I don't think wishing for a single function quite qualifies as "bringing all the layout features to a program that is not designed for layouts." Particularly when it's been a basic tool in both FreeHand and Illustrator, neither of which are 'designed for layouts,' and whose users AD is designed to appeal to.
If Affinity wants to focus on Designer being purely an illustration platform with purely illustration functionality, though, I can respect that. It's an admirable approach.
Thanks, I'll check that out. I'm on Mac.
Bingo. My goal is to move out of the Adobe ecosystem, though, so I'm amenable to looking at all alternatives.