GregB

Weeellllll ... some identical but relevant tools are provided in Adobe design products - Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign all have, e.g., pen, text, layers, alignment/distribution, etc.. some identical but relevant tools are provided in Office products - Word, Excel, Powerpoint all have, e.g., font, paragraph, shapes, picture, alignment/distribution, etc.. Object-oriented and modular programming should make my original suggestion dead simple for Affinity to firstly do, and then maintain. People who wish to switch apps are still able to do so, rather than force a million+ users to HAVE to do so. I still believe it is in Affinity's best interest to make it as easy as possible for people to migrate from the Adobe universe without being so at sea that they return to Adobe so they don't lose efficiency. E.g. a simple "use Adobe shortcuts" preferences option. Greg

Thanks fde101. That makes good sense and I'll try that in future. Perhaps I'm just getting too old and inflexible, but it still seems good UI practice and marketing/management sense, especially with object-oriented code, to have the same tools in each sister package (if relevant), and make them unmissable in the menus, on toolbars and in all context-sensitive lists. Greg

Thanks RNKLN. Good workaround. Hope I can remember it next time I need Text Wrap Greg

Dear All My original post here was to (hopefully): get some feedback (which happened very quickly!) from more experienced users who could advise whether the distribution feature was available, and WHERE flag the issue to Affinity for future attention/change/inclusion (I was informed that Affinity is aware of the forum) However I've been concerned that even here, amongst creatives, it is too easy to become divided as either extreme 'for or against'. It's a new world of instant opinion and public expression of like/hate with no room for shades of grey. Personally, I doff my hat to Affinity for having created 3 superb applications in such a short space of time. The software is not only functionally great but also amazingly cheap. Application development is not a trivial task, especially on this massive scale! So I implore all contributors to this topic, and the forum in general, to be constructive and supportive, e.g. simply itemise and illustrate what does not work, or could work better and more efficiently, and how it impacts your workflow be polite, and discuss as if you were speaking to someone face to face ... though by all means be sarcastic, a valuable tool in human conversation and remember that it is not nice to receive harsh criticism, especially if you are under the pump while still trying your best to do a good job The programmers at Affinity have no right of reply! I think Affinity's future is bright and it needs to focus on things that regularly cause frustration to a lot of people, and I recommend to Affinity that they start two feedback/steering groups: Experienced designers/users of the Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign (a huge target market?) New designers and new users of Affinity products (to understand and keep the new customer base) Here's my current personal journey moving from bloated, expensive, subscription Plan-only, slow-to-update, and increasingly bullying software behemoths. (Suggestion: any break needs to be 100% or else you slip back to the familiar at the first hurdle.) Jan 1, 2020 - I moved completely from Premiere Pro to Davinci Resolve for music videos (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lSvxf-EEYUT3TAcJGc74bcyaIZ3Bg9AwM) In that time Resolve has moved from version 15 to 17 (at no further cost). Resolve also does things for which Premiere requires the additional Audition and After Effects and fully uses the GPU for enhanced speeds (e.g. rendering movies 4 times that of Premiere ... and never crashing!) Jan 1, 2021 - made a clean break from Adobe design suite to Affinity April 1, 2021 - moving completely from Avid ProTools to Presonus Studio One for recording/arranging/mixing. As yet, I've found nothing better than MS's Office 365 (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) for functional depth and completeness, especially at a price-point of $99pa for 5 licenses. But it worries be that they feel obliged to keep introducing low value 'fresh' features and interface 'looks' which cause millions of people to have to waste time visually adjusting, even having to find where old things have been relocated. Anyway. Perhaps I have too much time on my hands? Greg

Thanks, Psenda. Great advice that I will employ. Still something for Affinity to address as buried too deep for new users. Thanks again . Greg

Thanks Walt -- I greatly appreciate the speed and clarity of your response. I have been able to move on with the project. The problem here is that not only do Publisher/Designer have a) the buttons on different toolbars, but b) the Distribution' option does not even appear in the context menu (right-click selected objects). Unsure whether Affinity reads these Forums, but (especially if targeting Adobe users), Illustrator has Alignment and Distribution buttons next to each other on the toolbar as part of the same functional block, and also in the same dropdown list. EVEN MICROSOFT OFFICE has them grouped together in its 'drawing' tools. Thanks again, Walt. Greg

A recent convert from Adobe, and unable to find the function, Publisher Help says 'distribution' is available via Alignment. IT IS NOT! The six alignment buttons (or menu options) simply provide for top/bottom/middle and left/right/centre. DISTRIBUTION (which is missing) would provide for EQUAL SPACING of all selected objects between the two most-outer objects. This is hugely important for technical designs and has been available in Illustrator and InDesign for ever. Greg

A new convert from Adobe to Affinity, I was well into a new design in Designer 1.9 only to discover there's no Text Wrap. And yet this is available in Publisher!! (Fortunately Publisher reads/uses Designer files). Greg