Affinity Publisher: Bug blocking on variable fonts

[Pyanepsion]

Hello,

The Bahnschrift variable font that ships with Windows 10 displays 15 different styles, each with a name.

Affinity Publisher finds 15 styles, but it can do nothing with them, not even display them.

[MikeW]

Not a bug per se.

Variable fonts are not supported in Affinity applications at all. No one knows if/when variable font support will be added.

[Pyanepsion]

😂 So if it's missing the steering wheel in a car, isn't that a bug in itself? I would not quite say that.

OK. How to get around this big shortcoming?

[MikeW]

A bug is a function or feature that isn't working as planned. As Affinity applications do not have the ability to use variable fonts, it's not a bug.

As for using variable fonts, use an application that supports them. It is that simple.

[Pyanepsion]

The difficulty comes here from the organization of the forum by Affinity.

1. Support & Questions: Present functionalities working correctly, but not understood, or Missing functionalities.
2. Bugs: Present functionalities not working correctly.

Other manufacturers use a decision tree that seems much better to me:

1. Present functionalities working correctly, but not understood: Support & Questions.
2. Present functionalities not working correctly: Bugs.
3. Important missing features: To be developed quickly.
4. Secondary absent functions: Wishes to be included in the To-do list.

The difficulty is then to differentiate between the points 3 and 4.

• Some features will be classified very easily: adding a wallpaper will be in 4, and recognizing the color fonts for a font editor tool will be in 3.
• Other features are less so.

A software manufacturer once told me that a good part of the job of moderators was to migrate messages between 3 and 4.

Example: Integrating translation management may seem inappropriate in 4 to the manufacturer since he paid a translator without suspecting that this professional is an incapable (this is the case for French translation of Publisher, where translation is often literally a horror and an incomprehensible gibberish) and that managing translations would make it easier to obtain a more understandable software. It would suffice that there is a mode allowing to translate live on the interface, then to import or export the file obtained.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, Pyanepsion said:

3. Important missing features: To be developed quickly.

The difficulties with that are there are many different ideas about which missing features are the important ones that should receive the highest priority, & it is not always possible to implement even seemingly simple features without a lot of code revisions & all the alpha & beta testing that requires before they are suitable for release in a stable retail build.

[Pyanepsion]

Yes! As you said, the author of the suggestion is indeed often involved in the consequences of a quick resolution, which disturbs his or her judgment. He's not the only one. The manufacturer may also sometimes see only one aspect of things, if only because the person making the suggestion has even argued it, or even completely out of touch with reality.

On 5/31/2020 at 8:03 AM, Pyanepsion said:

The difficulty is then to differentiate between the points 3 and 4.

A software manufacturer once told me that a good part of the job of moderators was to migrate messages between 3 and 4.

[Ash]

Hi All,

I'm pleased to let you know we have now added support for Variable Fonts to the Affinity Suite on all platforms - available to try now in the 2.5 beta...