defensiveness. We all use Affinity here and I assume we all want it to see it grow and become a good, solid platform. But that cannot be accomplished if simple questions and constructive criticism are viewed as attacks. Maybe we could all tone down the irritability and focus on giving feedback and maybe even proposing solutions.
That being said, here are some conclusions:
The stability of good software should not be machine-dependent. The computer should only influence speed, not overall software reliability. So, if V1.10 doesn't yield corrupt files, one would expect V2 do the same under same circumstances. Any other outcome is a software-related issue. Bad code runs badly on any machine. Didn't you notice that even though we keep upgrading our computers, the apps themselves don't run any better? This is just a general observation. Please don't take it to heart. Affinity apps have a great concept behind them. The parametric mode of editing shapes, the ability to visualise your work at full resolution, the ability to focus purely on design, the unitary feel of the 3 apps -- are all amazing. The parametric editing could be a very good base for a future animation app. I will continue use Affinity V1 for most of my projects.  I will continue to test every new big release of V2 until my license stops being eligible for new updates. We're at 2.4. Fingers crossed for 2.9! I will continue to use Adobe apps whenever something serious is at stake. Also, having to go back to InDesign from time to time is also good brain training. It makes you apreciate the simple things in life😂. That's it. I wish everybody great inspiration in their design work!🤗

Big thanks to everybody to spent the time answering my rather vague question, especially @bbrother!
On the other hand, I always find it strange when a simple, not-in-least ill-intended question unleashes a storm of unnecessary defensiveness. We all use Affinity here and I assume we all want it to see it grow and become a good, solid platform. But that cannot be accomplished if simple questions and constructive criticism are viewed as attacks. Maybe we could all tone down the irritability and focus on giving feedback and maybe even proposing solutions.
That being said, here are some conclusions:
The stability of good software should not be machine-dependent. The computer should only influence speed, not overall software reliability. So, if V1.10 doesn't yield corrupt files, one would expect V2 do the same under same circumstances. Any other outcome is a software-related issue. Bad code runs badly on any machine. Didn't you notice that even though we keep upgrading our computers, the apps themselves don't run any better? This is just a general observation. Please don't take it to heart. Affinity apps have a great concept behind them. The parametric mode of editing shapes, the ability to visualise your work at full resolution, the ability to focus purely on design, the unitary feel of the 3 apps -- are all amazing. The parametric editing could be a very good base for a future animation app. I will continue use Affinity V1 for most of my projects.  I will continue to test every new big release of V2 until my license stops being eligible for new updates. We're at 2.4. Fingers crossed for 2.9! I will continue to use Adobe apps whenever something serious is at stake. Also, having to go back to InDesign from time to time is also good brain training. It makes you apreciate the simple things in life😂. That's it. I wish everybody great inspiration in their design work!🤗

Big thanks to everybody to spent the time answering my rather vague question, especially @bbrother!
On the other hand, I always find it strange when a simple, not-in-least ill-intended question unleashes a storm of unnecessary defensiveness. We all use Affinity here and I assume we all want it to see it grow and become a good, solid platform. But that cannot be accomplished if simple questions and constructive criticism are viewed as attacks. Maybe we could all tone down the irritability and focus on giving feedback and maybe even proposing solutions.
That being said, here are some conclusions:
The stability of good software should not be machine-dependent. The computer should only influence speed, not overall software reliability. So, if V1.10 doesn't yield corrupt files, one would expect V2 do the same under same circumstances. Any other outcome is a software-related issue. Bad code runs badly on any machine. Didn't you notice that even though we keep upgrading our computers, the apps themselves don't run any better? This is just a general observation. Please don't take it to heart. Affinity apps have a great concept behind them. The parametric mode of editing shapes, the ability to visualise your work at full resolution, the ability to focus purely on design, the unitary feel of the 3 apps -- are all amazing. The parametric editing could be a very good base for a future animation app. I will continue use Affinity V1 for most of my projects.  I will continue to test every new big release of V2 until my license stops being eligible for new updates. We're at 2.4. Fingers crossed for 2.9! I will continue to use Adobe apps whenever something serious is at stake. Also, having to go back to InDesign from time to time is also good brain training. It makes you apreciate the simple things in life😂. That's it. I wish everybody great inspiration in their design work!🤗

Big thanks to everybody to spent the time answering my rather vague question, especially @bbrother!
On the other hand, I always find it strange when a simple, not-in-least ill-intended question unleashes a storm of unnecessary defensiveness. We all use Affinity here and I assume we all want it to see it grow and become a good, solid platform. But that cannot be accomplished if simple questions and constructive criticism are viewed as attacks. Maybe we could all tone down the irritability and focus on giving feedback and maybe even proposing solutions.
That being said, here are some conclusions:
The stability of good software should not be machine-dependent. The computer should only influence speed, not overall software reliability. So, if V1.10 doesn't yield corrupt files, one would expect V2 do the same under same circumstances. Any other outcome is a software-related issue. Bad code runs badly on any machine. Didn't you notice that even though we keep upgrading our computers, the apps themselves don't run any better? This is just a general observation. Please don't take it to heart. Affinity apps have a great concept behind them. The parametric mode of editing shapes, the ability to visualise your work at full resolution, the ability to focus purely on design, the unitary feel of the 3 apps -- are all amazing. The parametric editing could be a very good base for a future animation app. I will continue use Affinity V1 for most of my projects.  I will continue to test every new big release of V2 until my license stops being eligible for new updates. We're at 2.4. Fingers crossed for 2.9! I will continue to use Adobe apps whenever something serious is at stake. Also, having to go back to InDesign from time to time is also good brain training. It makes you apreciate the simple things in life😂. That's it. I wish everybody great inspiration in their design work!🤗

The fact that you have been a forum user longer than someone else, and you have a lot more posts on your account than  someone else does not mean that you have more experience or competence to advise.
 
For some time now I have noticed that users with extensive experience on a forum with many threads on their accounts clutter other people's threads by writing essays unrelated to the main topic. This is very irritating and provokes unnecessary exchanges with these users, which you witnessed @Dan C.
For my part, I can only apologize you Dan as a moderator and you @Ana-Irina for engaging in such a discussion in a thread that wasn't mine.
I will do my best to not making that mistake again.
But @Dan C please pay attention to similar situations as a moderator and intervene accordingly.
 
 @thomaso ,
What is incomprehensible for you in these words at the beginning of Ana-Irinas' OP?
In your signature that it's displayed below the post you are clearly stated that you're "Affinity V1 only". 
If I interpret it correctly, you don't own V2, so yyou don't have any signifant experience with it.
So why the heck are you even commenting on this post.
 

Personally, I would say ‘no’, although I do now regularly use v2 (primarily Designer)—albeit in a very limited way.
That said, a large number of users happily use v2 everyday without complaint so I'd say it all comes down to personal experience and specific needs.
I think Serif made a lot of mistakes with v2 (the UI and UX being the BIG ones), and their “business as usual attitude” in light of all of the problems and complaints doesn't instil a great deal of confidence. I really wish that Serif would admit to the problems with v2, and provide a commitment to resolving them before adding new features. There's so much potential in the Affinity Suite, but the constant issues and workarounds really impact the user overall user experience.
For me Serif's Affinity Suite v2 is like getting a great deal on a {insert your favourite sports car here} only to realize that the steering wheel is in the backseat, the accelerator is in the boot, and the brake is in the glovebox. It might look great, and go really fast, but you're never really sure when you're going to hit that next tree, or embankment.
If v1 works for you I'd probably stick with that for now, while beginning to work with v2 and see if it meets your needs. Be very careful not to open and save your v1 docs in v2 as it's not possible to back-save to v1 from v2. Make v2 copies of your projects, and keep them separate from your v1 copies.

I can only speak for myself so:
APub still has many bugs It's still slow I encountered a few crashes, but no more than usual, and luckily it didn't have a major impact on the documents I was working on. I do a lot of complex manuals with 100+ pages. I always make backups and often save my work to be on the safe side.
 
Everyone's workflow and setup is different so only you can truly judge this while working in A Pub.

This still seems to be a problem and maybe it will get fixed with the next updates. As far as I can tell, the problem seems to be related to anchors, and not to hyperlinks. The workaround I found was to assign the hyperlink to a certain page, and not an anchor that I created manually. If I create an anchor within the document and try to link to it, Publisher fails to export to PDF, on both Mac and Win.
I really hope this will be solved at some point. Publisher is such a wonderful and intuitive tool, it's a shame to not have all the features working as intended.

The new UI has an overall Adobe 2006 CC  feel to it, which is bad.  I moved away completely from InDesign and Illustrator because of the nasty, old looking interface and because I always had to re-learn (in Indesign especially) where features were hidden within the UI. I remember that exporting files from Indesign used to give me anxiety,  which is why I loved the simplicity of the "New..." and "Export..." panels in Affinity. There WERE intuitive and I always got what I wanted from them, quickly. Yesterday, unfortunately, after installing V2 (which I bought directly, no worries on my mind) I found myself losing time trying figure out how to switch a new file from landscape to portrait, or how to un-click the "Facing" option. But the most disturbing was the "Export" panel. I LOVED the old one. All the formats on the top, easy to see, one click, very satisfying. Now...we have to chose the formats from a dropdown list that definitely has a dated Adobe vibe, with a preview that doesn't always work and which is definitely not needed. It's not a good look and it is frustrating, because it feels to me that you are trying to appease the people who cannot leave Adobe behind. Affinity is a different animal, it is beautiful, light, smart. It is everything Adobe isn't, in a very good way. Don't try to be Adobe.
Also, the "Layer effects" panel looks weird now (with Photoshop vibes) and those arrows on the bottom don't do anything (or do they?). Why did you change the order of the effects anyway? Who uses "Bevel and emboss" that frequently?
I am hopeful that we will see some improvements in the next updates. 

it has grown because it is a killer software (freehand, fireworks). Affinity V1, you don't have to think to start using it. I've used Photoshop and Illustrator for 15 years and I still don't like their interface. People move to affinity because it's so easy to use and hooked. If affinity starts to look like adobe, I prefer adobe because it has better tools. I use affinity because I feel very comfortable and that's important. That being said I don't like V2.

Same. Today I installed V2 again after I deleted it two months ago, because I thought maybe Serif took into consideration some of our objections and took time to implement some needed changes. They didn't. You still have to scroll through one million dropdowns, still have to click through innumerable tabs, still can't tell whether proportions are locked or not, the New... and Export... panels are still bad and the overall look of the app still feels from 2000. I prefer Adobe to V2, it's that bad. I mean like...why?😭 😭😭 
Hopefully, Serif will still support V1, because I simply can't find the motivation to switch to V2. It's too cumbersome and disrupting to my workflow. So, so many clicks...😭

Same. Today I installed V2 again after I deleted it two months ago, because I thought maybe Serif took into consideration some of our objections and took time to implement some needed changes. They didn't. You still have to scroll through one million dropdowns, still have to click through innumerable tabs, still can't tell whether proportions are locked or not, the New... and Export... panels are still bad and the overall look of the app still feels from 2000. I prefer Adobe to V2, it's that bad. I mean like...why?😭 😭😭 
Hopefully, Serif will still support V1, because I simply can't find the motivation to switch to V2. It's too cumbersome and disrupting to my workflow. So, so many clicks...😭

Same. Today I installed V2 again after I deleted it two months ago, because I thought maybe Serif took into consideration some of our objections and took time to implement some needed changes. They didn't. You still have to scroll through one million dropdowns, still have to click through innumerable tabs, still can't tell whether proportions are locked or not, the New... and Export... panels are still bad and the overall look of the app still feels from 2000. I prefer Adobe to V2, it's that bad. I mean like...why?😭 😭😭 
Hopefully, Serif will still support V1, because I simply can't find the motivation to switch to V2. It's too cumbersome and disrupting to my workflow. So, so many clicks...😭

Same here.
I bought the whole V2 package basically on the first day. Used it about five times. Even upgraded my  Mac from Mojave to Monterey which I don't like. (Lost two other good programs due to that)
And I've been working on V1 since then anyway. 
Just cannot get over the UI changes, especially in the light interface.
 
Well, we'll see what happens next. 😜 

I've decided to stop using V2 until further updates. V2 is overall slower and clunkier. It doesn't have the same smoothness that I am used to and it reminds me of Indesign and Illustrator. When I quit Illustrator a few years back, one of the main reasons was my hand pain. Affinity brought a clear relief - better selection, better snapping, smarter interface that requires less hand travel and less clicks. Also, the interface had better contrast and my eyes didn't have to move as much. For someone with poor eyesight (even with glasses, my eyes get tired easily), Affinity was truly of great help. I could work for longer hours and with less eye strain.
These are UI design aspects that are very important. I am not sure how much the Serif design team is aware of how good V1 was from the perspective of direct human interaction with the tool, because they seem to have foregone most of the principles which made it so great. I am not a picky user, I routinely switch between fundamentally different programs and I adapt easily. So, to add to the initial post, some of my issues are as following:
Export... and New... are a significant downgrade from V1. Less intuitive, more clicks. Spread Setup... button was great, it didn't need to go. Now I need to right click on the spread, then click.  The Document Setup... in Publisher 2 added a bunch of new radio buttons and selections...which means more clicks, more time. The new Lock icon is very difficult to see and interpret. I usually get it wrong, so more clicks for me. I never get it wrong in V1. The little icons in front of the layer name have no use and they crowd the interface, making the panel harder on the eyes. The new stroke options icons (inside, outside etc.) are harder on the eyes. Typing in Publisher 2 has a slight lag, which both annoying, and tiring for the eyes. Maybe I am wrong, and the new changes are actually great. Someone on this forum said that the new design follows some new trend in UI design. To me, that's irrelevant. Good design is not judged be its novelty. New is not always better. 

The file type selection is very easy to miss. The v1 design, while large, was simple to use when switching export files types. 

I'd really like to see the methodology and the full results of your scientific survey.

I've decided to stop using V2 until further updates. V2 is overall slower and clunkier. It doesn't have the same smoothness that I am used to and it reminds me of Indesign and Illustrator. When I quit Illustrator a few years back, one of the main reasons was my hand pain. Affinity brought a clear relief - better selection, better snapping, smarter interface that requires less hand travel and less clicks. Also, the interface had better contrast and my eyes didn't have to move as much. For someone with poor eyesight (even with glasses, my eyes get tired easily), Affinity was truly of great help. I could work for longer hours and with less eye strain.
These are UI design aspects that are very important. I am not sure how much the Serif design team is aware of how good V1 was from the perspective of direct human interaction with the tool, because they seem to have foregone most of the principles which made it so great. I am not a picky user, I routinely switch between fundamentally different programs and I adapt easily. So, to add to the initial post, some of my issues are as following:
Export... and New... are a significant downgrade from V1. Less intuitive, more clicks. Spread Setup... button was great, it didn't need to go. Now I need to right click on the spread, then click.  The Document Setup... in Publisher 2 added a bunch of new radio buttons and selections...which means more clicks, more time. The new Lock icon is very difficult to see and interpret. I usually get it wrong, so more clicks for me. I never get it wrong in V1. The little icons in front of the layer name have no use and they crowd the interface, making the panel harder on the eyes. The new stroke options icons (inside, outside etc.) are harder on the eyes. Typing in Publisher 2 has a slight lag, which both annoying, and tiring for the eyes. Maybe I am wrong, and the new changes are actually great. Someone on this forum said that the new design follows some new trend in UI design. To me, that's irrelevant. Good design is not judged be its novelty. New is not always better. 

I will gladly support Affinity and pay for their products, because I believe their software is worthwhile and it has saved me a lot of time and frustration. I don't expect to get infinite updates. Affinity doesn't rely on a constant cash influx like Adobe does, so if we use this software and want it to get better, we need to show our support by paying for it. Just like we get paid for design work created using this software.

I've decided to stop using V2 until further updates. V2 is overall slower and clunkier. It doesn't have the same smoothness that I am used to and it reminds me of Indesign and Illustrator. When I quit Illustrator a few years back, one of the main reasons was my hand pain. Affinity brought a clear relief - better selection, better snapping, smarter interface that requires less hand travel and less clicks. Also, the interface had better contrast and my eyes didn't have to move as much. For someone with poor eyesight (even with glasses, my eyes get tired easily), Affinity was truly of great help. I could work for longer hours and with less eye strain.
These are UI design aspects that are very important. I am not sure how much the Serif design team is aware of how good V1 was from the perspective of direct human interaction with the tool, because they seem to have foregone most of the principles which made it so great. I am not a picky user, I routinely switch between fundamentally different programs and I adapt easily. So, to add to the initial post, some of my issues are as following:
Export... and New... are a significant downgrade from V1. Less intuitive, more clicks. Spread Setup... button was great, it didn't need to go. Now I need to right click on the spread, then click.  The Document Setup... in Publisher 2 added a bunch of new radio buttons and selections...which means more clicks, more time. The new Lock icon is very difficult to see and interpret. I usually get it wrong, so more clicks for me. I never get it wrong in V1. The little icons in front of the layer name have no use and they crowd the interface, making the panel harder on the eyes. The new stroke options icons (inside, outside etc.) are harder on the eyes. Typing in Publisher 2 has a slight lag, which both annoying, and tiring for the eyes. Maybe I am wrong, and the new changes are actually great. Someone on this forum said that the new design follows some new trend in UI design. To me, that's irrelevant. Good design is not judged be its novelty. New is not always better. 

Hi @Ana-Irina, everyone,
I'm sorry you are having issues with some of the changes we made to the app. Regarding the interface contrast, if you go to the app Preferences, User Interface section you will find a couple new options to fine tune the contrast: sliders for Text Contrast and UI Brightness. If you adjust these two you can mimic exactly the app's overall contrast in the old V1.
The New and Export dialogs had their layout changed but they don't differ that much from V1. The New dialog may look more heavy visually - mostly due to the way the doc presets are presented now (in a list of text presets rather than list of thumbnails as in V1) - but you can still select a preset and click Create to create a new document (two clicks as in V1). You can also favorite them to make them accessible from a single place.
The export dialog looks a bit more complex because we now display both the File Settings and Advanced settings simultaneously (if you expand both sections), whereas in V1 you had to click the More button to open an additional dialog with the rest of the options (the ones that are now in the Advanced section).

You can remove the little icons in front of the layers if you want: click the Layers panel menu icon on the top right and untick Show Object Type.

Hope this helps a bit. We are aware some things are still not right or broken and may need some fine tuning/fixing. The upcoming patches should sort out the most critical ones but the development has not stagnated just because we released V2. It actually just got started.
Thank you for your feedback.

I agree but you can turn them off in the layer hamburger menu. Turn off object type. 

They could make the icons on the top as a carousel, so that you can scroll through the icons. They could even make the list customisable, so you could choose your most used formats and arrange them according to your needs.

Yes and the shape builder (which is conceptually a great tool) seems to be buggy. Crashed repeatedly when making shapes. No crash reporting after restart.
And they don't seem to care about any feature request, even the essential ones. Why is V2 still lacking some fundamental gears (say, the pressure tool)?
I would say V1 is far from maturity, but I don't see a sign of polishing except the fancy icons in V2. Isn't V1 to V2 supposed to be a huge feature update plus many bugs and flaws fixed, after all these years?
Me, another sad buyer of the universal license, not considering a refund.