Issues with Separated Mode

[tuomas_h]

I'm currently dipping my toes in Publisher, looking to switch from InDesign, and would prefer to use it in Separated Mode with floating panels because that's how I'm used to working.

However, I'm experiencing difficulties using the application in this mode.

 

Issue 1:

When editing styles (character style, paragraph style, group style), the focus changes away from the style editor window back to the document after every interaction. At best this is a minor annoyance, but it makes some things frustrating or almost impossible to accomplish, such as operating the slider when changing line width for a decoration.

See the screen recording (second video) for a demonstration. Notice how after every change I make to a setting unfocuses the editor and focuses the document window, despite the fact that there's nothing to do in the document.

Issue 2:

When multiple documents are open and some of them are minimised to the Dock, editing any text in the document I'm working on will unminimise those documents. Also, if these documents are already unminimised, editing text will focus one of the other documents.

See the screen recording (first video) for a demonstration. I have three open documents, and in the beginning I'll minimise two of those. In the document that's left I have simply a text box into which I'm attempting to type random characters.

Issue 3:

Text editing feels more sluggish in Separated Mode. 

An unrelated issue – happens both separated and non-separated mode – that's visible at the end of first video, is when deleting text with the backspace key, the Edit menu always flashes as if I was using a keyboard shortcut. Deleting text should not flash the Edit menu – it doesn't do that in any other Mac applications that also use the backspace key for deleting objects when not editing text.

 

Affinity Publisher 1.8.3, Mac OS X 10.14.6 on a MacBook Pro Late 2013.

Thanks for your time.

 

Edited April 24, 2020 by tuomas_h
Specify which video is which

[thomaso]

Issue 1:
Does it affect any action within this text style editor window? – Or is it rather related to the stroke slider? For the stroke slider it was recently reported (don't know if logged, too). It also occurs e.g. if you try to slide the stroke width in the paragraph panel's Decoration section.

– Workaround: Instead of using the slider enter a numeric value.

Issue 2:
I experience various issues in Separated Mode since early beta versions, some related to using two monitors. A report about app crash on "Save As..." was answered as being related to Separated Mode and/or a specific macOS version. (don't know if logged, too).

–  Workaround: Avoid minimizing document windows and instead either/or...
... Use "Merge All Windows" to collect opened documents in 1 main window and switch/select them with their window tabs.
... Use the macOS feature "Mission Control" to select an opened document window.

Issue 3:
The issue of the flashing edit menu when using the delete key was reported recently but not commented yet.
Unfortunately if I remove the shortcut for the command then I still can delete text but can't delete objects/layers any more.
(after reassign the shortcut it needs an app restart to make it work.)

 

 

[tuomas_h]

Thanks for your reply.

On Issue 1: It does affect any action in the window – selecting a value from a dropdown menu, or ticking a checkbox, focus changes to the document window. Also happens when stepping values in text fields up or down using arrow keys – I need to refocus the text field again after every step. The paragraph panel does appear to behave identically. I can type in values just fine – it appears the issue is with any action that immediately results in an update (in the style, document, etc).

Thanks for the workarounds also, maybe someone will find them useful.

My apologies for reporting issues that have already been reported – I did not notice these.

[thomaso]

>> "On Issue 1: It does affect any action in the window"

Oh, indeed, I get it too, with many options in this situation. Once in a while it seems to work but most often it fails, I can't recognize a rule.

• Tabbing between value fields (e.g. Decoration left etc) works for one cycle but stops working if the highlight is back to the starting field.

• If I have a text frame selected when editing in this window then using the up/down keyboard keys with a numeric field highlighted does change its value only 1x, all further key actions make the selected object move.

• Different to the initial video above I see colored ellipses at the left of the main window title bar, toggling to gray on most edit actions in the style edit window, regardless of dark or light mode.

[woefi]

Wow, weird...typing or deleting Text is basic text editing and should not have to go through a menu-item. Sounds like an awkward hack.

I primarily use separated mode and I can recreate all these bugs on my machine. Although I never minimise document-windows, only Finder-windows.

 

edit: Just now AfPub even crashed, as I was messing around with these text decorations, like in your video. – I think it was on the seventh time I changed the stroke slider... 

[tuomas_h]

1 hour ago, thomaso said:

• Different to the initial video above I see colored ellipses at the left of the main window title bar, toggling to gray on most edit actions in the style edit window, regardless of dark or light mode.

This is because I use the "graphite" accent colour in Mac OS. This results in dark grey window controls that would otherwise be red, yellow and green.

[Gabe]

Hi all,

Sorry for the delayed reply. 

We are aware of issue 1 and it's logged.

Issue 2 is now fixed in the latest beta. 

Issue 3 is also fixed in the latest beta, and the "Edit" button does not flash anymore when hitting backspace or delete. 

[woefi]

On 4/24/2020 at 1:06 PM, tuomas_h said:

when deleting text with the backspace key, the Edit menu always flashes as if I was using a keyboard shortcut.

 

3 hours ago, Gabe said:

Issue 3 is also fixed in the latest beta, and the "Edit" button does not flash anymore when hitting backspace or delete. 

 

Issue #3 is not fixed for me.
Is there a newer beta than .651? It's not posted in patrick connor's thread.

edit: I manually reset the keyboard shortcuts to "affinity defaults" and the "delete"-shortcut is gone. Backspace now works for me.

[Gabe]

8 minutes ago, woefi said:

edit: I manually reset the keyboard shortcuts to "affinity defaults" and the "delete"-shortcut is gone. Backspace now works for me.

If it was mapped to the "Delete" shortcut, then that's standard behaviour. Try it in any app, with any "Edit" functions (CMD + C, CMD + V, etc)

[woefi]

@Gabe Well I'm sorry I have to disagree, but that's like mapping the "a" key to a shortcut that inputs the letter "a".

It's not the same as CMD+V, It is basic text input.

 

I repeat: It is now OK. it works without flashing.
If I reload the defaults. Before reloading there was a keyboard mapping, now it isn't. And it works, but doesn't flash.

 

What I was wondering: I looked it up in the releave versions of the other apps, Photo and Designer, and there is still a keyboard shortcut mapped, which should be superflous. (Maybe a leftover=) 
It's no program error, just the app's keyboard settings are wrong. I manually changed them in the release versions and it's OK. (well, Photo is strange, though, as it flashes "Layer"...)

 

also: As someone, who usually works with extended keyboards, I have to ask, why is the menu-item called "delete" if the delete key is not pressed, rather than the backspace-key...

[garrettm30]

1 hour ago, woefi said:

I have to ask, why is the menu-item called "delete" if the delete key is not pressed, rather than the backspace-key...

I guess the terminology is not too standard. I have an official Apple extended keyboard, and that backspace key is named "delete." The other button, sometimes called "forward delete," is printed as "delete ⌦." I'm not sure, but I do think "delete" tends to be the standard terminology on Apple keyboards for what is called "backspace" on others. But it could be regional, and I do know that sometimes keys names on Apple keyboards have varied over the years, such as the ⌘ key.

[thomaso]

... also note that on non-extended keyboards (like macbooks) there is no literally backspace key at all. Instead this key always + only does delete, while to specify the action it needs to press delete + a modifier key (opt: 1 word / cmd: 1 line / fn: forward). This way it's similar to the arrow keys to step forward/backwards, also influenced by modifier keys (single character > word > entire line).

There are a few more keys which depend on the hardware, e.g. on a macbook there are also no page-up and page-down keys (which would be used as shortcuts in APub to jump to previous/next page in the main window).

Furthermore some are related to the keyboard language, e.g. [ and ]. In APub these are used in quite a few shortcuts, together with modifier keys, but I can't use any of them because I need the Option key already to achieve a single [ or ] at all. Also related might be the occurrence that, when I use in Pages Panel Cmd + arrow key, it navigates through the page icons but additionally beeps + enlightens the screen each time (oddly, because they don't beep+flash when pressed within a text frame, where they do navigate too).

[woefi]

57 minutes ago, garrettm30 said:

I do think "delete" tends to be the standard terminology on Apple keyboards for what is called "backspace" on others.

agree. And with many things regarding keyboards, it's very regional.

and back on topic: I just realised, adobe indesign also uses the Edit/Delete Shortcut.
But it's functionally separated from text editing, it flashes when deleting objects, but does not when deleting text.

Which is why I suspect there is no distinction of these different modes within affinitys apps...

 

[thomaso]

47 minutes ago, woefi said:

Which is why I suspect there is no distinction of these different modes within affinitys apps...

I definitely noticed a difference as mentioned in my 1st reply: With the shortcut deleted the key still worked with the Text Tool but not with the Move Tool, so I was able to delete text bot not objects.