CLC

You probably don’t understand @walt.farrell - I’m never asking a question without “playing with the software” as you describe it, for hours first. I am not a redditor who goes to the forums to ask questions if he’s lazy to find out - I just refuse to use beta products marked not ready for production (Designer/Photo customer betas) but have spent hours attepting to work with Publisher beta to find out if it´s a possible replacement for InDesign. Not impressed so far - I feel it’s actually in early pre-alpha stage. Even automatic typographic settings are wrong here... with font size 10 pt, software should default to 12 pt line height (but Auto settings defaults to the very 10 pt, thus not leaving enough space for accented characters. Another step user has to do every time, over and over...) My question isn’t Publisher-specific, the same goes with Designer and Photo - both apps can and will be used to setup multi-language documents and should include such options, no matter if you think some other app should do the job. It’s up to an user to decide what product suits them to achieve their goal. I know, to this day, several designers who use Photoshop - yes, Photoshop - to design and complete hundred pages long catalogs, because they are visually-oriented people and dislike QuarkXPress, InDesign, or Scribus’ workflow. It’s their decision and we are not here to tell them they are doing it wrong, because there is another app they should work with. Also - I want more user control and less automatic behavior from Affinity. Nearly everytime any software does such automatic changes by itself, without my interaction, I’m pulling my hair off. I believe it’s just wrong. In this specific case, there are also many languages that are similar to each other, use very same accented characters that would suggest it’s the same language, but they use very, very different typographic conventions (curly quotes, different punctuation, different metrics and even keening values for some kerning pairs ie). Even google translate often fails to recognise them from each other - Affinity won’t ever be smarter there, no matter what you might want it to be... Such options like this should always be under users control, never automagic. Setting up a brochure (thus need for multiple quote settings) on different (and in some cases even the same) pages in 6, 10 or 12 languages within one document isn’t an uncommon scenario - quite contrary - think of user manuals, and should deffinitely be addressed by a professional layout application. Let me ask you a personal question, Walt - are you a professional working in printing industry, or a hobbyist? Disclaimer: typing this on my phone, I apologise for probable typos.

I just downloaded .337 and no issues with the download here.

Indeed. Currently, it seems it seems to be (again) automatic (application/system wise). When I use English version of Adobe Creative Suite while I'm setting documents in multiple languages, each of the languages uses different kind of quotes and I can easily switch (choose) type of those typographic quotes (thus making 6 language versions of the same brochure is a breeze). Seems something like that is not yet possible in any of the Affinity products, am I right? Thank you, but how about the scenario I mentioned above? Also, what if the languages I'm setting text in aren't on the Spelling Language list? Does it mean I can use Publisher only to set text in supported languages?

Hi Serif, is there a plan for support other than simple typographic quotes for all Affinity Products, especially Publisher? Different langues require different types of quotes, in example, in my country, we quote with so called „9966 curly quotes“ (← example included). Thanks for your response, I just hope it's on a roadmap CLC

I could never word this better @JGD - thank you so much!

I also got a suggestion for guides. When you use Guide Manager and click the guide's coordinates, be it horizontal or vertical one, the guide itself should get highligted (maybe change color) so you know what guide you're working with. Just basic good ux. If you need to use some complicated guide structure, things get complicated the way it is atm. Edit: Also, multiple guide selection in Guides Manager pane would be huge improvement. I don't have time nor energy to test the betas, to if this was implemented over there already, disregard suggestions above.

+1

It's a forum where people share ideas and discuss topics, isn't it? Here you go.

It seems that Serif is trying to reinvent the wheel here. Page montaging is old as DTP itself and to sell the product to people who work in the DTP industry for ages, you should allow them to keep their workflow. Speed is the key here. In Affinity products, I'm forced to click and click way more than in any other product, it's honestly quite painful. To me, it feels that Photo is the most developed product from the line atm, yet working with it it's still way more time consuming than using any competitors software. If it was me, I would rename current "Layers" studio panels to "Objects" and create new, real, user controlled and defined layer panel. Or would break the current layer palette in two tabs, first as it is, second one totally under users control. I completely agree that the global layers model is the selling point here.

Some fonts are "protected" and don't allow embedding; converting those to curves solves the issue (you'll lose all the optical hinting though)

I would add what I miss the most, ux-wise: edge scrolling (while editing curves, creating selections etc. - like in every other app) better keyboard accessibility (when editing values via input fields in panels and windows using keyboard, you tab to the box, enter value and, and instead of jumping to the next input box by one single tab, you have to tap tab twice - first hit deselects the current field, second one jumps to the next input field...) an optional panel for adjusting power duplicate values (number of steps and other options) arrow key nudging for selections

Indded. It's just a warning. And it's actually only Adobe Animate (Flash) product in question, see here: https://imgur.com/a/CbvApoz

All tools to achieve such results I can get for free with Inkscape, and much, much more @Mithferion. Not good enough for a professional paid product, don't you think? Swiss-design style logo creation is quite a niche, despite looking fancy and very cool these days, if I was doing just that, I might be happy, indeed (would still miss select by color/stroke width and mesh warping and offset path features for this anyway). Take care.

Well, except for a few I scratched out, I believe all those on the roadmap are basic and many of them even essential for a professional vector graphic app. Have a nice day

My apologies for misunderstanding and misquoting you. You are right.

Got that. Indeed. Yeah, ballance. Well, from my POV I would like to have and use a professional graphic design software and after 5 years of waiting it's clear I'm not going to get it here since as you said, more focus is put to attracting new customers and not satisfying current ones. Shame, since the happy current customers are the best ad. Word of mouth is and always was the best advertisement. Edit: Thank you, @Ben, and all the devs working for Serif for awesome and almost incredible job they do. The software is quite good considering its price. If mentioned basic features happen to be part of the 2.0 update, I will happily pay £250 per a product without blinking an eye. If they're missing, I'll pass though.

I believe you misunderstand what OP says. He states that no basic features (ie Select by Attribute - first requested in 2014 , Offset Path, Mesh Warp Tool in case of Designer) are still missing. It's nice that beta development goes well and the betas are updated frequently, but the production (stable) versions weren't been updated in ages. Some people don't have time nor energy to use betas in production (they bought the product to produce stuff, not to join a public beta test) and those are obviously unsatisfied since features mentioned above are really basic features that every professional design tool has. Even some free ones. All they get is workaround tips (time consuming for someone in production) or are informed that such basic features aren't on the roadmap. Don't get me wrong, i'm not a hater. I bought Mac versions of AP+AD first in 2014 and lately PC versions as well and am still hoping team will focus more on polishing the products and add such basic features that many need daily, instead of constantly adding new flashy features that people use once a year (and that's my feeling so far). But hope is all I have. To me it seems that Serif focuses more on new sales than old customerss but I might be wrong, I don't see what's going on in their offices actually. Take care.

That is untrue; Adobe is warning that users of old versions might encounter copyright infringement suit filed by a third party (speculation is the third party is Dolby) if they keep using old versions of CC.

Thanks for clarification @MEB. I'm so sad so useful and basic feature still isn't part of AD though.

@MEB Hi, "Select by attribute" entry disappeared from Affinty Designer Roadmap, does it mean the feature has been finally implemented and will be a feature of the next release? Thanks for your response.

Oh my, this is an absolutely vital feature for me as well. Without it, Designer is sadly just a shiny toy.