cal.zone

I'm not seeing how it's more straightforward to have to deal with an export dialogue littered with various tabs and options if you've simply opened a png… and all you want to do is save it and be done. In any other Mac app, not just Photoshop, the process is the same: Save As… if you need to put it in a different location than where it is currently (especially if it's but a temporary file). No options to select or confirm. Just Cmd-Shift-S… select the location you desire (Often simply by using Cmd-D for Desktop) and change the name if need be… hit enter… Cmd-W to close the window and move on with your life. Maybe it's because I work under the drag-and-drop-to-open a file paradigm so much. I know of no better way to start with one thing and turn it into another. And it doesn't matter if the file you're dragging is even part of your filesystem. It can come from anywhere… the internet… an instant message… sometimes it can even be content from inside a different "file". Like if I'm editing text for a layout in a web development IDE and realize I need to quickly change a graphic… I can drag the image straight from the inside of one program and have it open in my image editor. I can do that with Aperture and Photos… it's very common. And whenever I do this, 8 times of 10 I end up wanting to keep everything about the file (format, resolution, transparency, depth) the same but want to save it as a new version or in a different location. Export is way too tedious for this process. I don't see how it can remotely be more straightforward. At the very least, Affinity Photo should respect the Cmd-Click on the titlebar paradigm that lets you quickly navigate the filesystem hierarchy for the file you're editing. With that, I could at least Cmd-Click and go to the parent folder of the file and then drag it out to my desktop and not worry about losing it when I hit Cmd-S.

I just ran into one of the use cases for which Affinity's approach drives me bonkers: (I work in web development, so this actually happens a lot… but for a while I hadn't been working with images so forgot this exact workflow problem… until now) I drag an image (typically a logo) on a website (or copy it to the clipboard) onto the Affinity Photo icon in my dock. I need to do some cropping or touch up work to it. The drag and drop action opens Affinity Photo and loads the photo for editing. Alternatively, if I copied to clipboard, I open a new blank document and paste. I make my edits. Because the file did not originate on my filesystem and doesn't technically exist yet, if I were to save my changes, they'd be lost… saved to some temporary cache deep within the filesystem. So I have to Save As… in order to save it as a brand new file onto my desktop. But Save As… doesn't give me the ability to save a standard non-proprietary format (like png or jpg). Indeed, if I dragged the image from the browser onto the AP icon, it has already opened up correctly as a flat png file. If I were to save, it would correctly save as png… (except not in the right place on my filesystem and the temporary files get overwritten very quickly, so even assuming I had the time and inclination to navigate to the temporary items folder and find it… it might be too late). I'm forced to use the export multi-step process to save a file that should naturally save in it's original format and specifications. I shouldn't have to decide whether it's going to be PNG or JPG or the resolution or quality or bit depth… or transparency… it's all ridiculous. Now, mind you, this exact same problem exists any time you create a brand new AP document. You are not allowed to save it as anything other than AP. Your only recourse is to export. So even if you don't work on the web, perhaps you create a new document and paste a jpg and doodle over it and flatten it… nothing serious. You're forced to save as AP or export, There's no good reason for this behavior. It suits no one. People can defend it all they want, but in reality, what they're saying is: "I don't have this workflow problem so I don't care" or "I'm not bothered by having to go through extra steps to accomplish this so I don't care". And you know, there's an awful lot of technological development that we can all live without or work around. We don't need word processors… we can use typewriters. We don't need automatic shifters in our cars, we can use manual transmission. We don't need electric mixers… we can whip by hand. We don't need calculators, we can do it long hand. The point is: it should be a fairly trivial change for Affinity as changes go. And it has zero drawbacks and only benefit to lots of workflows.

We agree on the conclusion that Affinity should behave with the normal UX for Save as. The irony is we agree on the conclusion because we disagree on whether there's a practical difference between Export and Save as. You claim there isn't (and so I'm puzzled why you think Affinity should behave in the standard classic way)… while I claim there is and this is the very reason that Affinity should behave in the standard classic way. What this shows, I guess… is that the standard classic way is critical no matter what your viewpoint on Save as vs Export.

The issue is that Save As and Export are two different, yet equally important concepts: Export assumes you care to retain your current file as-is and create a copy of some other format for use elsewhere. Save as assumes you don't care to retain your current file as-is and instead want to convert it to a different format (or name). It can be used for versioning and (common with digital image editing) it can be used to implement a series of complex transformations to a file… only to decide you don't care to preserve layers or editing history, etc… and just want to save it and forget it… or to convert a work to a format other than the one that is native to the platform you're working with. This last example is extremely common for people who start work with files that are ultimately intended to go to a different application and never come back to the app used to start work. For example, you may not have MS Excel on your Mac but you need to create a spreadsheet that a co-worker will be using Excel to read and edit. So you would want to open Numbers to create the spreadsheet but then Save as an MS Excel file and not bother keeping the Numbers document.* Export is entirely different because it assumes you do care to preserve the current file as-is (whether native format to the app or not). In Photoshop, they have the "save as a copy" checkbox, which is effectively identical to using an Export function. It means you keep your current document as-is and create a new copy of a different format. Save as, on the other hand, assumes you're abandoning your current document and using it as a starting point for a new document of a different name and/or format. All changes get saved to the new document and the original document is effectively reverted to last saved (or, if never saved, there is no original document at all and you have simply used Save As to dictate to your software what your preferred destination format is for this file). Having to use Export in Affinity effectively kills this entire workflow branch and forces you to always keep an Affinity Photo version (either on disk or in memory) while exporting your copy elsewhere. * Note: I'm not claiming you can do this with Numbers (you can't)… only that this is a perfect use case that Save as would cater to (so it should… indeed, IMO, any format you can Export to, you should be able to also Save as).

It only works for me if it’s one bitmap and I want to save it to the exact same file system location. Which is rarely the case when making edits because either you want to preserve the original and make a copy or you want to save it to an accessible location (dragged items are not normal file system objects and you can’t access them after saving and closing them). And of course it won’t work at all if you make a composite graphic. So 90% of the time I have to export when Save As would be the CORRECT approach.

I can't count how many times I've opened a bitmap not on my normal filesystem (someone iMessaged it, I dragged it from a browser, I pasted it, etc) and went to crop it, resize it, or do some other light editing work and then, when the time came to save it, I was unable to save it on my desktop because Save As forces me to convert it to an Affinity Photo document. Or I've opened various bitmaps with the intent of creating some type of simple composite image… even if I flatten it, I can't save it as a bitmap anymore. A lot of the work we do involves some tedious temporary image editing tasks that we have no desire to keep a master document behind. We're just converting something into something else and moving on. With other software titles throughout history, Save As let you save this modified final output file and never look back. Affinity Photo doesn't let you do this. Instead you have to export. Which is a tedious effort compared to Save As. Not only that, but after you make your export, you have to discard your master document. Life was so much more streamlined when you'd open the bitmaps, edit, flatten, Save As, quit. Boom. Your final output is where you want it and you have no detritus to manage.

Thank you for the tips. The spacebar to hide the box seems to mostly work ok. I found a case where it doesn't work: when you're working with text. I imagine I'll bump into other cases where it's not the same, considering that it's effectively replacing my current tool with a panning tool — and because it's also only a temporary effect. Spacebar + CMD… great news! Works well (and as one would expect, adding option makes it zoom out). I'm surprised there's no temporary Selection (Arrow/Move tool) shortcut. That seems like a pretty common use case.

I've searched the forums and found lots of requests for this feature in Affinity Photo, and it sounds like you implemented it, but I haven't found anything about the same thing in Designer. Basically, the issue is that the selection box often obscures critical details needed to make aesthetic judgements and especially judgements relative to size, placement, and alignment. Illustrator has the cmd-H shortcut which allows you to hide your selection until you press the shortcut again. I know that Designer has a "view mode" where the selection box will get hidden when you drag it, but this is not the same thing. For one, it requires actively dragging it. For another, it presents some unintuitive behavior (multiple object selects get automatically hidden for some reason… which is confusing because why should they be treated different from single object selects?). Lastly, it is a button you have to click with your mouse, which is much slower and harder to manage than a shortcut, which allows you to quickly and easily turn it on and off as needed. --- Unrelated question: Does Affinity use any "temporary" keyboard shortcuts? What I mean is, Adobe had some very convenient shortcuts that were only active as long as you were pressing the key, and as soon as you let go, your previously selected tool would be active. For example, cmd-spacebar to quickly zoom in or out… or spacebar to pan the canvas… or cmd to use the selection arrow… or option to use switch normal selection to direct selection tool… and when you let go, you're back to whatever you had before. Lots of tools actually changed mode (temporarily) if you pressed a certain modifier key. This is extremely useful when editing curves to bring up the anchor conversion tool, subtract anchor point, add anchor point, or select and drag anchor point. That said, more than anything, I pine for a temporary zoom and arrow.