Useful user feedback from my first affinity project.

[7immer]

hey guys,

 

Did my first project in affinity today. I really like it! Can't wait for the photo app to be developed too  Just wanted to share a few user issues I came across while doing a real project. Hope it helps.

 

This is relevant to mostly version 1.0.18771 and a little bit of 1.0.19046. Sorry for the mix.

 

• 1. ​[RESOLVED (see post 2)] I keep wanting to click on objects and find that I can’t select them. Is there a shortcut that would allow me to do a direct selection? Photoshop has this where you can press ctrl click and it selects the layer (or group, it depends on how you set it up). Currently I have to drill down my layers window until I find the exact layer which is a really slow process. 
• 2. [RESOLVED (My faulty mouse)] I often find i’m having to click on a layer in the layers window multiple times as i find it opens and closes in one click? It seems too sensitive. Don’t know if anyone else is experiencing this.
• 3. [RESOLVED (software update)] Pasting into a file that is very long or very wide is a bit of a pain as it always pastes at the top and not at your current viewing screen position. It would be nice so that when i paste something I don’t have to scroll up and then drag it back down to where I was.
• 4. [RESOLVED (Use Shift and mousescroll)] Dragging items around to somewhere that is currently off the screen is a bit slow / sluggish/ clumsy. I found you could use the mouse wheel while holding the layer for vertical positioning but haven’t yet found anything for horizontal.
• 5. It would be nice to be able to copy and paste layer effects PLEASE PLEASE   That would be very awesome.
• 6. [RESOLVED BUT (Still think it shouldn't zoom in though)] Sometimes I’m drilling through the layers and due to having to click multiple times (on the layer icon) I find the window will  automatically change and zoom to the position of that object. This is great when you purposely intend to be editing that layer but it causes me to loose my orientation of where I am in the project especially if its a small object. I then have to zoom out every time which slows things down. Maybe this is just related to my issue with the very sensitive double clicking. maybe don't zoom to the object just change the viewers position. Perhaps if this was more animated and with a duration under a second that might help stop the loss in orientation.
• 7. [RESOLVED BUT (Personally think whole group should lock not just that layer)] If I lock a layer should I be able to move the contents inside it? This feels a bit strange.
• 8. [RESOLVED] If I press Z I get the zoom icon, if I press it again by accident or for any other reason it goes back to the pointer tool? In some situations the zoom icon doesn't appear even though it can zoom in and out? It would be nicer if it just stayed as the zoom icon after all that is what I’m pressing. 
• 9. [RESOLVED] The "frame text tool" doesn't scale it just reflows. this is good when you want to reshape the bounding box but when you are scaling a whole project or the layer that its in it just doesn't want to scale. You end up having to do "Convert to curves" which is a destructive destructive process.
• 10. These are more requests than anything else:
  • 1. In separated mode would it be possible to snap tool pallets to other tool pallets?
  • 2. with strokes I can do inner stroke with an outer stroke but I can’t find a way to be able to do an inner stroke on its own?

Hope this can provide as some useful user feed back.

 

Love the work you’re doing! Go kick adobes ass

See the attachment of my work to get perspective...

[MEB]

7immer,

You could have numbered your points to make it easy to reply to them:

• 1. In the layers panel, enable the icon on the bottom right (named All Layers) to be able to select any object from any layer.
   
• 2. One click on the arrows on the left in the layers panel is enough to expand or close the layer. Didn't have problems with this so far. It's quite reliable.
   
• 3. Agree
   
• 4. I'm using an Apple Magic Mouse and it let me move in both directions (vertical and horizontal), but i see this could become a problem for users with a regular mouse. The redraw makes the process really slow too.
   
• 5. Agree. 
   
• 6. Double-clicking an object in the layers panel will center the object on screen. This is by design. Don't click multiple times on layers to open them. See my reply to point 2.
   
• 7. I believe this is by design. If a layer is locked you can't move the objects on the canvas (you can't select them on canvas). You are only able to move them (in a locked layer) if you specifically select them in the layers panel.
  This makes sense and is useful because it prevents you from accidentally moving objects on the canvas when you are working (because you aren't able to move/select them accidentally on canvas - only in the layers panel), while still lets you adjust a single object if you select it specifically from the layers panel without having to unlock and lock again the layers.
   
• 8. This is by design. Pressing Z goes to zoom tool, pressing the same shortcut again returns to the tool you were previously. So, if you were in the Pen Tool and press Z it goes to Zoom Tool, pressing Z again will return you to the Pen Tool
   
• 9. If you look carefully there's a second "anchor" on the lower right corner of the frame object. This one scales the entire frame, instead of reflowing the text inside it.
   
• 10.1 Nothing to say about this one.
   
• 10.2 Can you rephrase this point please? If you mean creating an inner stroke without using the FX, it's not possible.

 

To moderators:

The numbered list in the forum editor only works in the preview window. The numbers doesn't show up on the post itself.

[7immer]

7immer,

You could have numbered your points to make it easy to reply to them:

1. In the layers panel, enable the icon on the bottom right (named All Layers) to be able to select any object from any layer

2. One click on the arrows on the left in the layers panel is enough to expand or close the layer. Didn't have problems with this so far

3. Agree

 

Good idea.. but the editor wouldn't let me add numbers? It showed in preview but not when I published it. I've just numbered them inline for now.

 

1. Ahhh thats much better :)

2. Ohhh. I think I was miss clicking on the arrow which was causing me to double click and then due to double clicking this inadvertently made the window zoom in on the object. Thats kind of annoying. The arrow is very small, maybe it could it be widened? Some invisible padding around the button would be enough. Perhaps limit the zooming in on object action to only when you double click in the layers icon box.

...

6. See 2.

...

8. Not sure I'm a fan of this one. I like to know that if I press a shortcut it will always be that tool. I think there also must be a bug happening here as well as sometimes when cycling I don't get the zoom curser back but I can still zoom in and out.

9. The second anchor is helpful for that specific layer but when you want to scale a group the text box content doesn't scale only the content. I can show a picture if it helps.

...

10.2. I'm referring to stroke type. You usually have inner stroke, centred stroke, and outer stroke. See image bellow. I can only see how to do outer stroke or outer stroke AND inner stroke combined.

 

Cheers for the help MEB  :)

[MattP]

Hi Guys,

 

You should find that point 3 (pasting) is changed to try to centre on the current view if the object would have been pasted outside it. The logic only tries to centre whichever (or both) axes are causing it to be out of the view.

 

We haven't done inner/outer selectable line styles yet, although you can obviously simulate the effect with a bit of clipping, but we'll get there soon :)

 

Thanks,

Matt

[Raskolnikov]

7.- I agree with MEB ...  but you can even DELETE it on the layer's panel! .... (what's the point of locking a layer if i can detele it by mistake on the panel...???)

 

...anyway, maybe there's a functional reason i missed.

[MaxClass]

Just testing “Pasting” in 1.0.19046 and it does not paste into the current center of zoom/screen if I select a object that is currently on scree and “copy” it.

 

It does, however, center if I am pasting something like a small graphic copies from the desktop.

 

No idea why here.

 

Max



[MattP]

Hi Max,

 

I should have been more clear, sorry. I meant that I had just changed it in response to comment 3 above and that the next release will act as described. Again, sorry for any confusion :)

 

Incidentally, the reason that an object pasted in from an external source is centred is simply because it doesn't already have a position, so it may as well go somewhere you can see it! With existing document objects we were pasting them at their original document position unless you were copying between documents, in which case it would try to paste in the original position unless that was outside the bounds of the new document - in which case it would centre. In the next version you receive, it will now also take the extra step of saying that if, after all of that, it was not visible in the current view area, it will centre to the view in whichever axes are necessary to make it visible. Hope that makes sense? :)

 

Thanks,

Matt

[Raskolnikov]

I think the actual way it's the correct one.... respecting the coordenates on the copy/paste.

 

For example.

 

300x300 pixel canvas, circle on it. copied.

 

Pasted on a 3000x 3000 pixels canvas.

 

 

On the reverse mode, if the canvas where is pasted it's smaller in size... and the coordenates are out of it .... the object get pasted in the middle. :)

[Dave Harris]

4. Dragging items around to somewhere that is currently off the screen is a bit slow / sluggish/ clumsy. I found you could use the mouse wheel while holding the layer for vertical positioning but haven’t yet found anything for horizontal.

 

 

The Shift key should switch between vertical and horizontal scrolling with the mouse wheel. (It also interacts with constraining when dragging, but when you release Shift the position goes back to normal.)

[7immer]

Thanks Matt!

I've just downloaded candidate 3 (been on holiday).
Copying and pasting from one file to another is a lot better now. The process is a lot more fluid. :)

 

Raskolnikov, I think the current solution (I'm using Candidate 3 now) is pretty good. With the current solution you get the best of both "modes" :) For example If the object you copied from is still within users viewport it is pasted in the same position as the original object HOWEVER If the original object isn't in the viewport ie zoomed into another part of the canvas then it will paste at the coordinates of the viewport instead. 

 

Cheers for the shortcut Dave :) Dragging is wayyyyy to slow. This shortcut makes things a lot faster now :)

 

Thanks for the help guys :)

P.S My issue with point 2. was to do with a faulty mouse so that clears that one up :)

[Raskolnikov]

Yes, i don't have either any problem with the actual behaviour. :)

 

I can't drag an element from one file's tab to other... it's possible?

[7immer]

Yes, i don't have either any problem with the actual behaviour. :)

 

I can't drag an element from one file's tab to other... it's possible?

Don't think it is. Would be a nice feature though! It's very mac like (drag n drop)  ;)

[7immer]

Refering to point 9 and scaling 'framed text', is there a shortcut key for this? It would be very useful :)

[TonyB]

Refering to point 9 and scaling 'framed text', is there a shortcut key for this? It would be very useful :)

No need for a shortcut key, there is a secondary special handle on the bottom right to scale the text in the frame.