[How to create a gradient mask?]

and i cant even get support, because my posts need damn approval... and the company itself do not offer support.  i get that at the cheap price, but they should lift this need for post moderation.  how frustrating it is when you just start out and desperately need help to have to wait for a moderator to approve your first posts!

[How to create a gradient mask?]

but everytime i use the gradient tool it covers the whole screen, not just the layer.  and i cant figure out how to set the rubberband selection to the layer.

 

really starting to get irritated here, all the basics just seem very strange and so weird all the tools seem to be somehow 'modal', feels really old school.

[How to select a layer in Affinity Photo]

I want to rescale a layer.  To do this it seems I need to select (ie rubberband) that layer, so that the rescale options become available.  There seems to be no quick way to set the rubberband to the layer, in Photoshop you can ctrl-click the layer.

 

Please tell me I am not missing something?

 

Also, is there really no way to crop the selection???  (The crop tool workflow is terrible! when zoomed in which you need for precise cropping, you have to scroll using the scrollbars to find the crop handle).