MikeW

Yes, both examples do exist, even in the same dictionary. Which makes nitpicking about whether to use a hyphen or not is the very definition of nitpicking.

Geez, more nitpicking. Can't you just give it a rest?

Using APub 2.4x, Win 10. Did the whole pdf (attached), but here's a screen shot of page 74. PlaytestDoc_v0.1.pdf

Not natively that I am aware of. However, InDesign has two options, depending upon one's needs. With scripting (there is at least one example script via the web to be found) one can handle variable formatting. There is also a great plug-in from Em Software called InData (I use a version for QXP that Em Software no longer updates). That plug-in/XTension has handled conditional text, conditional formatting, etc., quite nicely for me over many years.

Any pdf version at and above 1.4 generated by ID--or about anything else--is going to retain transparency. So if the transparency is the issue...that ain't gonna help. There is nothing wrong about that pdf. I cannot get APub to fail displaying that pdf using Windows APub 2.4x

Don't be sorry. A couple of us understood the terms used just fine. As well, your screen shot is worth a thousand words. You haven't seen the worst of the nitpicking either.

Well, it only works in a limited way. The code assignments are wonky. So still a failure. I can edit it properly, but cannot transfer it to anything else for editing. Sorry.

I'm uncertain there's anything one can do with that pdf as regards opening for editing in APub. That is the single worst Adobe Illustrator pdf I have ever seen. There are no/few code points for the characters. Affinity applications cannot assign proper characters to represent what one sees onscreen. I can make a proper pdf if you want it or need it.

And I turn off page thumbnails in anything/everything that allows it...Don't need/want them. But, choice is a good thing. And because of that, I believe every layout application should off that choice. btw, there is a page thumbnail view in QXP. Not the same as having it in the page palette, though. But a quick Shift+F6 gets one this: However, navigating to a chosen page is still a two-step process. Kinda clunky if one intends to use it for navigation purposes. There is also the bottom page row available...but also without thumbnails, but I do use it to quickly jump to a new page at times. I guess my views as regards how applications look comes from my years owning/operating a design firm / service bureau wherein we maintained licenses for just about everything and used them all to meet client demands and compatibility. I have always had my own application preferences and when it didn't matter, those were our weapons of choice. While I haven't seen a comparison from Serif themselves to alternatives, one could bet it too would be biased. I mean, reading their marketing stuff about publisher has several misleading statements.

No worries! And no need to edit the post. Most all of your points are valid...at least to you and others. All I care about is efficiently getting work done. What the interface looks like is pretty irrelevant to me. But hey, you want a real laugh about another application's comparison to APub, look up Viva Designer's comparison. Someone in their marketing department "tried" real hard. ;^) Even so, I also use Viva Designer too.

Gee, is anyone surprised about your "assessment"? No matter what you think, I can still make my money far faster in QXP than APub. Let me spin a tale. It's about a very capable image editing application that is far greater than just an image editing application. Its interface was like something from the 1990s until less than a decade ago. The brothers who are the programmers had to be carried, kicking and screaming, to update its looks. Some would say it still looks very 1990s with a fresh application of lipstick. Compared to the "looks" of say Affinity Photo, it's still a very dated looking application--but one that can do more and do it better than APhoto. Who in their right mind would use such an application? Who in their right mind would defend such an application? Who in their right mind would suggest its use even in these forums?

Why, yes it is. A serious break from reality. Your last paragraph, though, really only applies to Apple's incessant OS upgrades that break many applications, not just QXP. Under Windows, I have versions 9 through 2023 installed and running just fine.

The .eps file created above using those settings does embed an .ai file within it, but the 8-bit color preview setting does, in fact, embed an 8-bit .tiff file as well. So there are, using those setting, in fact 3 types of formats contained in a single file. The below capture from FE is a thumbnail for a CorelDraw created .eps that includes an 8-bit tiff preview image. No .cdr in the file (though the .cdr is also in that screen capture). It would be good if the Affinity applications did include options for preview images for use outside the Affinity application eco system.

An EPS file with a preview image in Win 10 using File Exploder... There are, at least for Windows, eps file preview extensions. The preview images are just that, bitmap images separate from the vector art. Opening that eps file in an application that can read the vector data will open it else the preview image (typically low-res) is what is displayed. Typically, applications that can embed a preview image has settings as to the color depth (how many bits) are written. The above is a low-res preview image. Edit to add a thumbnail image...which I generally don't have turned on...

At first blush, it looks like it works out. I don't know whether in all circumstances/UPMs and non-GF font strategies it will, though. With my font, it's close and perhaps would be "correct" with zero line gap. At this stage in development, changing how font metrics are handled could be a nightmare for Serif as regards opening legacy documents. Seems that a switch would need added telling the text engine to use the current metrics math on previous documents where the switch is not present. As Serif moves to a more "world-ready" text engine, a change needs made. I cannot imagine bringing in a Vietnamese Word document and seeing the clashing of stacked diacritics under the current method. Not an insurmountable problem--just increase the line spacing until it looks correct and update the style(s). But, Serif should have thought through all this at the beginning and not "more or less" copied how PagePlus handled line spacing. PP adds a hair more spacing than APub, but not much more.