Jens Krebs

Sneaky, sneaky … I doubt that "using a mouse" qualifies you for iPad testing, but it's worth a try. ;-)

The increased interest in ports might have to do with some companies leaving Windows XP behind and in this process updating their other software as well … unfortunately my last job in Ventura was almost eight years ago; it was a catalogue, automatically generated from an Access Database through DB Publisher. Good times! I have tried tagged text, but the customer I need this for is using a database that strictly exports either HTML or XML — wouldn't be too much of a hassle to take the HTML and change it, but I got used to InDesign now and I'm sticking with it until something new comes around that I really, really like. I'm using the "InData" plugin from Emsoftware by the way … seems we are working on slightly similar jobs. :)

Mike, it's nice to meet someone, who still remembers how wonderful Ventura Publisher was! I LOVED the database publisher and would pay a lot of money for a working modern version of both. Kip, you only mentioned Quark in your first post, not InDesign — I have tested the new Quark for about an hour and dismissed it for two reasons: firstly, it still can't import HTML or XML (not talking about ,working with', just simply importing them, something that Quark DID do back in version 9, it was scrapped in version 10) and secondly it still uses an absolutely annoying installer that creates a system preferences entry for no reason (macOS). InDesign is easier to use, imports XML (not very good, but I'm happy to take what I get) and the styles system makes more sense … however, there's still a lot of things it COULD do (like proper tables, conditional master pages, better overview of linked documents, generally more stability, a non-subscription purchase model and externally linked formatted text as e.g. in RagTime).

Glad, you're enjoying Quark, but to be honest, I don't like the new version at all. It's a nice enough software (been using it many years ago), but even though they try hard, they are currently not up to scratch. I personally am eagerly awaiting a good, new and modern layout software! You are right insofar, that competition to Lightroom is sought after by many as well, my opinion though is, that this competition should go further, offering a complete DAM solution, reading more than just image files.

Hi Ronny, the dropdown menu is ordered alphabetically, the main Preference windows seems to be ordered by some logic regarding importance … IMO it would be just consistent to have all of them alphabetically rather than changing the order in the dropdown.

I can confirm this on an 2013 iMac running High Sierra, public beta 1.

"Reasonably Functional" means something different for ever user, so don't sweat it Larsene … nobody knows what version 1.0 will do and won't do yet. Just wait and see and decide for yourself if it does what you need it to do when it's released. Serif have stated that they certainly need time to catch up with other professional DTP software, but I am sure Publisher will do a lot of things right for a lot of people when it comes out. Again: Wait and see, nobody knows anything at the moment, except that Publisher is being worked on feverishly and there's a chance it might go into Beta some time this year (no guarantee though).

Exactly … if the price stays as it is, I'm more than happy paying full price every couple of years for a new version (or simply stay at the current version, if I'm happy with what it does and don't want any awesome new features) :)

MBd, Apple is including a "Files" app in iOS 11 later this year which will take care off this — it connects to iCloud and other services (e.g. Dropbox, Box …) and gives you a proper file handling system for your iPad. I expect Serif pushing out an update for the iOS version, as soon as iOS 11 is avaialble. :o)

Thanks, MEB.

Hi guys, has anyone of you tried if it's possible to open Affinity Designer files with AP for iPad yet? Since the file format is interchangeable, is should be possible … I think … Unfortunately I sold my iPad Pro just three weeks ago because I thought AP is never gonna come, and … well … now I kinda wish I hadn't.

Hurray!

And the rumors were correct, here's the "New Surface Pro" — updated with more power and a new Pen: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/surface/devices/surface-pro/overview

Hello NickJames, my advice is to wait another three days … Microsoft has a press conference in Japan on 23rd May and there are rumors they are going to talk about the Surface. Since it hasn't been upgraded since late 2015, people expect either a price drop or slightly updated specs (more memory, different processor): http://www.techradar.com/news/microsoft-is-hosting-a-mystery-event-on-may-23 Generally however, the Pro4 should be sufficient to run Affinity, just make sure you go with a model with 8 or more GB of RAM (the smallest model with 4GB might be cutting it a bit close, since Windows 10 needs resources for itself).

Hi, given the amount of items in the "View" menu, I think it would be a great help, if the "Studio" got it's on main menu entry rather than being a sub-item of the "View" menu. It does make logical sense, having it in the ,View' menu, but it would be much easier and faster accessing the panels through it's own window, especially considering how crowded the "View" menu already is and how many items the "Studio" contains.