wonderings

There is a great free app called "AppCleaner". You open it, drop the app into it and it finds all the back end supporting files and drops them in the trash for you. One of my must have Mac apps. Lightweight, no adds, and free!
https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/#google_vignette
I don't work for the company or get anything from them, just one of the many happy users of it. 

You are already set on staying with V2 without knowing what will be in V3? What if there are huge improvements in V3, you are stubborn enough that you are not happy with a deal to keep yourself from buying software that could potentially be a big improvement for what you need?

You are already set on staying with V2 without knowing what will be in V3? What if there are huge improvements in V3, you are stubborn enough that you are not happy with a deal to keep yourself from buying software that could potentially be a big improvement for what you need?

This is a thread about the acquisition of Seriff by Canva, you should probably start another thread seeking out info like that in another section of the forum. 

The benefit to Canva is increased revenue. They have a business plan for Affinity in which to increase their brand recognition and marketshare. Canva, like every other company out there is in it to make money, so they obviously have some ideas on how they are going to do it. I think the easy thing is continued version updates with new features that improve life for users as well as attract new users. 

At the moment no plans to upgrade to V2, I just don't use V1 and have no plans of moving from Adobe at the moment. 
What I do with new spot colours? I use them. With unsupported fonts, which I have yet to come up one that I could not simply replace with a newer font. Also pretty rare for a file that old to come up of a reprint. 
I would not say people were not using software because they were afraid they would not be respected, at least not the good and profitable shops. Why does it matter what you use as long as the job gets done efficiently without breaking the bank. I found plenty of cheap work arounds to do what the big shops with expensive top of the line RIPS and other software would do. Pride comes before the fall, and if you are letting your image in the community come before what the quality of your work is telling people, then you will not last long. 
 

I can't see Canva offering a dumbed down offline program, the whole point of Canva is its simplicity. No installs needed, all browser based, it does not get simpler then that. Affinity will be the "pro" version and I think they will continue pressing on as normal, just maybe at a different pace. Buying the company to dumb down their software or to split them up just makes things more complicated. Imagine Canva as is, selling what they do online and now offering something for the more advanced users with offline software. 

At the moment no plans to upgrade to V2, I just don't use V1 and have no plans of moving from Adobe at the moment. 
What I do with new spot colours? I use them. With unsupported fonts, which I have yet to come up one that I could not simply replace with a newer font. Also pretty rare for a file that old to come up of a reprint. 
I would not say people were not using software because they were afraid they would not be respected, at least not the good and profitable shops. Why does it matter what you use as long as the job gets done efficiently without breaking the bank. I found plenty of cheap work arounds to do what the big shops with expensive top of the line RIPS and other software would do. Pride comes before the fall, and if you are letting your image in the community come before what the quality of your work is telling people, then you will not last long. 
 

I would not say the community is conservative, rather they are happy and content. I came up when everyone had different versions of Adobe and other software, it was a constant thing, someone would send an Indesign or Illustrator made in a newer version then what we had. And vice versa, would send out working files that were needed. There was a lot of fragmentation with Adobe, as well as the others that were much larger in those times like Quark and Corel. Now, I never even think about those things, everyone is using the same software (for the most part). life is so much easier because of this. As Affinity grows into new versions they will come across this as well. I have no upgraded to V2 of the Affinity suite, but have the full package with V1. Initially I bought them because they were cheap and I wanted to see what the competition was offering over Adobe. Now if I look at files someone uploaded on the forum when asking for help, I can't open many of them as they are in V2 and I am V1. This will grow larger as some people will be fine with what they have now so there is no real incentive to pay for an upgrade. This is not an issue with Adobe, we are all using the same software. 
 
I am not a huge fan of Canva, it is created more headaches for me with clients who think they can prepare print files properly in Canvas. Yes they could if they knew what they were doing, but that is the point, few actually know what they are doing in order to give proper files ready to go. Editing Canvas files was a real pain. Not sure if they have gotten better as it has been a number of years since I have received a file made in Canva. When clients have an inexperienced graphics person I always recommend Affinity simply for the feature set for the price point. People and companies not making their living with graphics are not going to pay a subscription fee for Adobe, but are more willing to pay a low cost once for apps like the Affinity suite. I hope and assume Canva sees value in what was created here, and with their resources will be able to take it to another level. I am not expecting they would simply turn the Affinity apps into offline Canvas apps, there would be much cheaper ways to do that. 

I would not say the community is conservative, rather they are happy and content. I came up when everyone had different versions of Adobe and other software, it was a constant thing, someone would send an Indesign or Illustrator made in a newer version then what we had. And vice versa, would send out working files that were needed. There was a lot of fragmentation with Adobe, as well as the others that were much larger in those times like Quark and Corel. Now, I never even think about those things, everyone is using the same software (for the most part). life is so much easier because of this. As Affinity grows into new versions they will come across this as well. I have no upgraded to V2 of the Affinity suite, but have the full package with V1. Initially I bought them because they were cheap and I wanted to see what the competition was offering over Adobe. Now if I look at files someone uploaded on the forum when asking for help, I can't open many of them as they are in V2 and I am V1. This will grow larger as some people will be fine with what they have now so there is no real incentive to pay for an upgrade. This is not an issue with Adobe, we are all using the same software. 
 
I am not a huge fan of Canva, it is created more headaches for me with clients who think they can prepare print files properly in Canvas. Yes they could if they knew what they were doing, but that is the point, few actually know what they are doing in order to give proper files ready to go. Editing Canvas files was a real pain. Not sure if they have gotten better as it has been a number of years since I have received a file made in Canva. When clients have an inexperienced graphics person I always recommend Affinity simply for the feature set for the price point. People and companies not making their living with graphics are not going to pay a subscription fee for Adobe, but are more willing to pay a low cost once for apps like the Affinity suite. I hope and assume Canva sees value in what was created here, and with their resources will be able to take it to another level. I am not expecting they would simply turn the Affinity apps into offline Canvas apps, there would be much cheaper ways to do that. 

I would not say the community is conservative, rather they are happy and content. I came up when everyone had different versions of Adobe and other software, it was a constant thing, someone would send an Indesign or Illustrator made in a newer version then what we had. And vice versa, would send out working files that were needed. There was a lot of fragmentation with Adobe, as well as the others that were much larger in those times like Quark and Corel. Now, I never even think about those things, everyone is using the same software (for the most part). life is so much easier because of this. As Affinity grows into new versions they will come across this as well. I have no upgraded to V2 of the Affinity suite, but have the full package with V1. Initially I bought them because they were cheap and I wanted to see what the competition was offering over Adobe. Now if I look at files someone uploaded on the forum when asking for help, I can't open many of them as they are in V2 and I am V1. This will grow larger as some people will be fine with what they have now so there is no real incentive to pay for an upgrade. This is not an issue with Adobe, we are all using the same software. 
 
I am not a huge fan of Canva, it is created more headaches for me with clients who think they can prepare print files properly in Canvas. Yes they could if they knew what they were doing, but that is the point, few actually know what they are doing in order to give proper files ready to go. Editing Canvas files was a real pain. Not sure if they have gotten better as it has been a number of years since I have received a file made in Canva. When clients have an inexperienced graphics person I always recommend Affinity simply for the feature set for the price point. People and companies not making their living with graphics are not going to pay a subscription fee for Adobe, but are more willing to pay a low cost once for apps like the Affinity suite. I hope and assume Canva sees value in what was created here, and with their resources will be able to take it to another level. I am not expecting they would simply turn the Affinity apps into offline Canvas apps, there would be much cheaper ways to do that. 

I would not say the community is conservative, rather they are happy and content. I came up when everyone had different versions of Adobe and other software, it was a constant thing, someone would send an Indesign or Illustrator made in a newer version then what we had. And vice versa, would send out working files that were needed. There was a lot of fragmentation with Adobe, as well as the others that were much larger in those times like Quark and Corel. Now, I never even think about those things, everyone is using the same software (for the most part). life is so much easier because of this. As Affinity grows into new versions they will come across this as well. I have no upgraded to V2 of the Affinity suite, but have the full package with V1. Initially I bought them because they were cheap and I wanted to see what the competition was offering over Adobe. Now if I look at files someone uploaded on the forum when asking for help, I can't open many of them as they are in V2 and I am V1. This will grow larger as some people will be fine with what they have now so there is no real incentive to pay for an upgrade. This is not an issue with Adobe, we are all using the same software. 
 
I am not a huge fan of Canva, it is created more headaches for me with clients who think they can prepare print files properly in Canvas. Yes they could if they knew what they were doing, but that is the point, few actually know what they are doing in order to give proper files ready to go. Editing Canvas files was a real pain. Not sure if they have gotten better as it has been a number of years since I have received a file made in Canva. When clients have an inexperienced graphics person I always recommend Affinity simply for the feature set for the price point. People and companies not making their living with graphics are not going to pay a subscription fee for Adobe, but are more willing to pay a low cost once for apps like the Affinity suite. I hope and assume Canva sees value in what was created here, and with their resources will be able to take it to another level. I am not expecting they would simply turn the Affinity apps into offline Canvas apps, there would be much cheaper ways to do that. 

I would not say the community is conservative, rather they are happy and content. I came up when everyone had different versions of Adobe and other software, it was a constant thing, someone would send an Indesign or Illustrator made in a newer version then what we had. And vice versa, would send out working files that were needed. There was a lot of fragmentation with Adobe, as well as the others that were much larger in those times like Quark and Corel. Now, I never even think about those things, everyone is using the same software (for the most part). life is so much easier because of this. As Affinity grows into new versions they will come across this as well. I have no upgraded to V2 of the Affinity suite, but have the full package with V1. Initially I bought them because they were cheap and I wanted to see what the competition was offering over Adobe. Now if I look at files someone uploaded on the forum when asking for help, I can't open many of them as they are in V2 and I am V1. This will grow larger as some people will be fine with what they have now so there is no real incentive to pay for an upgrade. This is not an issue with Adobe, we are all using the same software. 
 
I am not a huge fan of Canva, it is created more headaches for me with clients who think they can prepare print files properly in Canvas. Yes they could if they knew what they were doing, but that is the point, few actually know what they are doing in order to give proper files ready to go. Editing Canvas files was a real pain. Not sure if they have gotten better as it has been a number of years since I have received a file made in Canva. When clients have an inexperienced graphics person I always recommend Affinity simply for the feature set for the price point. People and companies not making their living with graphics are not going to pay a subscription fee for Adobe, but are more willing to pay a low cost once for apps like the Affinity suite. I hope and assume Canva sees value in what was created here, and with their resources will be able to take it to another level. I am not expecting they would simply turn the Affinity apps into offline Canvas apps, there would be much cheaper ways to do that. 

QR Generation integrated in with Publisher would be a nice feature. Yes you can create QR codes elsewhere, but can you create QR codes based on variable data? Not all QR codes are common in their use. I have a few clients who generate QR codes based on data, so each piece addressed to a person will have a different QR code, or for business cards when scanning the QR code it adds their contact info. This can all be done through a data merge and because Indesign has QR creation it can be done directly with the data, no manual creation of the QR code for each name. 

I don't think Adobe is worried about Affinity. Now if Adobe's user base was dropping then yes they might look at reasons like Affinity but as far as I can tell their numbers are slowly rising. From 2017 to 2020 they grew their user base 85% for the CC. They have gone from 12 million users in 2017 to 22+ million in 2020. Not everyone is hindered by the subscription fee, it really is not all that bad for pro use. For those not making a living with the apps or just small projects here and there then yes it is cost prohibitive, but this is pro software that is vital for may businesses. 

Like others, it is not something I would even look for, with Adobe or Affinity. I could be wrong, but templates are usually geared toward the simpler programs made for simpler applications. Affinity is a powerful suite of apps on level with the standard pro apps like Adobe. When I think of templates I think of sites like Canva. Easy to select a template and alter with little to no design experience. 

Like others, it is not something I would even look for, with Adobe or Affinity. I could be wrong, but templates are usually geared toward the simpler programs made for simpler applications. Affinity is a powerful suite of apps on level with the standard pro apps like Adobe. When I think of templates I think of sites like Canva. Easy to select a template and alter with little to no design experience. 

Like others, it is not something I would even look for, with Adobe or Affinity. I could be wrong, but templates are usually geared toward the simpler programs made for simpler applications. Affinity is a powerful suite of apps on level with the standard pro apps like Adobe. When I think of templates I think of sites like Canva. Easy to select a template and alter with little to no design experience. 

font just needs to be installed/activated on your computer. Other option is replacing it with a different font. 

I have never had to do this, but could you do a simple find and replace in this case? Replace the name or whatever it is with **redacted**. That way it is not there at all. I can't speak to the security of other options but there may be ways of getting around things. I know with locking down a PDF you can get by those easily on a Mac, and if the free way on a Mac does not work there are apps you can buy for less than $50 that will remove a PDF security. 

I think that is a bit of an over reaction saying "I can't even do basic graphic design tasks that involve any text...". While variable fonts are great and a nice addition, there are still hundreds of thousands of fonts to do all sorts of great and wonderful things. I like the idea of variable fonts but rarely ever use them as most font families cover all my needs.  I do agree it is something that should be added, it will be the future of fonts for sure, but I don't think there is going to be a big tidal wave and everyone stops using traditional fonts as we use them now, it is just going to take a while as new fonts are created and new standards set. 

Just saw this thread and read the original post. How would anyone expect a company to grow if they did not charge for major new releases? I can't believe anyone would even think this makes sense. There are a few outlier apps that do this, but it is not the norm. You the user can decide if the update price is worth it, there is no gun to your head, you will not be stopped from using V1, you have exactly what you paid for... actually more considering how much Affinity did to update and improve V1. Many additions I thought for sure would be V2 features. This is standard practice. Quark and Corel are not giving away free updates to their software, you pay for version updates while enjoying updates for various things through the life of that specific version. 

As others have said, those websites are the amateur way of doing things. They give you simple basic tools, drag and drop, dead simple. Publisher is not like that, it is full featured layout software. I work in print for a profession, I would never dream of using any of the sites you listed for the simple fact as they are so limited in what you can do. You find it unintuitive because you are using a full featured application, many of the tools you will not need. Not sure why you bought the software before using the demo first to see if it suits your needs. There are lots of websites for photo book creation, is there a reason you are looking for a stand alone app to set these up? Especially with no experience?

I use Indesign daily, it is my main application for work. I find it strange that if you can figure out Indesign you can't figure out Publisher. Are they different in how they do things? Yes, but the basic ideas are the same and getting around to simply make a book in spreads should not be that complicated for you. Your original post made it sound like you want drag and drop like the websites you use for photo books, this is not what Indesign and Publisher are for, simple book creation. You create everything from scratch having powerful pro tools to do it. 

As others have said, those websites are the amateur way of doing things. They give you simple basic tools, drag and drop, dead simple. Publisher is not like that, it is full featured layout software. I work in print for a profession, I would never dream of using any of the sites you listed for the simple fact as they are so limited in what you can do. You find it unintuitive because you are using a full featured application, many of the tools you will not need. Not sure why you bought the software before using the demo first to see if it suits your needs. There are lots of websites for photo book creation, is there a reason you are looking for a stand alone app to set these up? Especially with no experience?