Barry Newman

It's not just about tidying up creative elements, it's also about arranging them. Faster than with guides and traditional cumbersome methods. But with less control, of course. Sometimes automation does it well enough.

Tidy is also a neat feature, I don't need it but I guess Publisher users would like it:

Yes, resize to fit is so simple to use and thus simply missing in Affinity:

He is wonderful, mature, thorough, and better at pre-marketing than Serif to customers who don't need a 2-minute music video with effects and kapow. Send him chocolate, Serif! He communicates to a segment that is never thought of anymore. But which is becoming increasingly bigger.

Exactly. And contrary to what many hobbyists believe, there can also be a negative return on investment in a cheap product, simply if the user interface is poor, the applications crash, the program imposes limitations, or it never gets significantly updated over time anyway. The word investment is key here. And that's probably the key to why there's not a trace of anything but insignificant amounts of professional customers at Serif. The professionals can see that it's an investment that will end badly. Both in terms of deficiencies and future prospects. Beyond everything else I've described, I find myself taken more seriously both professionally and as a customer elsewhere. Directly in interaction with the companies first and foremost, but most certainly in the form and features of the product. It's something that mature and adult individuals appreciate.

It probably ends there. On the bright side, as I mentioned, the disappointments animated me to buy other software made by companies that deliver quality and up-to-date, well-thought-out user interfaces. The high expectations for v2 ended in a bitter disappointment, which indirectly was a serious warning that Serif either can't or won't turn the product in a contemporary direction and improved form. It's as if the old architecture and UI are to be milked to the last. I also don't think I'll be putting money into a v3. Too much time has gone by for anything to be coincidental, and I don't need to waste my life waiting for miracles either.

Currently, I'm not experiencing major bugs in Designer, but from simple use of Photo and to some extent Publisher, it's evident that Serif has inevitably reached the point where the consequences of accumulated technical debt and the buildup of poor user interface decisions are becoming apparent. Serif completely missed the great opportunity with version 2 to avoid ending up in this miserable situation, but instead chose to make new and worse mistakes. However, the advantage for us customers will be that, at some point, the motivation to switch to other programs becomes much greater, as does the benefit.

Yes, for some reason I didn't include π, but then again, I wasn't writing a thesis to be judged and dissected here, so we're leading the readers into yet another AFFINITY forum sidetrack, but it was a description of how alien this mathematical approach will be for many GRAPHIC DESIGNERS. Remember: complexity breeds complexity, complexity stifles usability, the more complexity, the less usability, the more chatter, the less focus and progress.

Ah, the conundrum of trigonometry and its 180-degree notation, a topic that can indeed perplex even the most astute minds. Allow me to elucidate this matter in a manner befitting the complexity of the subject at hand. The crux of the issue lies in the fundamental disconnect between the mathematical world and the experiential world. Mathematics, in its purest form, is a language of precision, a tool for expressing the exactitudes of the universe. It is a realm where a circle is divided into 2 radians, equivalent to 360 degrees. This division is not arbitrary but is based on the properties of a circle and the number a mathematical constant that is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter. However, for the layperson, the world is not experienced in radians but in degrees. When we think of a circle, we think of it as being divided into 360 degrees, a concept ingrained in us from a young age. This is the language of navigation, of maps, of time. It is a language that is intuitive and experiential, not mathematical. The 180-degree notation of trigonometry, therefore, can be a source of confusion. It is a mathematical construct, not an experiential one. When we rotate an object, we do not think in terms of 180 degrees or radians. We think in terms of a full rotation, a full circle, which is 360 degrees. In essence, the 180-degree notation is a mathematical abstraction that does not align with our intuitive understanding of rotation. It is a language that speaks to the precision of mathematics, not the imprecision of human experience. And that, in a nutshell, is why trigonometry with 180-degree notation can be a challenging concept for the non-mathematician to grasp. It is a clash of languages, a clash of worlds. It is the eternal struggle between the exactitude of mathematics and the imprecision of human experience. And it is a reminder that, while mathematics can describe the world, it is not always the language of our lived experience.

I hope them layer states got a proper makeover in build 2256!

It may be a bit of a stretch to label it a basic tool, yet it is an infernally useful instrument, one that might reasonably be expected in drawing programs such as Affinity Designer. Hence, I posit that the program, in its current state and age, is lacking a blend tool. There are numerous scenarios wherein it automates tasks that would have taken a prohibitively long time to execute manually.

Layer states, you say? That's a serviceable idea, but I'll be jiggered if the macOS user interface doesn't look like a hasty scrawl done with a fountain pen on a kitchen roll.

Why on earth are there no hints available in the interface - status line or somewhere else. I don't think people will ever find this feature. That is just how people just software now, not like in the 90's.

Blimey! It doesn't sound like the changes Ash described about changes to how files are accessed were helpful at all. Back to square one.

@Gabe, it's pretty outrageous that Serif hasn't implemented the file compatibility warnings in the iPad editions as well. This is a true example of how such usability shortcomings have consequences for customers. Do you really expect customers to read all that mumbo-jumbo about file versions and come here for help? It's pure UNIX conditions.