robinp

It's pretty obvious to me that when someone refers to 'basic' functionality that it is a subjective assessment. To me DXF import / export is a basic feature. So is select by colour etc. See here There are a few others that have been floating around as requests for years now. And they all end up with the same resentment from paying customers about the lack of communication and progress towards even simple implementations of the features.

Serif make good, perhaps even great software, but it is painfully obvious to those of us who frequent these forums that many of their customers feel fed up much like you. There are a handful of features that are absolute ‘no brainers’. Functionality that anyone looking for fully practical alternatives to adobe need and expect. Yet these have been asked for for years. The common thread is that Serif say and do nothing about these feature requests. It is incredibly disrespectful and disheartening for those of us that have taken a risk by embracing the Affinity suite and contributed a lot of time to beta testing etc. I came to the conclusion that participation in these forums was of little more value than shouting into a void and have backed away from it. Maybe one day they will actually look at the forums and realise there are some essential and basic features many customers are asking for and have been for a very long time now. And even more hopefully, they might see these requests and actually implement them. Even basically at first would be incredibly much better than nothing. Not every feature needs to be a wholesale reinvention of the wheel.

Thanks for the work around @vjbasil. It does seem nuts though that you’d have to log out it disconnect your network to be able to make this interface appear. Why can’t it be user initiated through the UI?

Exactly?

I'm happy for it to be split off. I am stunned at the displeasure people have to discussing this though. We have a long way to go. Oh well, last from me on the issue (on this thread anyway)

Interesting. I've just had a look and this is the entry @JGD refers to I think. I'd say that was pretty explicit to be honest.

And the length of time it is taking.

That’s a really cool site. I’ve not seen it before. However, I don’t think it’s going to do what people here want. Looking at the DXF options, they all appear to be bitmap conversion formats. Unsure about PDF as it can be both but given all the others are bitmap I’m guessing it will be as well.

I agree, however, equality is something that can and should be discussed every time, place and context that it crops up. If others want to then get worked up about it and take the discussion off-course that's for them to worry about.

Thanks. I’m just bored of making the same points over and over again. There are those of us who are a bit fed up and there are some who believe we are wrong. There are probably some who are somewhere in the middle. I get that but it seems many are not open minded enough to empathise with those who are not happy because they are struggling due to missing functionality. Anyway, have a good evening.

I think you misunderstood my point about not wanting to debate this.

It was a general point rather than specifically regarding file formats.

I suppose the issue comes when it is not clear if software had a feature or not. If it is such a ‘basic’, ‘standard’ (or whatever term you wish to use) that you just expect it. I do agree, this is not a client relationship. It is a customer relationship. A customer relationship where you *know* the product is going to be regularly updated. So to suggest that we should just be blindly grateful for the updates because we paid once is slightly unfair. The free updates were always part of the deal. The real grumbles are around the length of time some features have been requested and the silence around if and when they will be delivered. Anyway, I’ve had enough of arguing with people who are saying these these annoyances / grumbles / concerns shouldn’t be expressed. I’ve no intention of getting into a debate with you. Just explaining a few things. Have a nice evening.

Or... she?!

What a nice person you are. If you were actually reading what I posted properly, you'll see I asked it as a question. Are you scared by questions? Anyone who believes in equal rights of women is, by definition, a feminist. So if you aren't, you are sexist. This is not politics. I'm not going to apologise for upsetting you, and I will continue to point out discrimination or potential discrimination wherever I see it. I can assure you, I would say no one that I've ever met has thought or suggested I'm a fool. Quite the opposite if anything. Wading in to this like you have however, is looking pretty petty and vindictive. If you want to have an argument with me then fine, but I'm not sure everyone else has to be bored by your ranty posts. Maybe send me a direct message if you've really got a problem.

I see you've edited your post since I quoted it originally. A wrong can be done without the victim realising. I refer you to my previous post.

I'm really trying my best to not get personal in these discussions. Criticising Serif and their lack of transparency is one thing. I genuinely think @Mithferion means well which is more than I can say for some others. Saying that I do wish @haakoo would stop reacting negatively to basically every post I have made (since the debate about the definition of 'prevaricate') without actually engaging. The crazy thing is that I think EVERYONE actually wants these features and wants them as soon as possible. The lack of info coming out of Serif is what is causing these discussions to spiral out of control.

You do realise that once upon a time, what we now consider horrendous sexism and racism was so widespread that sometimes neither the perpetrator nor the victim realised what was happening? I asked a question and it was answered. Sorry if it made you feel awkward but that, in my view, is a price worth paying for progress. Other times, people have assumed I'm a man. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. That the assumption in forums like these is that everyone is a man unless stated otherwise most definitely is casual sexism. Are you a feminist?

That has to be one of the most ridiculous things I've seen posted on this forum.

The best way would be for such essential features that have been requested for 5 years to be delivered or at least some kind of roadmap indicating when it will be delivered. While I appreciate that your post was made with the best of intentions, I do find other users trying to manage others really about the most annoying thing on these kinds of forums. Fine, if you disagree say it, if you have a question that needs answering then fine (or vice versa) but posts telling everyone to be positive when they are (justifiably fed up) is actually really quite provocative.

I did state that it was in my opinion. You are entitled to yours.

RIGHT, and nice one to get personal. I happen to have been negative in the last few days out of frustration. That's not always the case or have you read every post I've ever written? Some on the other hand waste their time attacking those who are providing feedback or even more pointless, just being sycophantic. Basic features? Select by stroke / colour etc in Designer is basic in my opinion. It's like having a word processor without a find tool. This being another. DXF is an extremely old industry standard format. I think it is a basic interchange format for vector artwork. Let's stick to the topic rather than attacking others shall we?

There is a common thread among many discussion topics about the lack of communication around requested / promised features. My impression (and personal feeling) is that many were happy to buy (literally and metaphorically) into the Affinity suite because from day one, each app was delivering a majority of the functionality that they were used to in a fast, affordable and fairly stable package. Time has gone by since then. The honeymoon is wearing off and there are several basic and essential features that are still lacking. (Publisher excepted having only recently been released). I’m skeptical about the balance currently being taken between secrecy and openness. It is possible to state that a given feature is coming without committing to date. It is possible to commit to a feature as coming during v2 upgrades or before v2. Or perhaps, even after v2. Caveats can be made along the lines of ‘if all goes to plan’ or ‘our hope is that if X and Y happen, we will be able to do Z’. Or even ‘we are working on this and our hope is that it is included in release X.X but this may slip’. You get the gist. I just don’t buy that the benefits of secrecy are that great. None of the features I’ve seen are innovative in concept. Perhaps the eventual implementation may be, but there is nothing gained by staying quiet. If DXF import / export is coming, why not categorically state that? All that is happening is that those of us who were excited and enthusiastic in the early days are now becoming weary and skeptical. Surely the most passionate users are those of us here on these forums. The ones who might create 10s or 100s of new customers through recommendation.

Yes, I agree there is that side to it. I guess my primary point is though that you don't necessarily expect an exported file to be editable in the same way as the original.