Publisher not ready for professional use

[basholtzer]

I'm really sorry to come to this conclusion, but Publisher simply isn't ready for professional work. I have been a professional designer for 25 years and worked with Pagemaker, Quark, InDesign and Publisher. I really wanted to swap InDesign for Publisher but after working with it for about 2 years now, every time hoping the most annoying quirks would be eliminated, I have to conclude that for professional work (where time constraints are important) Publisher has too many bugs to be really useful. There isn't a project where I wasn't forced to make manual adjustments, create cumbersome workarounds and had to live with the limitations of the work in progress that Publisher is at this moment.

Too bad, back to InDesign.

[garrettm30]

5 hours ago, basholtzer said:

after working with it for about 2 years now, every time hoping the most annoying quirks would be eliminated, I have to conclude that for professional work…

Your conclusions for your own needs are, of course, worth considering, so I don’t want to be argumentative on that point. The only thing I wish to point out is that Publisher is not as old as you say. The very first public beta, which of course was never advertised as being ready for professional work, was released in September 2018, so even by that metric, you have not been using it for two years. More to the point, its first availability for sale was June of last year (I seem to remember June 19). So even for people who purchased it on the first day, we have not quite yet passed the one-year mark.

I guess we could discuss whether or not it is far enough along after being on the market for nearly one year. For my part, given the price and its still young age, my opinion is that we were not cheated of our money, even though I do have higher hopes for the future. I do think their end goal is the professional market, but let’s be honest, it is not priced for the professional market. That is just my own judgment, and I would not argue that you are wrong if you come to the opposite conclusion.

By the way, this thread should probably be moved to the feedback forum, as that is what it amounts to, since there is no bug report that would warrant its being in the bug forum.

[walt.farrell]

9 minutes ago, garrettm30 said:

By the way, this thread should probably be moved to the feedback forum, as that is what it amounts to, since there is no bug report that would warrant its being in the bug forum.

It's currently in the Questions forum, not the Bugs forum. But I have no way of knowing if it's been moved from its original location since you posted, of course

[garrettm30]

Thanks @walt.farrell. I found it in the bugs forum when I posted. It may even have been moved before I finished typing, but at least it is in an appropriate place.

I never check the questions forum, other than a few times when a thread gets moved, I might click into the moved thread out of curiosity.

[emmrecs01]

@basholtzer

Perhaps it could prove useful/helpful to Serif and allow other users to possibly suggest alternative approaches, if you were to detail at least some of the many bugs you see in Affinity Publisher.

Merely to state, without explanation or qualification, that Publisher is not ready for professional use is really not very helpful.

Jeff

[MEB]

Hi basholtzer,
I've moved this thread to the Feedback section. If you are having issues with application please let us know filling a bug report in the Bugs reports section so we can address them. Thanks for your feedback and Welcome to Affinity Forums

[Jowday]

6 hours ago, basholtzer said:

I'm really sorry to come to this conclusion, but Publisher simply isn't ready for professional work. I have been a professional designer for 25 years and worked with Pagemaker, Quark, InDesign and Publisher. I really wanted to swap InDesign for Publisher but after working with it for about 2 years now, every time hoping the most annoying quirks would be eliminated, I have to conclude that for professional work (where time constraints are important) Publisher has too many bugs to be really useful. There isn't a project where I wasn't forced to make manual adjustments, create cumbersome workarounds and had to live with the limitations of the work in progress that Publisher is at this moment.

Too bad, back to InDesign.

I for one would just like to listen - instead of contributing to the usual flow of contra-opinions in this forum. They lead absolutely nowhere. They just spawn additional posts. Time and life, lost.

As @MEB said it would be nice with feedback with some examples for their consideration.

Have a nice Jowday 🙂

[jmwellborn]

Well, I have been a professional publisher, editor, and writer for 31 years (including as CEO of my own publishing company) and have worked extensively with Pagemaker and InDesign, the latter of which my staff and I all hated from the start.   I am now retired, but welcomed the very first Publisher Beta with great anticipation in 2018.   I have never looked back.  When retail v. 1.7.3 was announced, I bought it within the first hour and was extremely pleased from the very first day.  All software requires workarounds for people who want to do a particular something their own way, rather than the way the developers have designed it.  I am currently revising several books agonizingly done with InDesign, now happily importable into Publisher as IDML files.  Other than adjusting some tracking settings, it is going flawlessly, including some very intricate uses of fonts.   Perhaps Publisher doesn’t make @basholtzer happy, but that does not mean that it is not perfectly capable of making other professionals happy.   And I am sure that there are many who are just that, even now as Publisher nears its first birthday.

 

[CLC]

54 minutes ago, garrettm30 said:

Your conclusions for your own needs are, of course, worth considering, so I don’t want to be argumentative on that point. The only thing I wish to point out is that Publisher is not as old as you say. The very first public beta, which of course was never advertised as being ready for professional work, was released in September 2018, so even by that metric, you have not been using it for two years. More to the point, its first availability for sale was June of last year (I seem to remember June 19). So even for people who purchased it on the first day, we have not quite yet passed the one-year mark.

I guess we could discuss whether or not it is far enough along after being on the market for nearly one year. For my part, given the price and its still young age, my opinion is that we were not cheated of our money, even though I do have higher hopes for the future. I do think their end goal is the professional market, but let’s be honest, it is not priced for the professional market. That is just my own judgment, and I would not argue that you are wrong if you come to the opposite conclusion.

By the way, this thread should probably be moved to the feedback forum, as that is what it amounts to, since there is no bug report that would warrant its being in the bug forum.

I am sorry but I  have to disagree. Publisher is marketed as a professional publishing software by Serif.
Pricing policy is also Serif's.

Thus, it should be judged as it's marketed, and not by its price, or am I wrong?

[MikeW]

7 minutes ago, CLC said:

I am sorry but I  have to disagree. Publisher is marketed as a professional publishing software by Serif. ...
Thus, it should be judged as it's marketed, and not by its price, or am I wrong?

I wouldn't say you are wrong, but I believe marketing should always be taken with a good dose of skepticism no matter the maker of it.

[Jowday]

1 hour ago, jmwellborn said:

Well, I have been a professional publisher, editor, and writer for 31 years (including as CEO of my own publishing company) and have worked extensively with Pagemaker and InDesign, the latter of which my staff and I all hated from the start.   I am now retired, but welcomed the very first Publisher Beta with great anticipation in 2018.   I have never looked back.  When retail v. 1.7.3 was announced, I bought it within the first hour and was extremely pleased from the very first day.  All software requires workarounds for people who want to do a particular something their own way, rather than the way the developers have designed it.  I am currently revising several books agonizingly done with InDesign, now happily importable into Publisher as IDML files.  Other than adjusting some tracking settings, it is going flawlessly, including some very intricate uses of fonts.   Perhaps Publisher doesn’t make @basholtzer happy, but that does not mean that it is not perfectly capable of making other professionals happy.   And I am sure that there are many who are just that, even now as Publisher nears its first birthday.

 

[garrettm30]

1 hour ago, CLC said:

I am sorry but I  have to disagree. Publisher is marketed as a professional publishing software by Serif.
Pricing policy is also Serif's.

Like I said before in this same context, I say also to you: I won't argue you're wrong. I do think that Serif's end goal is to include the professional market, and their marketing supports that as you showed. In my view, they are well on their way, but not there yet (one's opinion on that point will vary based on the needs of each particular publication). I also think that what they charge in view of what they currently offer is fair. But I'll leave it at that, because I think this is subjective anyway, so I am not offended if other people feel differently.