AdrianB
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Posts posted by AdrianB
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7 minutes ago, GT70 said:
At the cost of basic functions that are missing? No, my friend, that's not going far. I repeat, if you don't listen to the users, you're not going anywhere...
Publisher was awarded by Apple as Mac App of the Year last month, so yeah, I do think they are going somewhere… even if they didn't prioritized you're pet peeve missing feature in Designer.
But hey, we can come back to this thread say two years from today an revisit you're "Affinity is doomed" sentiment. Maybe you're right and it was the missing distortion warp that was the final nail in their coffin. Me, I think they will do just fine and most of their users will be very happy, as so many are already today.
16 minutes ago, GT70 said:As far as I'm concerned, if this is the treatment, I don't buy their products anymore.
Feel free to go back to Adobe and their prices and treatment of customers…
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13 hours ago, Boldlinedesign said:
They have us all frustrated with the slow pace of necessary additions.
No they don't. Speak for yourself.
I for one am impressed by the pace that they're constantly improving their products and how far they've come in just a couple of years. I know that software development takes time. They are a small company and have launched three major applications (Photo, Designer and Publisher) and are working with three platforms at the same time (Mac, Windows and iPad) and still they manage to deliver.
Yes, there are still "obvious" features missing here and there and there. Yes, there is imperfections and some subpar implementations (expanding stroke for example). On the other hand some new features and ways to do things are pleasant improvements over the old (Adobe) ways. The unified file format is a game changer. And at least on Mac all three apps are very stable (hardly ever a crash) and I've used them all extensively last year and really appreciate working with them.
Also, what duckrabbit said above.
- SrPx, dominik and garrettm30
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The 1.8 beta of Designer for Mac is now released including the long awaited ”Improved the results of Expand Stroke”, yay!
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13 minutes ago, dcrosby said:
Well thought-out post.
I second that. I've been working extensively in all three apps these past months preparing for a big event, discovering features and sometimes new ways to do things (like, draw a straight line in Publisher) and for the most part it has been just great, even fun actually. And these forums are invaluable whenever I hit a roadblock.
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1 hour ago, HannaCecilia said:
Hi Adrian. I have the exact same issue. Except - my ancient CS4 is not working anymore on High Sierra. Or you have any tips? I am really stuck with the mad Adobe prices
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Sorry, no specific advice for CS4. I have CS5 and thankfully it still works on High Sierra for me. I had to do some java-related voodoo to get it going, but it works mostly now.
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2 hours ago, LostInTranslation said:
Also I thought that Win/Mac versions were generally always the same?
Yeah, I think they generally are more or less the same when released, but judging by that comment i linked it seems like they wanted to get some fixes for Windows related issues out first. I read the Windows release notes and as you said, there seems to be no mention of expanding strokes there, so that is most likely not ready for public beta testing yet.
2 hours ago, LostInTranslation said:In any way it needs to be fixed and soon.
These forums are filled with demands that specific pet peeve issues are prioritized and fixed promptly. Software development takes time and Affinity is a small company with a series of applications for three platforms. I'm sure they're doing everything they can but it's probably more complex than it seems from the outside.
The good news is that this particular issue is actively being worked on, as they stated publicly and showed screenshots of. That is far better than most issues. And they said 1.8 beta for Mac should be out soon.
Until then, don't jump the ship if this is a showstopper (I use Designer daily but I have an old Illustrator version still lying around when I need to expand strokes).
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2 minutes ago, LostInTranslation said:
I was just checking in on this again and read the release notes of beta 1.8.
But I still can't find any mention of this being fixed.There is not beta of 1.8 for Designer for Mac yet. They did put out a beta of 1.8 for Windows earlier because of some Windows fixes. But the latest info in this thread is that they aim to fix expand stroke in 1.8. You can follow the Mac beta announcement thread to get notified when there's a beta for Mac of Designer.
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3 minutes ago, MikeW said:
Really? I'm not. I've recorded the time it takes formatting 3 books, from simple novels to more involved ones (and a few other projects) done concurrently in both Q & APub using the same source documents and it isn't even close. Still, I keep using APub to stay on top of it and suspect it will continue to get better.
Clearly, we have different needs, and that's ok. I'm not trying to convince you to use Publisher and it's still a young application. I do use it as my main app and I'm very happy with it so far, even with some glaring issues (trying to work with tables in Publisher was not fun).
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49 minutes ago, dcrosby said:
I gave up Quark Express many years ago, I'm still surprised that nobody ever, ever mentions it as an ID replacement other than the occasional "Are they still in business?"
I've worked with Quark ages ago, but I was always an Aldus PageMaker guy and never really liked Quark. Different kind of approach (at least it was back then).
What I meant with ”the only reasonable replacement for InDesign” is in the spirit of PageMaker och InDesign, and for my needs. I'm not trying to speak for everyone.
I was quite happy with InDesign but I did not like, and could not motivate paying for, the subscription of Adobe CC. Moving on from Photoshop and Illustrator was easier, there are other good graphic applications for Mac that meet most of my needs, but I never found an replacement for InDesign and I kept using my old CS5 version as long as I could.
Also, QuarkXPress is way more expensive than Affinity Publisher. Their licence model is better that Adobe's but the "two years of upgrades" is like ten times the price of Publisher (I'm guessing updates to the current 1.x of Affinity Publisher will be free until 2.x is released, an that will probably be at least two year after I bought 1.7).
27 minutes ago, MikeW said:AdrianB's statement you quoted is simply ill informed because there is also, in the context here of IDML, Viva Designer which both opens and writes IDML--and with version 10, can also directly open .indd files without going through IDML (but as a new features/capability) has birthing pains. Like with VD's good IDML conversion, their direct INDD support will only get better.
I wasn't speaking in the context of IDML import or any kind of specific handling of InDesign documents. I was talking about desktop publishing applications in general, that I felt could make me leave InDesign, and Affinity Publisher is the first for me. I really like it the same way I like InDesign, it is low friction and I can be as productive as before.
There might be other applications out there that I've yet to discover, that's why I ended my statement with "that I've ever come across so far”.
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1 hour ago, Whitedog said:
I'm glad this app isn't sold by subscription. That would be a real waste of money.
I am very, very thankful that they stick with the old license model and stay away from subscriptions, but suggesting that the current version of Publisher a waste of money is harsh just because you can't import a 400 pages book.
Even in the current 1.7 version (without any import at all) it is a delight to work with most of the time when creating new stuff, even if there are missing features and rough edges. Publisher is the only reasonable replacement for InDesign that I've ever come across so far. And the price is very low, even reasonable for consumers and a steal for professionals. Especially if you compare to the cost of Adobe CC.
(Also, I think you're setting yourself up for a disappointment if you expect a ”full IDML support” that handles every edge case and huge projects. Not every feature from InDesign will have a perfect match in Publisher.)
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1 hour ago, ddiomedecipher said:
Requiring a user to do workarounds for a common task is not a solution. It's called a hack.
Of course, I don't think anyone claims it's a solution. It is a known issue with some workarounds that might or might not work, for now. I went back and dusted off my old copy of Illustrator CS5 because I was not happy with the results of expanding strokes in Designer. But I accept that there are missing pieces in this still young software that mostly is a delight. And the good thing is that the solution might be close now, they are working on it and the improvements in 1.8 seem promising.
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4 hours ago, JeffT said:
People are too used now to the Photoshop functionalities that any lack in the basic functions in a new software would translate into failure to become the new number one.
Well, those people can continue to pay the Adobe tax for now, then. Others, like me, are very happy to have the best alternative so far and for a very fair (non-subscription!) price at that.
Yes, Affinitys products doesn't have decades of refining yet and there are even some basic things missing, among the thousands of basic features that already are implemented. Crying that the software "is that silly” just because this one feature is not as convenient as in Photoshop right now is sort of childish.
And this whole ”failure to become the new number one”, who says Affinity has to be the number one? They can thrive just fine being an awesome alternative that keeps getting better and better. Not Affinity, nor any other graphic software company, will dethrone Adobe in the near future.
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23 minutes ago, Patrick Connor said:
I don’t know how many of you have noticed…
I did!
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FYI the 1.8 beta of Publisher has IDML import! It's a start:
QuoteThis build includes an importer for the IDML ((Adobe) InDesign Markup Language) file format. Many entities, attributes and properties are not currently imported. In general if a feature currently has no native support it is unlikely to be imported entirely successfully. In addition to this, please find below a list highlighting features we know are not currently supported fully.
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@Oval Yes, it's quite reasonable that the period from first beta to the final coordinated release of 1.8 takes some time, weeks or months.
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3 hours ago, smithclarkson01 said:
no reply?
The answer is right here in the thread, just read above. ”We hope to have this fixed for v1.8.”
And the beta of 1.8 will be out ”soon”.
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14 minutes ago, Spiro said:
any update about the fix of this bug?
Seems like 1.8 might be on to something, as haakoo posted above, just follow the link.
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1 hour ago, Oval said:
And still not for INDD …
They specifically said that INDD is not coming, only IDML. So until they say otherwise you shouldn't expect it at all. But as mentioned above, there are ways to prepare for that by converting to IDML using [batch] scripts.
- GWCTas, Blackybgm and jmwellborn
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On 9/16/2019 at 3:27 AM, robfol said:
IDML file opening has been promised for well over a year now!
You make it sound like they promised a release a year ago, but the only thing they said is that they are working on IDML support but they can't give any timeline. Also they said it's not a trivial feature to implement.
On 9/16/2019 at 3:27 AM, robfol said:Can we please have some accurate info and not vague promises?
That's not how software development works. Unless you're almost finished you really don't know how long it will take to implement a complex feature, any "accurate information" would be guesstimates at best. And then there's the whole business part of it, Affinity have to decide what features and development to prioritize over others through a whole series of applications and platforms, depending on God knows how many variables. And things constantly change along the way. So they know better than to give ”accurate info” when there are uncertainties ahead.
- GWCTas and jmwellborn
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On 7/8/2019 at 7:11 PM, idyguy said:
WOW! Here we are almost a year after this post and there is still no method for packaging a project. I simply cannot understand why this feature has not been implemented.
You simple cannot understand software development. Publisher is still brand new! They cannot put in every feature every user "demands" in the first release. It's not like the first release of Pagemaker had every feature of the current InDesign version.
We all have different priorities, but there are way more features out there that are essential than this, for most users (I'd guess more people probably need IDML import first). Packaging is convenient and they are working on it for future releases. Until then the current version of Publisher is quite capable for creating content for many users and it's without doubt the best thing that has come to life for desktop publishing, for us who want an InDesign replacement.
- Rica.E and Michael117
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1 hour ago, Kalyori said:
What's the best way to preserve this? I suppose a PDF would allow me to "view" what I did in the past, but if there was some artwork that I wanted to copy over into Publisher, is there a format I could use that would allow that? As opposed to me re-designing said artwork from scratch in Publisher?
Exporting all your InDesign work as both IDML and PDF is probably the safest bet (maybe even creating InDesign packages). The script I've mentioned earlier helps with batch exporting.
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7 hours ago, dannymontani said:
Sorry to say this program is going to be dead without the ability to open InDesign files. The only way it will survive is brand new users out in the universe. Money not spent well. I'm sure we will pay for the option....way out in the future. Damn it.
That's just BS. Those who need to open InDesign files are a large group, no doubt, but not the entire market. They do love to come here and demand support for InDesign files, for sure.
With the low price of AP they reach segments that Adobe never did. I've been using InDesign since it was Aldus Pagemaker and going forward I'll be using Publisher (with great joy). My business is not big enough to justify the continuous payment of CC, even if I wanted to. But Publisher is a no-brainer.
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1 hour ago, bdonovanw said:
I'm not sure what this is getting at. InDesign is a 64-bit app, so there won't be any problems running the current version of ID on Catalina, if that's the issue.
I assume we are talking about those still on old licences (CS5 and CS6) and do not want to, or cannot afford, to pay continuously for Creative Cloud just to be able to open old documents. I think CS6 and everything earlier is 32 bit.
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28 minutes ago, ABP said:
Thank you Adrian. Are you saying that IDMLs will still open even if one has upgraded to the next OS?
I'm saying support for importing IDML is coming in Affinity Publisher at some time, but not .indd files (see link).
Workarounds for Distortion, Warp, or Perspective distort?
in Feedback for Affinity Designer V1 on Desktop
Posted
I agree wholeheartedly! One think I really appreciate is Affinitys use of these forums to post updates on new versions and even new beta version with detailed changelog (like this). There is often Affinity replies to user feedback on specific bugs there as well. That is very useful in my opinion, and not seen from many of the larger software companies.