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.

Only now seeing your magnificent post @Red Sands Wow, that's the history of many professions written in a short and concise way. About what came, those who disappeared and the many who did not know how to keep up, mentally and professionally. Let's just say, as an illustrative example, that if a well-functioning teleport is invented, not many people will be tempted to fly to distant destinations on 15+ hour flights anymore. I personally can easily draw parallels with heavy, tedious processes in Photoshop vs. in a hurry with AI assistance. Let's do some math on the business case for professionals... *does the math* Whow! WHOW! Disruption disrupts because customers choose one product over another. Permanently. No one hears the sniffles from the obsolete. It's all about not being among them. Serif, too, has some crucial choices to make and they don't have a lot of time.

It should be visible from space what @Red Sands and @Bryan Rieger are legitimately arguing for here and what slalom through the forum's oddities they are trying to avoid. A vote here for a meaningful default: preserve shape when removing a node. And a setting to change the default. It makes so much sense.

Great, thank you! Ah, I don't think we know if that's what most people want, I refuse to believe that's knowledge that's even remotely in this forum. What I miss is as I have experienced with Windows programs, where the uninstall program asks if settings should also be deleted - of course not selected by default and with proper confirmation, so everyone understands the seriousness. But you are simply given the choice and the cleanup is done properly and completely. Forum FAQ's are completely out of reach of... 98-99% of customers? I think software developers need to think about not just migrating to a new product, but ultimately away from it and shutting it down. And then software should clean up after itself. I've never dared to buy a 128GB disk for this reason alone, because it doesn't happen. Well, thanks, I'll have a look in some folders like in the good old nineteens. :)

This is not a great solution, @StefanGold is absolutely right. I have seen other programs do it the wrong way as well. Companies and developers display in some obscure way that inheritance may or may not be involved, and the actual information presented to the user is hard to understand. I would like to look at some best practices from larger companies that have done it well and where you could say the method is close to a de facto standard, if not the standard. After my morning coffee has seeped into my brain.

Finally I am deleting the Affinity trio version 1 from macOS (Ventura). I now trust v2 fully so no reason to keep them. I will remove them from the app folder and move them to the trashcan. Already deleted Photo and Publisher then stopped for a moment... What about v1 brushes and settings? They will be left somewhere and should be deleted manually? I guess the migration proces when I installed v2 copied brushes and settings to a new v2 location? If there are data Serif should also make a How-To. I really would like to have uninstallers or the like doing this for the many that don't know how to do this. Where and what should be removed - if anything?

As others have mentioned, it's surreal that the oddly microscopic interface wasn't coded into an up-to-date scalable one in v2. I see ominous signs that Affinity is built on an outdated static architecture that we all have to suffer from. But that won't work in the long run. I'm buying a new monitor this year, and if I can't see Affinity on the screen, I can see other programs - and then it's goodbye. I can only hope that Serif is quietly working on a new architecture, but it will probably be for v3, and you don't wait that long when you can't see the interface in 4K. But back to the topic. I completely agree with @Bitarts & @ShawnG

I sense that you are not used to a serious professional, civil, intellectual or academic environment with professional discussions and even passionate discussions. Above some of us have seriously exchanged opinions and experiences in this thread about whether Serif should use input from users who have early experiences. If that's too much for you and you demand positive feedback from positive users, then I can assure you that you would never have been hired where I have worked through the years. I sense that you are not used to a serious professional, civil, intellectual or academic environment with professional discussions and even passionate discussions, because I cannot use such statements. System-loyal, obsessive positive employees are not in demand. Only in a few countries we know all too well. And if you think that posting drawings of laughing cartoon faces all over the place is serious and mature participation in a democratic debate, then you've fully confirmed my theory. Complete nonsense. This is a BETA group and thread, the whole purpose of the BETA process is that the end product when released is as stable and complete as possible, and that Serif should not fix undiscovered serious and semi-serious bugs TOO LATE - after release 2.2.0. Serif develops software that will hit the market around the same time as Apple's update. Any work to ensure the two products work smoothly and flawlessly together BEFORE v2.2.0 is released is of the utmost importance. Thus, input is important. You have no idea about product development, quality, customer service and responsibility for customers if you think end users should be given the task of finding serious bugs in release 2.2.0 that Serif then subsequently fixes and "gets everything under control". This doesn't take days. It takes weeks, sometimes months. In all that time, some customers are screwed. I simply don't see what your contribution is to making Affinity a better product.

Semi-helpful I think I read - knowing exactly what happened in what order up to the crash is more helpful, often. Few use the betas, so I would consider early input from these fewer customers very, very valuable. And the usual unfortunately necessary reminder: Well @Westerwälder now you've played until late with putting laughing emojis on my and others posts, that's enough playing for today, time for bed.

SPC has a valid point. At this point in time it's a bad sign if the programs have major issues with the beta. Then Serif is behind, and there is a risk that many other minor issues will go undetected and end up in the release of 2.2. Bugs simply need to be detected and assessed as early as possible, no matter what. So thanks for the report, @SPC

I couldn't agree more, @Red Sands (And finally, a well-argued knowledge-based neutral input from someone with real knowledge of business and society, free from fear, emotions and assumptions). That's the kind of thing I miss in here. Thank you for this input!! Best Barry