Whitedog
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Everything posted by Whitedog
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You'll soon have to migrate to Mojave if you still want to get software and security updates. Still, Mojave supports most 32 bit apps, just like High Sierra. I skipped High Sierra because it was buggy for me. Apparently it's not giving you any trouble. You're right, you don't have to move to Catalina, and I won't be doing so for quite a while yet. Even then I'll keep a copy of Sierra around, as I do now, for some apps that don't work well in Mojave—and won't work at all in Catalina. -
And for some of us it is about the cost. And the lack of ownership. Adobe may have found a good profit model for them. For us, not so much. So Serif is an excellent solution. Right now it's $75 for all three apps. Even at the regular price it's a bargain. The closest Adobe comes is the Photo suite, at $10 a month. Even then you're locked in and hoping they don't raise the price.
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You are right. But when I first tried to open an RTF document, it was grayed out in the Place dialog window so I assumed it wouldn't work. I tried again, after your post, and I was able to select the document, even though it was grayed out. It placed properly. But it would not select other grayed out documents in other formats, like Word. So it's inconsistent treatment of available formats is a problem, in my mind. Other documents, such as PDFs, were not grayed out, and placed as expected.
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The governing principle here is affordability. If you have a business with enough leeway in the budget for an InDesign subscription, then fine. If you don't want or need to upgrade to macOS X 15 Catalina, also fine. You can continue to use InDesign CS6—or earlier. I use Photoshop CC and Lightroom CC because the subscription is affordable—$10 a month. There is no such bargain for InDesign, so I'm working with Publisher. Yes, it has some shortcomings, like not being able to handle MS Word files, unlike every layout program before it for the last two and a half decades and more. But for me that's not a deal breaker. If I had to use a Word file, I would place it in InDesign, export it as IDML, and open it in Publisher. A bit tedious, but doable. A simple solution for your business card problem would be to remove the Photoshop element after you have converted the file (or even before), and then place it back. No conversion necessary. If that's the worst problem you have, you're smelling like roses. A little creative problem solving can go a long way. A more serious problem would be if it messed up your text formatting. I converted a long text document with many style sheets without trouble, though I had to wait for several Publisher updates to be able to do it. The only issue I had was the loss of my user dictionary. Of course I had no graphics to mess up. That could be different. But I haven't tried converting some of my other InDesign files that are graphics heavy. That could be problematic, but I have PDFs of them that are suitable for printing and/or publishing. In any case, I'm in no hurry to upgrade to Catalina so I will be able to use InDesign, if I need to, for the foreseeable future. And I have time to wait for Serif to improve Publisher as well. Bear in mind that InDesign did not replace Quark EXPress and Pagemaker overnight. It took many years for InDesign to mature and become the dominant layout program it is today. Not that Publisher is likely to replace InDesign, but it has time to mature as well. And it has the same kind of graphics support, with Designer and Photo, that InDesign has with Illustrator and Photoshop. So it's not hanging out there alone like Quark EXPress. And it's not like document conversion wasn't an issue for InDesign. It never handled Quark documents perfectly. It did better with Pagemaker, for obvious reasons. The move from EXPress to InDesign was not a smooth one. So cut Publisher some slack. At the price, it's a bargain even with its flaws. The failure of the conversion of a long form document from IDML was a deal breaker for me for a short while. But Serif resolved the issue. There's no reason to suppose that they won't solve others.
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Open source is overrated. No page layout program has ever been an open standard. Though Microsoft Word came close. It was the standard text app for importing to AppleWorks, Pagemaker, Quark XPress, Indesign, and Pages—on the Mac. On the PC there are even more apps. Of course you can import or place Word documents in open source apps like Libre Office and Open Office. And there are other commercial word processors like Mellel and Scrivener. They all handle Word documents. But Publisher does not. Given that most people do their writing in Word, to my mind this is a major oversight. While it can handle IDML files from InDesign, Word is not supported by Publisher. Which means Publisher is half-baked. Given that InDesign CS6 is a 32 bit app, on the Mac Mojave is the limit. I can place Word documents in InDesign and export them as IDML, but only as long as I don't upgrade to Catalina. Of course Word 2011 is also 32 bit, so if I ever do upgrade to Catalina I'll have to get a Word 360 subscription, or the standalone 360 app, which is another $150. While I'm using Mojave, I can export Word files to PDF, which Publisher does open, without style sheets, etc. A half-assed solution at best. The answer might be RTF, but though it manages most styles, it doesn't include the associated style sheets. But Publisher cannot handle RTF files either. Basically, compared to all other word processing programs, Publisher is a cripple, walking with one good leg. Granted I bought it to handle InDesign documents, but that it can do no more is, well, lamentable.
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Standardization makes life easier for service bureaus, printers, etc. But lack of competition leads to high prices—such as what Quark XPress used to be and Adobe is now. Competition has its advantages, like lowering prices. This happened to Apple with Aperture. It started out at $500, with not trial period. Then Adobe released the beta version of Lightroom, and most of us never looked back. When Lightroom 1 came out it was priced at $300, cutting Aperture off at the knees. Later it went down to $150, an even better deal. Now Adobe is offering LightroomCC and PhotoshopCC as a package for $10 a month. Unfortunately, there is not yet a discount price for InDesign. So when Publisher got IDML to work, I exported the large document I was working on in InDesign to IDML format and imported it to Publisher. The only thing I lost was the custom dictionary. As for printing from Publisher, Designer and Photo, PDF is the standard output format for pretty much everything, whether you're using an Adobe product or something else.
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Open Indesign (indd and idml) Files in Publisher Free for one month
Whitedog replied to Eddie Aguirre's topic in Resources
Thanks, indeed. This is a remarkable bit of marketing. Performing a public service while at the same time, perhaps, creating some mindshare that will sell the product in the future, past the Coronavirus scare. Kudos for thinking outside the box. -
No. Close enough isn't good enough.
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Thanks. I guess it pays to know where to look. I suppose it's too soon to expect an Affinity Publisher Workbook.
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I started using aPub on my large document and, for the most part, it works fine. But unlike InDesign, it does not allow for custom zoom levels. As I am visually impaired this is a real problem for me. I was using a zoom level of 225% in InDesign. But there appears to be no way to duplicate this in aPub. In InDesign, the zoom level is a field in the tool-bar. I looked for it in aPub, but it does not appear to exist.
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Affinity Publisher for macOS - 1.8.1 (was 1.8.0)
Whitedog replied to Patrick Connor's topic in News and Information
Thinks for this great update. The problem I had earlier opening my long form document (over 400 pages) was solved. Publisher 1.8.1 opened the IDML file almost immediately. Not to mention it launches very quickly in mac OS 10.14 Mojave. And once I saved it in the afpub format, it reopens almost instantly. Excellent update, and I haven't even tried all the new features yet. But now that I can work on my book in Publisher, I'm sure I'll find them handy as well. As for exporting to the IDML format, I can see where that would be useful. But for now I'm a happy camper. I can move my work to the newer versions of the Mac OS without worry about compatibility. Interesting that the new integrated toolbar is only available in Mojave and above. That suggests that other new features may be linked to newer versions of the Mac OS. For now I'm avoiding Catalina because of the exclusion of 32 bit apps. But Publisher may remove at least some of my concerns on that count. Even so, I'll have to save a version of the Mac OS that still handles 32 bit. I'll need another external SSD for that job, as HDDs now seem slow in comparison. As for the download, I didn't do mine until I got the e-mail from Serif announcing the 1.8.1 updates. The auto update in the older version of Publisher worked fine for me. But then, I was using Serif's server, not Apple's. I try to avoid the App Store for larger, more complex programs, like Publisher and Lightroom. YMMV. -
This version imports short IDML documents just fine. But when I try to import a multipage book I'm working on, of more than 400 pages, Publisher crashes. I suppose I could import sections of the book and then paste the pages in. But I won't go to the trouble until IDML support haas matured. At least they're making progress. I'm glad this app isn't sold by subscription. That would be a real waste of money. I bought it at an early adopter discount. We'll have to see if they get us again when a substantial update/upgrade arrives—you know, with full IDML support, for instance. Right now I think they're working on building market share; they've got a holiday sale going on.
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Actually, for $9.99 you can get Lightroom Classic and Lightroom (for mobile) plus Photoshop with the Photography package. Maybe you don't use Lightroom, but many of us do and find this to be a bargain. Adding InDesign for another $5.00 would be a good deal in my book.
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You should read a little more. This thread has dedicated over 20 pages to the discussion. Opening indd files is impractical, if not impossible. The file type facility we are waiting for is idml, which is an output format from InDesign that enables files to be opened by third-party apps, like Publisher. We are told that that capability is coming, but not release date has been offered.
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Indd and idml are not 'almost the same." While I admit I've confused the two in the past, the fact is that indd and idml are significantly different formats. It is, for all practical purposes, impossible for a third-party app to open indd files, which are in a proprietary Adobe format. IDML, on the other hand, is a conversion format that InDesign can produce so that third party apps can open InDesign documents. It is this latter capability that we have been talking about and waiting for. Unfortunately, the release version of Publisher does not yet have this capability. Needless to say, I am disappointed. And Serif has not yet informed us when it will be added. So, though I bought the release version of Publisher at the pre-release price, I will have to continue to use InDesign CS 6. Fortunately I am still running macOS 10.12, Sierra, so that won't be a problem. Sooner or later, though....
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I received the notice to download the release version of Affinity Publisher. I likewise preordered it. The download link was a bit elusive, but I found it in My Account. I'm wondering, though, does this version include IDML import? You know, that feature that people have been going on about for 19 pages on this blog? Hope so. Guess not. I tried to import an IDML file and it was not recognized. I tried to open the file, with the same result. I'm disappointed, to say the least. Publisher will be of little use to me without IDML support. I paid for the initial release version, in part because the price was reduced, but with the hope they had included the much requested IDML support. Failing that, it is my hope that they will include it soon. Some news on that front would be useful. How long will we have to wait? Without IDML support, Publisher will languish in my Applications folder. And I will continue to use InDesign CS6. This will suffice for some time because I have no intention of upgrading to macOS 10.15 Catalina—where use of 32bit apps will be discontinued—for a good long while yet. Meanwhile, if Serif expects to sell many copies of Publisher, they'd better get going with implementing IDML import. It's clearly the most requested feature.
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Thanks for the links. I read some of the referenced text to get an idea how the script works, then the how to install scripts page to figure that out. I downloaded the script and installed it, as per instructions. This will come in handy when the time comes to convert my InDesign files to IDML. Of course, this script will do so much more. Quite an ingenious piece of work. Given how many people will need to convert their files for use with Publisher, when it can handle IDML, this script will need to be more broadly described, and referenced. Look forward to further enquiries.
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Too bad I didn't work for you, or someone like you. I was fired because I took too long to write code—because I included comments. I commented my code so I could follow what I was doing. I was also directed on another job to figure out where the flaw was in a batch of code that was not commented. There was no one in the shop who could tell me what it was even supposed to do so I had to outline it to figure it out. I was too slow there, as well. My boss was an idiot who thought I should somehow know, by osmosis I guess.
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Back in the day (when I had to do my own keypunch from my code sheets), taking the time to comment my code was frowned upon, even though I was taught that commenting was a "best practice." The real world didn't line up well with what I learned in school. Quick and dirty was the accepted meme.
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Good points. I wasn't making an accusation, merely asking a question. Your example is not indicative of all code, by the way, but just one instance—though I imagine others could be found where more code was better code. I also suspect that the slow processing had to do with calls to external code libraries, which take inherently longer to load and process.
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I should have mentioned that I'm using macOS 10.12, Sierra. The size of the app doesn't matter in relation to my 1TB Fusion drive. I just wonder about the efficiency of the code in so large an app, which does not yet even have feature parity with InDesign.
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On an unrelated note, I just noticed, with the latest update, how large Publisher is. Over a terabyte, three times larger than InDesign CS 6. This gives me to wonder about the applications's operating efficiency. Just a thought.
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CS 4 has a (relatively) simple workflow. I know a pro who uses it regularly—because it's familiar. He also has CS 6 for more complex issues, like handling more recent RAW files. But CS 4 does most of what he needs to do. And he's in no hurry to upgrade his OS, despite my warnings about security issues. I wouldn't put him on Mojave in any case. Too many problems. Real substantive changes, like APSF. So, yes, pros get stuck in ruts, just like anyone else. Change is challenging and for some people it represents totally unnecessary hassles, not to mention expense. I use CS 4 to run my Epson scanner software, which has not been updated for 64 bit apps, like Photoshop beyond CS 4. But I also have CS 6 and Photoshop CC, with Lightroom in Adobe's photography package. InDesign, however, has not been discounted, which is why Publisher is appealing.
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Where have you posted the link? This forum is 14 pages long now. Finding your link would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
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I have the same issue, on a smaller scale. I have CS6, but InDesign and Dreamweaver are still 32 bit apps, so they will not work in the next iteration of macOS, which only supports 64 bit apps, like Photoshop and Lightroom. You can get an affordable subscription for Photoshop and Lightroom CC, at $20 a month. But there's no discount for InDesign, so I'll have to move on eventually. Quark is too expensive, compared to what we can reasonably expect to pay for Publisher. So I am hoping they have IDML import when the final release comes out, though Serif haven't confirmed if they will. They have only said that they delayed the release to work on some features that many people have requested, but that's all rather vague. So we will have to wait and see. Without IDML import Publisher will not be the InDesign replacement we hope it to be.
