Skykomish

Are there any Affinity in-person user groups in the Seattle area? I'm learning Affinity Publisher and also have Photo and Designer though have used them very little at this point. I am an amateur (very much so) designer and create simple publications for a super-small audience. I'm hoping there are enough of me out there who would love to meet in person to talk Publisher, but without getting too much over my head with people who would prefer to meet with others whose skills and experience match their own. I've attached the first project I created in Publisher. It's set to single-page view, though the actual publication has facing pages. The file may mistakenly open in Photo, so please change the Persona to Publisher. Thank you. UTAH_2021_BLEED.afpub

I just opened a new file in my trial version of Publisher. At the left of the screen is a vertical row of page thumbnails. On the right is a panel with the headings Color, Swatches and Stroke. Is there any way to resize or hide these panels? I use a 24-inch monitor and unless the side panels can be resized or hidden I don't have room on the screen to work on the book layout itself. Is it actually necessary to use a larger monitor? Thanks. Don