Bad_Wolf

Hi @N.P.M. and @walt.farrell, Thank you both so much for your help. Now it is late here and I have to go to bed. Tomorrow evening, I will try out your suggestions. Your help is much appreciated. Chris

Hi All, Please, can you help me again solving my problem with referencing pages within a document? On one page I have the text "Solution on page 20". But I want the page number (20) be dynamic. So when I insert a new page before page 20 (lets say "page 20" becomes then "page 21", the reference text on the earlier page should read "Solution on page 21" automaticly. This document will be used for printing on paper. So an URL or bookmark will not be possible. I appreciate your help very much. Chris

Don't worry, I can live with that. Even without some of these features, I am sure V2 will be an interesting release. Kind Regards, Chris

Lets hope, we will find most of our wishes in V2!

Having a shape builder tool, together with a Knife tool and a tracing feature for v2, will be a dream. But I am afraid I'm asking too much.

Hi Old Bruce, Thank you for your reply. You are correct, it will certainly work with two tables each on its own layer. However, when using styles it is possible to get the same results in only one table. If for any reason, one table get out of alignment, it is immediatelly visible. I also think limiting the amount of objects on a page is very important. We are talking here about one crossword/maze puzzle. However, there are many present in that document. That is the reason I try to save resources and limit the chance on an error. One puzzle is easy and simple, but when you have 30 or 40, it can become rapidly very complex. That is what I try to avoid. Don't get me wrong, your suggestion is fine and I appreciate it, because each contribution will bring me better insights in Publisher I didn't had before. To be honest, my Publisher knowledge is very limited and every suggestion will help me understand this excellent application much better. Have a nice weekend. Chris

Hi Walt Farrell and Thomaso, Thank you so much for your input. I apologize for misusing the word "stylesheet" it must be "style" (I already changed in my original post). I want to create the puzzles/mazes directly in Publisher, no longer in Designer. In Designer they are hand-drawn, each one of them. I have a layer for the lines and one for the results. Initially, only those lines are visible. In the solution section, I make the results layer visible and then you can see everything. I do not need any calculation and I did express my needs wrongly. I like the table tool acting like a spreadsheet. So I can easily modify the width/height of each cell. In the meantime, I succeeded in getting 15 rows and 15 columns, aligned the content horizontal and vertical. I created a TextStyle named "results" and choosed the color. However, to make it invisible I deselected the checkbox near Character fill. When I want to make it visible, just check this box again. I could not use the layer solution from AD, because the table and its text always resides on the same layer. What I learned most today is that I still have to learn a lot about Publisher. Thank you both for putting me on the right track again. Have a nice weekend. Chris

Hi all, Please can you advise me on creating crossword, maze and instant word puzzles? I create my puzzles with Instant Puzzle Generator, which can output in image formats like jpg/png. What I do is export them to png format, then draw them over in Affinity Designer (AD). It is a very time-consuming way of working, but I have complete control over the results. The AD document has made up of layers. There is a layer for the lines and another for the resulting text (which is invisible at first). Most of these puzzles are squared, but some can have other shapes like circles, hexagonal, triangular and everything you can imagine. Needles to say I need spreadsheets for this, which I do not find in aPub. I tried the table tool but it is completely useless for my purpose. At first sight it is possible, however I found out I got completely stuck. In Ragtime I can put spreadsheets in almost every object. This seems to work fine for my purpose. Maybe I overlook something in aPub, I do not know. But I fail to accomplish my crossword/mazes with the table tool in aPub. Keep in mind that I no longer use AD for the crossword/maze puzzels but create everything in aPub. The results are in the same spreadsheet but hidden/showed by a styles assigned to it. When it has to be hidden, I assign transparent to its color, when it has to show I choose a color. All in one place with one click. I also need merged cells but vertical and horizontal. Any idea how to create a spreadsheet like puzzle with the table tool in aPub? Thank you so much for your input which will be appreciated. Chris

@Patrick Connor, Great to hear that V2 is coming. Whenever it will be, I will update for sure. Looking forward to the release date of V2! Thank you Serif team for your efforts and work to bring us the best Affinity ever! Keep up the good work. Chris

@Bakai, Thank you for your reply, now I understand. You are correct, I am the same Bad_Wolf from the old forums. And you are correct, I draw maps but not in DrawPlus but in Cartographer. But as my memory serves me well, I never published them publicly. I used DrawPlus to draw some objects for the maps but not the map itself. I will check the old forum to find out what I posted there. Thank you for the nice title, I do appreciate that. Kind Regards, Chris

@Bakai, Regretfully, I do not understand your reply. I do not make wonderful maps, so I do not know what you mean. About DrawPlus you are correct, almost every year there was a paid major upgrade. But with the Affinity range it is very different. In my case, I paid a discounted price in 2016 and since then I didn't pay anything anymore for upgrades who contained new features and bug fixes. For bug fixes, it is normal that they are free. However, for upgrades which contain new features, should not come for free. Throughout all those years, I could not understand how that business model could be profitable and sustained Serif development. This discussion is completely academic because only Serif will make the final decision. We as users do not have any influence on whatever model Serif choose. But based on my long term Serif customer experience, the model Serif choose will be affordable for everyone but I can be wrong. I am also not the type to tell other people what they would do. I am as much in the dark about the pricing model as anybody else. I can also hope that v2.0 will be affordable for everybody. There is not more I can do. Kind Regards, Chris

@Luis Simon, Maybe you are not realising, but you made a very big contribution here! I hope many people with limited resources read your reply. When financial resources are running low, it is indeed a good plan to share with other people in the same field. So sharing with other colleagues will divide the cost and give you the advantage of using the full license at a lower cost. Were people work together, they get stronger than ever and the sky becomes the limit. In Botswana I have a saying "Black and white working together, they are stronger than ever". Like you already will expect, I agree with your subscription idea. The subscription model should be affordable for everyone. This is the strong point of the Affinity range, it is affordable for everybody. Adobe is also far out of my reach and in my opinion "over-priced". But even with limited resources, people go a long way with Affinity. If it is fine for you, can I sent you a private message? If you do not want, just ignore this question please. Chris

@CMO, Completely agree with you and I am sure many users will be the same. Chris

Hi All, I do not know if Serif is considering a subscription model or not. What I know is that I paid in 2016 and could upgrade for 6 years now for free. That is also a model which is not workable and profitable. To be open and honest, I was highly concerned about the way Serif was not receiving income enough to continue development. I don't want to see Serif going bancrupt because I use the Affinity software heavily. These are my main application, on which most other things are based. So do you understand now, my financial concerns? Every company or business must have a steady flow of income, otherwise it is over. Subscription seems very sensitive inside the Affinity community. So, I doubt very much that Serif will consider it or actually apply it. But you never know because it is their business. Therefore, this discussion is completely academic. But what is your idea about paying for major releases and minor releases? Is that more acceptable for you? Chris

@Luis Simon I apologize if I gave you the wrong impression with my comment. Being based in Botswana (Africa), I am well aware of poverty problems around the world. I have great respect for people in such poor conditions who try to make a living with the very small resources they have. Many times, they surprise me when showing what they created. About the subscription model you are afraid of, don't be. I use Serif software for a very long time (2009) and they where always very affordable and supportive. Also, read my suggestion again and you find out that I prefer to have two models, subscription based and perpetual. But you are correct, on first sight, it looks like I am advocating subscription based for every one, which is clearly NOT my intention. I really do regret that I was giving this impression. Be assured that I regard people like you highly with respect. Wish you a nice day and all the best. Chris

Hi all, Almost every body complains here about subscription and to some extend, they are correct when paying expensive fees each month like Adobe and co. However, when paying an affordable monthly fee for a usefull program like Affinity, it is a better guarantee for the future of your favorite application. Is that not what we all want, a secure future for our preferred Affinity range? What is an affordable monthy subscription fee? Everything below 10 euros a month. We can be passionate, motivated and creative but in the end, there must come food on the table not? Because I have to depend on Affinity very much, I prefer to pay a montly subscription fee. It should be a disaster for me if Affinity range should be deprecated for any reason. Maybe Serif van serve both kinds. Users who make a one time payment for a major release which only receive bug fixes. The other users paying a monthly subscription which receive in return new features. I think this is a fair model not? For me it became a little frustrating that I am using excellent software so long for only the initial purchase. I know what is necessary to keep a company ticking and the present payment scheme worries me. But it is not up to me, to tell Serif what to do. I like to work with Designer and Publisher, and wish to do that for a very long time from now. Despite the Affinity applications have their shortcomings, I always accomplish my projects within the deadline and to the satisfaction of my customers. The Affinity team produces excellent software with a very limited team count. Lets support them and be patient. Chris

I gladly will pay an affordable monthly subscription fee for using Affinity Designer, Photo and Publisher if that brings a reliable future to the Affinity range. All those years of free updates, I could not understand how Serif could make profits. My concern with the delay of version 2 was not the features but about the revenue which comes in. It is still a mistery for me how they could manage so many years developing on free updates. So will I pay for a monthly subscription if that saves the future of Serif. I surely will! Chris

Thanks so much to everybody who replied, you all solved my maze problem. Your solution is exactly what I need and I would never have found that myself. I do appreciate your help so much. Chris

Hi everyone, Please, can you give me some suggestions how to draw a pad for a maze? What I want to accomplish is drawing straight and curved paths fenced with a thin black line and in between the lines a fill (light grey). When I draw the line, both fence lines are automaticle drawn. I tried the brush tool but the result was disappointing. Also, I could not find the brush I needed. See the following image, to get an idea what I want: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Cd4TH9oPEx1ZbdzgjmWuPsKxFBwnmNuX/view?usp=sharing I want the structure as in the rectangle (black parrallel lines with light grey fill) and the shape like in the brush below but without those black divisions. Any ideas or suggestions how I can accomplish that in Affinity Designer? Thank you in advance for your help. Chris

I will gladly pay for the 2.0 major upgrade. I have yearly subscriptions for Construct 3, Office 365, Cyberlink and I can tell you, they cost at least double as what Serif is asking for the Affinity suite. I do not see what the 2.0 upgrade price has to do with fraud? I am wondering how much Marko Grafiko is doing for free. We paid once for the 1. version of Designer, Photo and Publisher. Serif updated regularly and we worked all those years for the price we paid long ago (depending on when you bought). Is it then too much to ask for an update fee for 2.0. I also checked out the OxygenBuilder.com you suggested. 129 USD for the basic version and in promotion 149 USD for the ultimate version. Still Serif is much cheaper because when I remembered correctly, I paid 54 euro when they were first released. Normally the OxygenBuilder.com Ultimate cost 349 USD, which you need when you are a serious website developer. So when buying the ultimate version, it will take 6 Affinity paid updates to come on that price. Marko Grafiko is very wrong here in my opinion. Speaking for myself, I am willing to pay for every update because it still will be cheaper than for a subscription. When for any reason you cannot work for a month, still your subscription keeps running. In the Serif model, you pay for what you are really using. The 2.0 upgrade will not come any time soon I think. I cannot find any mention about a coming 2.0 upgrade. The Affinity Suite is an excellent tool and you can make good money with it. So in return, let us support the Serif company to motivate them to innovate and improve on their applications. Chris

Besides of the cat figures in the style menu, Designer refused to startup. Maybe the cause of Friday the 13th?

I have all Affinity Revolution courses (Designer, Photo and Publisher) and I can confirm there are accompanion ebooks for Designer, Photo and Publisher. It is very good value when you buy their course bundles which is the course and ebook together. Needless to say, they deliver very high quality courses, even better than from Affinity itself. To be honest, from the moment they have a new course, I buy it without hesitation. As their customer, they regularly create new tutorials which you can watch for free. Believe me, both Ezra and Alli are very experienced and knowledgable, always willing to help you out when you get stuck. Just contact them on their website and they will help you. Chris

@walt.farrell I am thinking in the same direction you stated in point 2. But as long as we cannot look into that file, there is nothing anybody can do to help okmike. Chris

You are correct, losing 350 pages is a true deal-breaker. Believe me, I understand and respect your frustration. But why not uploading that file here, so that other people can take a look at it? Maybe there is someone who find the cause or maybe rescue your text, who knows? I think there is nothing to loose in doing so. Your complaint about how to use the styles in Affinity Publisher is valid, I do agree too. I also have WPS Office and it comes indeed very close to Microsoft Office. In fact it was the first Office alternative on the market and when my memory is not failing me, it is now more than 20 years on the market. Wish you all the best. Chris

If you have an Office 365 account, MS Publisher is already part of it. Personally, I would not use cracked software because the risks are too high. Only the sun shines for free. You never know what is added to the cracked code. I agree with you that the organization of styles, has to be improved. The present system is very confusing. It is not clear to me if you are referring to the Cascading Style Sheets (hierachical style structure) or how the Cascading Style Sheets are organized in Publisher. I am sure we both know how those hierarchical styles work, so I assume it is the latter. You are correct, that can be very much simpler and clearer. Take a look at the included screencapture coming from Ragtime. It looks outdated while it is taken from Ragtime 6.6.6 which is the recent version. However, looking outdated, you see with one glance the overview of the styles and which style is inherrited from another style. Affinity Publisher is created with the visual designers in mind. I am sure when when we ask the people here on the forum, based on what they see in the screencapture, which system they prefer, that the majority choose the Publisher way of organizing. The reason is that most people in the design world, are visual types. So the non-visual types like you and me, have difficulty with the Publisher way but excel in the way Ragtime organize styles. Back in 1992, I was terrible with PageMaker but excelled in Quark Xpress. PageMaker was just too loose for me while, Quark Xpress with its frames, was just the perfect match for me. With my teacher, it was just the other way around, he sweared by PageMaker. The frame based working both in Publisher and Ragtime makes both of them my preferred choice. I use Publisher for publications where no calculations are necessary, Ragtime when I have to combine design with calculations or with heavy use of tables. If I were you, I would not give up on Publisher. Despite of the bugs, it is a very powerfull application even in its first incarnation. Many people here use it daily and create astonishing applications with it. Because I have an Office 365 subscription, I took a look at MS Publisher for the very first time. Within 5 minutes, I could use Master pages, creating a new style and had no problems with the organization of styles. The difference between Apub and MS Publisher is that the latter is much more mature than Apub. On the other hand, Apub despite in its 1. version has already much more features. Even when it is included in my Office subscription, I still prefer to use Apub and Ragtime. Don't make your decision in haste. When your book is finished, try to re-create it again in Apub and see what happens. Make sure, if the error strikes again that you know your steps so you can share the whole process with Affinity. Only in this way, the Affinity team can solve the problem so it doesn't occur again in the future. A software development team is relying in many cases on user experience. If we do not document and share a problem or error with the developers, then we also contribute to the error to remain present. Dan C assumed too fast that you really want to leave because he was mislead by your frustration. I can tell, based on your comments, that you not really want to leave but just let yourself lead your frustration. If you can, just post your damaged book file here. You never know that the lost text shows up in somebody else's computer. I hope you will reconsider Apub again and give it another chance. Anyway, I wish you every success with your book! Chris