dominik

I came across the following during reading this thread and doing some tests: My goal was to understand how layers in AD work when placed outside and across artboards. I created a very basic AD document with three empty artboards. Above and around all three of them one layer (rectangle) with three artistic text objects above each artboard (but not inside of the artboard). See attached AD file. I then opened this document in APub and converted the artboards to spreads when asked for it. The artboards translate into spreads as expected. The overlaying rectangle and the three text objects get lost. There is no hint that some of the document's content is going to be lost during this operation. I consider this not desireable. I wonder if this is by design or a bug? Or perhaps some unfinished feature? Method: First open the attached file in AD to see it's structure Then select 'Edit in Publisher...' Confirm 'Do you wish to convert artboards to spreads?' Notice: the dotted rectangle and the three artistic texts are lost d. artboard-to-publisher-test.afdesign

You make some good points ... especially the one with the pig 😉 Of course modiefier keys are very practical and effecient ... for those who know them. And any person doing serious work should learn them sooner or later. But OTOH I believe a user interface should help the less experienced or new users to see that are more ore different options available. One nice solution that comes to mind is the help overlay in the iPad versions of Affinity if one presses the '?'. The '?' is perhaps a universal symbol/sign that there is some help available and thus indicates to go there if there is a question. The effect is stunning because it reveals help all over the place. Something like this could be introduced in the desktop apps as well. Press one icon and see help bubbles everywhere. The pro users won't get disturbed at all. The curious beginner will get used to this easily. Just a thought. d.

My thinking is to give the user a visual clue that there is something to be changed by moving the item on screen. Holding down some modifier keys without any hint what they might achive seems to me kryptic. In this regard Affinity's help hints at the bottom is a good idea. d.

Actually it is different by its outset. But this has proven to be not different enough 😉 After seeing the latest introduction of the new 'New File' dialogue (on Windows) I am confident they can come up with something better. d.

Are you asking for an 'APub Essential' version? 😉 It is very hard to create an interface that serves new users and familiar with the software users (I'm not using the word 'professional') the same way. Hiding this handle seems to me less optimal. I agree, some indication of its function would be of help. And a read out of the scaling, too. d.

While this is not as comfortable as you describe it, you can download Google fonts to your computer and install (or temporarily install if you have a font manager). This let's you open the document as expected. Go and search here: https://fonts.google.com/ d.

I just downloaded the latest beta and can confirm that this seems to be fixed. Excellent! d.

Thanks for fixing this in the latest beta within less than two weeks! d.

I then opened my AD document with 6 artboards and one layer outside of all artboards in APub. Artboards converted in spreads. APub then omits the layer and objects outside the artboards. If the artboards are not converted to spreads the layer and it's objects remain. d.

Objects on such a layer that is not inside of any artboard are exported with the artboard's content. I just did a quick test, though. d.

Hi @carl123, thanks for pointing to the link to 'Pinning' in APub. I did think of that but was unsure. The 'no big fanfare' may be the reason that I missed the introduction of this very handy feature. I just opened my test document in APub and can see that the objects on the text path seem to be pinned ones. There seems to be a distinction between pinning properties and glyph properties. d.

Serif many times have made clear that they do not publish a timeline for the implementation of features (for several reasons). If it's not there, it's not there. If you need this feature now you have to use some different software. I am very sure they are aware of the lack of footnotes and endnotes and this will come eventually. We just do not know. I hope this helps you planning your upcoming projects 🙂 d.

Thanks, @JET_Affinity, for putting the information together. While I do understand the concept of inline graphics I'm really just surprised that it is possible in AD. I cannot remember see it mentioned somewhere (but I certainly do not know all the places in the forum and help files 😉). I also understand that this is not a replacement to distribute objects along a path. I'm familiar with how Xara does it (= blending between objects). There is also control over the distribution distance between the objects. This may be mimicked with different tracking settings but this is at least cumbersome. Anyway, this can be of great use in some situations. d.

This surprises me a little bit because I was not aware that it is possible to treat any vector object as a glyph. I just tried it and it seems to work. When was this introduced? d.

I agree, there is room for improvement in regard to unit handling. I suspect there is a certain logic to it as it is now. d.

In webdesign I often work in AD and my documents are set to pixels. No offence, just another perspective. I doubt there is such a general rule. d.

Thanks for the screenshots. I tried again and can confirm that this works the same on Windows with the ALT-key as a modifier. I do not know what I did wrong in my first test. Most likely I pressed the wrong modifier key I am not sure if there is more to it. d.

The help text at the bottom of the screen says 'Drag + ALT to begin lasso selection'. But interestingly this does not work for me. It always marquee selects. Are we about to find a bug? What kind of difference do you observe when you use the modifier key? d.

I want to add a link to another (recent) thread that provides a (for some working) solution to autotrace: Even though I would like to see this feature eventually being part of AD (and hopefully in a superior way) this is one of the things I for now can easily get done with other solutions. So, I do not miss it at all (in AD). d.

Hello @Manege, no, I haven't seen any news on this. There was recently added the ability to merge APub files. This is not really a book feature because the merged files are by no means linked to their original files. But this could be used to keep chapters in seperate files and merge them together in one final step. (I have in mind to test this to see how page numbers and TOC work with this concept but haven't had the time so far). d.

Great that some things can be solved easily Cheers, d.

Hi @Arlen Keshabyan, well, I am not a developer but just another user. If I understand your request correctly you can do this. Click on a node's handle and additionally press the ALT-key (on Windows). This will turn a smooth node into a corner. Is this what you are looking for? d.

On Windows I don't have to use a modifier key. I just drag the mouse and that way nodes get selected. d.

Hello @Notes, you can accomplish this already by using symbols. This is e.g. explained in this video: Cheers, d.

Yes, something like this I had in mind. The good thing is it can grow over time. d.