Alex_dlc Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 (This is in no way a complaint or anything like that, just plain curiosity) 1104BonitaVon 1 Quote iMac 27" · 3.4Ghz Intel Core i7 · 32GB · NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX 2GB · 3TB Fusion Drive · OSX 10.11.5 Wacom Intuos Pen and Touch Medium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen_H Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 Also curious. The current extensions are abnormally long and non-standard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coranda Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 This is just a guess but I suspect Serif is just being progressive. The idea of 3 a character file extensions harks back to the memory/storage limitations of very early microcomputers where the standard was 8.3, that is, file names of no more than 8 characters followed by a 3 character extension. Modern operating system long ago ditched the 8 character name limitation but, for some reason, the 3 character extension has lived an artificially long life. Also, 3 characters is very limiting in terms of creating a unique file type identifier that is also mnemonically meaningful. The extensions .ade and .aph, for example, have already been used by other software. peter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted August 19, 2015 Share Posted August 19, 2015 This has been explained elsewhere in the forums...all three file extenions are interchangeable so... AD can open AD/APh/APu files APh can open APh/AD/APu files APu can open APu/AD/APh files This single format/multi-extention setup, allows for maximum compatibility as well saying which app created that file. So when you click on the file's icon the correct app will fire up and load the file for you. Quote MacBook pro, 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB, OS X 10.11.6 http://www.pinterest.com/peter2111 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coreh Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 OS X is also known for it's long file extensions, like .framework and .bundle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seneca Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Hello Stephen_H, There is nothing non standard about the long extensions. The Affinity Team has explained their why already. Please search for their explanation/rationale somewhere in the forums. Regards Quote 2017 27” iMac 4.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 • Radeon Pr 580 8GB • 64GB • Ventura 13.6.4. iPad Pro (10.5-inch) • 256GB • Version 16.4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff MattP Posted August 20, 2015 Staff Share Posted August 20, 2015 To save a search, the quick answer is just that we were going to use .afd and .afp, but then what do you have as the extension for Affinity Publisher? It's got to be .afp again so why not just make things really clear, abandon the 3 character extension logic that came from WAAAAY back in time and just go with something more obvious? :) (The fact that we've got .afdesign and .afphoto nowadays is a good thing - a while ago we were using .affinitydesigner and .affinityphoto which was really annoying because it's quite long!) ;) ronnyb and JasperD 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yakk Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 We are in 2015 and modern operating systems can get rid of the old limitations. And since we are talking of the Mac ecosystem, let's think different ! ;) Quote OS X 10.12 - AP 1.6.6 - AD 1.6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VIPStephan Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Sorry for digging this up but I felt the need to add my two cents worth. I know that there is no character limitation anymore but long file extensions still feel kind of awkward to me, just because I (and I’m probably not the only one) am so used to three or four characters maximum. It looks strange to me if the file extension is longer than the actual file name. Likewise, people still write “www.” in front of every website URL despite the fact that this subdomain is usually completely redundant nowadays. Anyway, I still prefer a three (or maximum four) character file extension. My motto is: just because you can do something without limitations doesn’t mean you have to do it. ronnyb 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seneca Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Certain questions keep coming up again and again. Please search the forum first before asking. And that goes for all of us of course. ;) Quote 2017 27” iMac 4.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 • Radeon Pr 580 8GB • 64GB • Ventura 13.6.4. iPad Pro (10.5-inch) • 256GB • Version 16.4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 We are in 2015 and modern operating systems can get rid of the old limitations. And since we are talking of the Mac ecosystem, let's think different ! ;) Well...you can now "tile your windows in Mac OS X/El Capitan". Quote MacBook pro, 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB, OS X 10.11.6 http://www.pinterest.com/peter2111 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Certain questions keep coming up again and again. Please search the forum first before asking. And that goes for all of us of course. ;) Fair point Seneca, otherwise some poor soul will have to do a awful lot of house keeping, down in the cellar, removing and deleting the duplicate threads. :P Quote MacBook pro, 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB, OS X 10.11.6 http://www.pinterest.com/peter2111 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VIPStephan Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 Certain questions keep coming up again and again. Please search the forum first before asking. And that goes for all of us of course. ;) I didn’t specifically search for the reason why they chose the file extensions (although I was wondering about this myself, independently), I just stumbled upon this thread and thought I’d leave my two cents. However, taking your advice I searched for “file extension” and found no thread of similar nature. Go figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnyb Posted November 2, 2015 Share Posted November 2, 2015 I prefer succinct 3 characer extensions too. I turn off Show extension only for affinity docs, which sucks, because it clutters up my finder columns/views having such long extensions in addition to project codes sand naming conventions.... could this be a preference? I propose for 3 letter extensions the following format: Affinity Designer = .adn Affinity Photo = .aph Affinity Publisher = .apl, .apu or .apr (adobe has .apb) To save a search, the quick answer is just that we were going to use .afd and .afp, but then what do you have as the extension for Affinity Publisher? It's got to be .afp again so why not just make things really clear, abandon the 3 character extension logic that came from WAAAAY back in time and just go with something more obvious? :) (The fact that we've got .afdesign and .afphoto nowadays is a good thing - a while ago we were using .affinitydesigner and .affinityphoto which was really annoying because it's quite long!) ;) anon1 1 Quote 2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Sonoma 14.4.1 2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff Ben Posted November 3, 2015 Staff Share Posted November 3, 2015 ronnyb - you've also identified the other problem with using 3 character combinations - a lot of them have already been used. We'd need to find consistent extensions for other existing apps (not to mention any other apps that we might want to do later). Using a** does somewhat limit our choices. ronnyb 1 Quote SerifLabs team - Affinity Developer Software engineer - Photographer - Guitarist - Philosopher iMac 27" Retina 5K (Late 2015), 4.0GHz i7, AMD Radeon R9 M395 MacBook (Early 2015), 1.3GHz Core M, Intel HD 5300 iPad Pro 10.5", 256GB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnyb Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 True, Ben it does seems that 3 letter extensions are filling up... What about adding just ONE more letter, so it's a 4 letter extension like .JPEG or .TIFF? What about these, where the first 2 characters represent the company, and the last two the product: Designer = .afdn Photo = afpt Publisher = .afpb The current file extensions just seems a bit excessive.... ronnyb - you've also identified the other problem with using 3 character combinations - a lot of them have already been used. We'd need to find consistent extensions for other existing apps (not to mention any other apps that we might want to do later). Using a** does somewhat limit our choices. Quote 2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Sonoma 14.4.1 2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anon1 Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 I'd say afds and afph because that is more where the pronunciation is IMO but apart from that I also like the shorter extensions. Although I don't find the current setting awkward. It really is up to personal preferences so we could just meet at the serif office and have some tee and discuss the whole thing :D haha ronnyb 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ronnyb Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 MBd, I'm in, but only if they're also serving crumpets... ;) I'd say afds and afph because that is more where the pronunciation is IMO but apart from that I also like the shorter extensions.Although I don't find the current setting awkward.It really is up to personal preferences so we could just meet at the serif office and have some tee and discuss the whole thing :D haha anon1 and MattP 2 Quote 2021 16” Macbook Pro w/ M1 Max 10c cpu /24c gpu, 32 GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Sonoma 14.4.1 2018 11" iPad Pro w/ A12X cpu/gpu, 256 GB, iPadOS 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 I'm up for tea and crumpets, but the extension needn't be discussed :) Unless the team fancy making DOS Affinity apps? Guys? DOS would FLY on modern hardware. ronnyb, Erwe and stokerg 3 Quote Twitter: @Writer_DaleAffinity apps run on: Ryzen 5 3600, 32GB RAM, GTX1650 Super Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VIPStephan Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 True, Ben it does seems that 3 letter extensions are filling up... What about adding just ONE more letter, so it's a 4 letter extension like .JPEG or .TIFF? TWO letter extensions aren’t too common, there’s some room left. Adobe does it with AI and ID files, for example. We could have .ad and .ap – hmm, Publisher is really something to ponder… Alternatively one could scrap the “a” for Affinity completely and have .de, .ph, and .pu Edit: Sorry, I was wrong with InDesign files, they have the extension .indd. peter 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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