Saving different workspaces

[Andy05]

I've searched the forums for this request, but only found it mentioned in other suggestions/comments - not as a standalone feature request. If it exists, I'm sorry four double posting this issue. But I think it's a long overdue feature for the whole suite. 

I'm using all three affinity apps on a high-end laptop. That said, I'm working with 1-3 monitors, depending on the location I'm at (home, travel, customers etc.). Hence, I use different setups for which panels I have open at the same time, and where I've placed them (i. e. on separate monitors in order to maximise the canvas space.

So, it's really annoying that I have to (re-)arrange my panels every time I switch my location I'm currently working at. This is a repetitive and tedious work. It's seriously annoying, hence I'm requesting for an option to save different workspaces for a quick, easy and convenient way to setup each app of the suite for different situations currently given.

 

Edited March 28, 2020 by Andy05
[EDIT] @Moderator: sorry for posting in the wrong sub-forum. It should be a request for the whole suite, not designer only. Please, move thread, if possible. Thanks!

[Pšenda]

5 hours ago, Andy05 said:

not as a standalone feature request

https://www.google.com/search? q=Save+Workspace+request+site%3Aforum.affinity.serif.com

 

 

[Andy05]

Thanks! I used the search of the fora, which gave a gazillion hits, but none on the first couple of pages. Using google instead of a native search shouldn't actually give better results. And I have to admit, I'd never have thought of using external services for something, which a forum software should do better natively.

But looking at the results, it's even worse! How can a business, which is aiming to pull people away from other professional software suites, ignore such a basic requirement for nowadays systems for such a long time? With more and more people working in office and home office, visiting customers etc.? Not only since the current corona crisis, BTW.

It's not like such a feature would require a lot of programming as it needs just some save/backup/restore management for a couple of configuration files (hence, a workaround with a bat-file is even available in these forums).

Kinda disappointing that one either has to spend time for a setup each time one changes the working environment or deal with external workarounds as solution.

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, Andy05 said:

which a forum software should do better natively.

I am afraid this is not the right assumption. Working large records and finding relevant results is not an easy task, and Google (whether someone likes it or not) is just good at it :-) 

 

2 hours ago, Andy05 said:

It's not like such a feature would require a lot of programming

Yes, but with similar requirements, from the user's point of view very easy, here waiting for implementing a lot.

Perhaps read this article:

https://affinityspotlight.com/article/interview-with-andy-somerfield-lead-affinity-photo-developer/

[Andy05]

10 hours ago, Pšenda said:

I am afraid this is not the right assumption. Working large records and finding relevant results is not an easy task, and Google (whether someone likes it or not) is just good at it 🙂

More or less. As you never can know whether or not the designers of a forum made which parts of it traceable. Yes, one could find out by trial and error and just google it. Just like someone just could use a different software, which provides an UI which adopts to different environments.  As I don't want either, I'm still using a software's native search over external tools as much as I'd prefer using a native solution for different workspaces rather than an external workaournd for the Affinity apps.

10 hours ago, Pšenda said:

 

Yes, but with similar requirements, from the user's point of view very easy, here waiting for implementing a lot.

Perhaps read this article:

https://affinityspotlight.com/article/interview-with-andy-somerfield-lead-affinity-photo-developer/

Well, it's one thing adding new features and gimmicks with each major update, but a basic and simple (believe me, it's simple, I used to developed various software projects for central markets in Germany) tweak for the UI is something, which shouldn't be on a "dynamic" roadmap for years at all. (Assuming it is on that list at all, read below.)

In particular if it's a requirement for professional use—which competitors know for years. Having a feature like different workspaces for different situations went through decades of development in countless of applications by now. Why do you think, saving custom workspaces got implemented into so many professional software (not just in graphics and design) over the years? Just for fun?

Affinity seemed to aim for getting the "professionals" away from competitors' software as well. And it's essential to mimic their workflow in regards of use of a program as close as possible. Ignoring things like this, but implementing new features for drawing and designing only isn't the right was on the long road for this.

But I start to believe, that ignoring this request just might be intentional. As there are less professional users who would like to see this feature than casual/tablet/iPad users paying for the suite and/or its standalone applications. Hence, the developers just follow the (easy) money. Which isn't bad - it's actually, what a business is for. 

It's a decision made, and we'll have to live with that. Obviously. The focus clearly is on the majority of users who just use a single device and never switch the environment. Understandable, as said, from a business' point of view. But if one wants to become more or less standard one day in a sector which is so massively obsessed by one global player right now, one cannot ignore such developments which emerged from years of usage in other programs—one either has to implement or to improve them.