Affinity Suite: New documents

[Pyanepsion]

Hello everyone.

When creating a new document, we are offered a whole palette of formats. How can I change some of the settings in this palette without having to create a new preset?

Example: The A5 web format would suit me perfectly except for certain parameters. I would like, by example, this format to always default to 96 dpi, always single pages, and with very specific margins.

Note in passing: a big translation confusion. dpi (dot per inch) should be translated by ppp (point par pouce) in French.

[Wosven]

I don't think you can delete or modify those presets.

Just create new ones, with, if thwy are ordered by size and name, a name to precede the default one.

("Ill check if this is possible once near a PC)

[Pyanepsion]

This is exactly what I want to avoid. I know that my documents on the screen will always have 96 dpi and note 72, will always have the same margins, will always have the same colour format, etc. I find it ridiculous to have to add personal settings, and therefore clutter the screen, when I could just change the default settings.

I haven’t found where these default settings are stored and therefore how to change them. At the very least, it should be possible to change them as in any good software and eventually revert to factory settings if necessary!

[carl123]

You should have the (currently missing) ability to edit your own presets (once created) but not system presets.

The system presets are there to provide novice users of the correct, standard settings to use for a particular type of document

Admittedly, they don't always default to the settings that different users would like but advanced users will just create their own presets (or templates) that do

[Pyanepsion]

Yes and no. To be really useful, all these settings should be user-adaptable, and with a right to error (partial or total factory setting). If I could, for example, change the default settings of 72 dpi by 96 dpi, and 300 dpi by 350, the presets would be really useful. Here, it's a ridiculous waste of time to have to select a preset each time and then adjust it when I know I'll never use certain default size variants. It is equally ridiculous to redo all the presets offered in My Presets just for 3 or 4 variations per dimension.

Sometimes you wonder why such obvious things are overlooked by the project manager.

[GarryP]

Immutable system presets give various advantages, including:
1. They are the same for every user – useful in documentation and when sharing tutorials;
2. They always exist – they cannot be deleted by mistake;
3. They are incorruptible – e.g. A new A4 document will always be an A4 document.
As has been said above, if you want to use your own settings you can create your own presets/templates and never need to use the system presets ever again if you don’t want to.
In other words, just create your presets as you want them and ignore the system presets.

[PaulEC]

1 hour ago, Pyanepsion said:

I find it ridiculous to have to add personal settings, and therefore clutter the screen,

You don't need to clutter the screen. The presets you create yourself are on a different screen to the default ones.

 

[Pyanepsion]

One does not prevent the other! Many software programs use setting palettes with the possibility of permanently modifying some of the parameters. In fact, not definitely, but fortunately with the right to make mistakes: if the user realizes that he has made mistakes in his modifications, he can simply select the menu Reset settings.

31 minutes ago, GarryP said:

1. They are the same for every user – useful in documentation and when sharing tutorials;

The possibility of resetting the parameters solves this objection.

31 minutes ago, GarryP said:

2. They always exist – they cannot be deleted by mistake;

The possibility of resetting the parameters solves this objection.

31 minutes ago, GarryP said:

3. They are incorruptible – e.g. A new A4 document will always be an A4 document.

There are values imposed by a standard, e.g. ISO 216 for paper dimensions, and others that are free. It is sufficient to put a limitation on the values that follow a standard and that the modification of this value forces to create a new preset with another name. The possibility of resetting the parameters makes it possible to repair a corruption.

31 minutes ago, GarryP said:

As has been said above, if you want to use your own settings you can create your own presets/templates and never need to use the system preset ever again if you don’t want to.

Who is seriously going to want to recreate hundreds of personal settings that will clutter up the personal tab, when the problem of imposed settings only concerns certain values that have sometimes been poorly chosen by the project manager and other times are unsuitable for personal use?

[walt.farrell]

As @PaulEC mentioned, if you create your own Presets they do not clutter the screen, as they are in a separate list. You could even go further and create Templates instead, which have additional benefits. For example, they can have some pre-defined content such as standard Master Pages or a standard set of Artboards, or a standard Document Palette.

[GarryP]

I give up.
You might have a good point in there somewhere but your apparent reticence to try what has already been suggested may be getting in the way of me being able to see it.
Why not just try it and see if there really is a problem? If a problem does then come about then you can describe it and ask for a ‘fix’ for that.

[Pyanepsion]

Of course, user predefined page sizes are useful! If only to create templates with predefined content and their own master pages. That's actually the only real use I see for them. When many page formats are used, however, it is tiring to have to make the same changes to the Serif's preset standard over and over again, with the risk of error or omission each time, whereas it would be sufficient to be able to change the presets once and for all for all the presets of a category or a selection to avoid this problem.

Being able to easily adapt the tool to one's own working conditions is obviously an advantage and not being able to do so a limitation.

I will never understand those who want to explain to us that if you want to drive in a country that drives on the left, it is useless to position the steering wheel on the right because you just have to lean a little to the right... 😀

[Wosven]

6 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

if you create your own Presets they do not clutter the screen, as they are in a separate list.

That why this "own" list is of no use.

If we want different presets for different uses, we, again, need to use prefixes to name them since they can't go in the right categories predefined...

It's sort of giving a sandbox to users, so they won't mess the nicely organised presets...

[Pyanepsion]

15 hours ago, LondonSquirrel said:

There is plenty of justification.

We are big people, and often professionals. In the worst case, the person who makes a mistake can always reset, possibly with the help of technical support, in the delivery conditions of the software. Should the reset be complete or partial? Well, both options are debatable.

The very idea of a separate list (My Preset) makes the list unusable, either because the presets are only used rarely and you can't remember what's in them, or because there are too many and it becomes unmanageable. The separate list also loses much of its usefulness when the setting is a simple variant of defaut preset.

It should be possible to insert these presets in the right place and also rename the default ones when necessary. It should also be possible to remove unnecessary items such as the American architectural paper formats, which are totally archaic elsewhere in the world. On the other hand, the whole series of C0 to C10 formats is missing, as well as the AFNOR formats (Carré, Cavalier, Cloche, Colombier affiche, Colombier commercial, Coquille, Couronne écriture, Couronne édition, Demi-raisin, Double raisin, Écu, Grand Aigle, Grand Monde, Jésus, Petit Aigle, Pot ou écolier, Raisin, Roberto, Soleil, Tellière, Univers).

I also know that I use a resolution of 96 dpi in all cases for screen documents, and 110 dpi for A4, 350 dpi for A5 and 450 dpi for 6×9 inch paper documents. There are other settings that come up all the time, for example in A5 :

It is a source of error or forgetfulness not to be able to preset them once and for all.

[AlanPickup]

I can see now why Brexit took so long and never reached a solution that suited everyone - Vive la difference

Personally, I use templates more than either presets or set sizes, just listed under the different charities and health groups I do gratis work for, helps me put details of what they are used for as well as being prepopulated with standard info like, master pages, logos, contact detail etc.

[Pyanepsion]

Yes.

American paper sizes, French paper sizes (AFNOR standard), Canadian paper sizes (CAN 2–9.60M standard), Japanese paper sizes (JIS standard), etc. are hardly ever used outside their own country. All these formats will disappear and be gradually replaced by the International Paper formats (nothing to do with the American formats of the same name) A0 to A10, B0 to B10, C0 to C10, and DL (ISO 216 [and ISO 217] standard).

Added to this, each DTP technician is in fact dependent on the paper formats of his printer company, and this printer is himself dependent on the formats of his printer’s manufacturer and his paper manufacturer.

The multiplicity of all these formats argues for no longer imposing a non-modifiable list, but rather for continuing to offer the list while allowing the user:

• to modify some of the settings of the format (orientation, resolution, facing page, colour format, margin, etc.),
• to delete certain formats that he thinks wich are deemed useless,
• to be able to insert others,
• And, of course, to be able to return to the original settings.

[garrettm30]

On 8/30/2021 at 3:15 AM, Pyanepsion said:

American paper sizes, French paper sizes (AFNOR standard), Canadian paper sizes (CAN 2–9.60M standard), Japanese paper sizes (JIS standard), etc. are hardly ever used outside their own country. All these formats will disappear and be gradually replaced by the International Paper formats (nothing to do with the American formats of the same name) A0 to A10, B0 to B10, C0 to C10, and DL (ISO 216 [and ISO 217] standard).

It may be true that some of those formats will disappear, but the American formats in the US are showing no signs of going away at all. I know that the A series of paper sizes is very popular in some of those countries that also have their own system, but in the US, in most stores they are niche at best (if stocked at all). I would say that only a small minority of Americans even know what A4 is. Also, unlike most things these days that we import from China and occasionally somewhere else, quite a lot of our paper is sourced domestically, and so cut to our traditional sizes. Buying non-standard sizes (which to us includes A4) then turns out to be a higher cost.

(This little point is not particularly relevant to the thread, but I just thought to provide some perspective on the comment that the other sizes will eventually disappear.)

[thomaso]

On 8/19/2021 at 7:26 AM, Pyanepsion said:

When creating a new document, we are offered a whole palette of formats. How can I change some of the settings in this palette without having to create a new preset?

Agree +1

Currently it appears weird and confusing the way presets are defined & visually presented, respectively unit and color space/profile in my experience are rather related to user habits or to a certain project / client than to a specific UI or system language (country).

Also, I still don't understand the purpose in the icons respectively concerning their orientation + their number of frames. Both seems to be decided rather without any purpose – though technically it wouldn't be a problem to create the icon shape incl. orientation according to its set page dimensions. To me the icons, especially in that large size, are useless (NO information) and could alternatively get replaced without loss by a text list / table, maybe sortable by its properties, e.g. page ratio.

And I wonder why the preset dialog window has no "constrain ratio" checkbox or ratio lock as used already at various spots in the Affinity interface.

Why not just altering any preset property + getting the option to overwrite its currently selected preset, e.g. via save button or dialog? It even could be possible to offer the option to save a certain attribute to just one or a group of selected presets (e.g. unit or color) and customize a bunch of presets this way. – Instead, if a property of a current preset becomes altered by the user, it's icon remains highlighted, which is confusing, makes the highlight feature unreliable and appears incorrect according to general interface design/experience.

[Pyanepsion]

On 9/17/2021 at 7:33 PM, garrettm30 said:

I just thought to provide some perspective on the comment that the other sizes will eventually disappear.

Not so sure. We can see, for example, that even Amazon has recently added A4 format (even if it is well hidden) at least on Amazon Europe.

The suggestion here is mainly to stop imposing formats on us that we will never use, to be abble to air out the ‘New document’ feature by removing or changing formats at will in our personal practice, and to add, at the same classification level as the others, our own formats of a personal nature that we use regularly.

And, of course, to have the right to make mistakes, by being able to go back to the original or saved settings.

[Wosven]

1 hour ago, Pyanepsion said:

The suggestion here is mainly to stop imposing formats on us that we will never use,

That's it, exaclty. We just need an option/button to restore default formats in  a category, for example.

I tested adding web formats I need... I had to use the personnal category since drowing them in the web one would mean a pain to retrieve them later amongst the ones I don't need or use.

Since I don't have anything saved there, it's not a problem. But the truth is that I'd rather create a document from blank than searching a preset in an appropriate list I know contain mainly not usefull items.