Matthias

I’d like to propose a new type of tab stop: A wrapping tap. FreeHand had this clever and unique feature, I used it a lot. Wrapping tabs position the left edge of the text at the tap position. Any text that does not fit into the tab space is moved down into a new line to form a column. For example description text may take up automatically as many lines as it needs. Super convenient and useful. You can see it here: https://books.google.de/books?id=EGzrJ4UPElYC&pg=PA235&lpg=PA235&dq=freehand+tab+stop+types&source=bl&ots=pptXWAnnA2&sig=zfJX4_QHb13dIg1P71OivhdIRGc&hl=de&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiOm4C18KjfAhXrp4sKHbeBCnYQ6AEwBnoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=freehand tab stop types&f=false Cheers Matthias

Yes, featuritis, I see what you mean, Patrick. Alas, the way linking is implemented in Publisher right now it does not keep the file size down. Or maybe in the meantime Serif has decided to do document linking by pointing to an external original (it was originally not clear if this was going to happen). I think every software that potentially deals with big media files like Final Cut Pro, Motion, Logic X, InDesign, Tumult Hype, FreeHand (RIP), to name a few, should at least have this option — and this applies to Designer as well. I wouldn’t regard linking to external files as an overlapping and cannibalizing feature, just as an obvious necessity for this type of tool. (And by the way: I love both, Designer and Publisher.)

Publisher files can be opened in Designer. So I guess Designer should be able to deal with Publisher’s linked images, just like Designer is able to deal with text wrapping, a feature it does not have but Publisher does. BTW, to me the Publisher linking feature is half-hearted at the moment. “Linked” documents are embedded anyway, blowing the Publisher file size up to levels that are impractical to deal with. If you need the same (huge) picture in multiple designs, say for a corporate design project, you end up with multiple identical (huge) pictures, each one embedded in its Publisher file. If you use it twice within your Publisher file it will even be embedded twice (unlike in Keynote where every external document is embedded but multiple instances of this embedded document point to the first embedded original). I have several 5 to 10 page Publisher documents here with each one gobbeling up more than 500 megabytes, just because I use some high resolution pictures due to output size. SSD space is quickly runnig out this way as I also have to keep the original files. The current single advantage of document linking is that Publisher recognizes changes made to the original document and prompts you to change the embedded copy. Designer should also allow to point to images instead of embedding them. The same situation applys here, too.

As suggested here, four years ago:

Patrick, I think Affinity/Serif should decide to have linked files not also embedded in the document. The convenience of automatic updates is one thing. The other thing is that it is much easier to handle Publisher files when they are not in the x-hundred-megabyte range. I use to keep a few iterations of a given project as different files, just in case. With even the linked files embedded Affinity documents unnecessarily gobble up huge amounts of SSD space on my Mac that I had better uses for.

Worked, thank you.

I posted this minutes after the Publisher beta was released into the wild. Probably to early to be noticed in all the frenzy. That’s why I am bumping it.

Hi MEB, thanks for this information, I wasn’t aware of this. Immediately checked in Publisher and in Designer. Line spacing works like you wrote. However, I don’t get letter spacing to work with the shortcuts you mentioned (although they are listed in my text menu). By the way: option/alt + left cursor collides with the system wide show dashboard shortcut in macOS. But even if I can get letter spacing by shortcut to work eventually: It would be still a good thing to have the additional option of changing text objects sensibly on the fly and with the mouse (or with the finger on iPad). At least it would suit my work style when I build a new design: I like to play directly with the objects I just put there, it is more playfull and it’s efficient too.

Maybe this post came a bit too early. But I think this suggestion is really low hanging fruit. That’s why I’m bumping it. Bump!

Applies to Publisher, Designer and Photo: I sometimes switch window modes. In order to keep the workplace consistent in both modes, separated and non-separated, I first have to arrange my studio palettes in each mode (and in every persona) separately. As I like to have all of those palettes available on my 27" iMac screen this means a lot of unnecessary arranging. Why not respect the interface choices a user has made in one window mode for the other mode too? Oh, while I am at it: In non-separated window mode I’d suggest an option to arrange the studio columns in a two column view on the right side (or on the left, doesn’t matter as long as both studio halves sit side by side). This way the eyeballs don’t have to constantly move from one side of the screen to the other as all those informations are to be found on one side of the screen. Greets, Matthias

Hi, it’s been a while since I posted. So let me be one of the first to suggest improvements to Publisher (although this topic applies to Designer and Photo as well): I think the handles of the Artistic Text box could be improved. Dragging the middle handles changes the overall shape of the bounding box thus distorting the letter shapes. As distorting meticuously designed letters is not the thing you usually want as a typographer I suggest a different behavior of the middle handles. Dragging the ones on the left and right should change the letter spacing, dragging the ones on top and at the bottom should change line spacing. If you actually want to distort the letter shapes you can still group the container and have fun. You might argue this different handle behaviour hurts UI consistency. Alright. Then why not use alt-drag? This way it could even be used with the Frame Text box (which would be great, too). Actually, as I am writing this I think both types of text boxes should be able to modify letter and line spacing on the fly and alt-drag would be an easily comprehensible method to implement it. Greets, Matthias

Yeah. Excitement!

+1 or both features – cmd-copying and a user definable anchor point for flip and rotate functions. Flipping/rotating in any fashion (meaning also rotating with the rotation handle on the object bounding box) should be dependend on the chosen anchor point in the transform panel. A while ago I suggested an even more accurate solution (including a mock up): Why not put two additional input fields in the transform panel where I can define the desired anchor point numerically? In case I don’t use self defined coordinates the two input fields could also show the actual coordinates of the one out of nine choseable default anchor points.

Paolo, thank you very much for your brushes. Wish I could draw and paint half as good as you …

I guess so. The square brackets don’t work with German keyboards neither. Sure, we can customize the shortcuts to make it work. But it seems to me like a hurdle that lots of non-English users won’t get over. So +1 for control+option from me too.