Layer behaviour like Illustrator

[Washishu]

On 6/23/2022 at 6:57 PM, firstdefence said:

In illustrator because of layer1 it appears that the objects are all on one layer when in fact they have merely been placed in a layer container.

As far as the user is concerned I struggle to see any difference here. I'm one of those people who don't care how the thing works, just as long as it keeps on keeping on. It may be that any layer is, for a software developer (which is what I think underlies your point(?)), no more than a convenience for the benefit of the user. But as a user, it's a layer; there are things I can do with and to a layer that I can't do to a straightforward object and vice-versa.

Also, because those first objects are 'layer-less' (because I still forget that if I want one I have to create it first), they clutter up the palette and I later (when I remember) have to spend time organising them. It seems an unnecessary complication that has no value to me as a user. I will, with enough practice, become accustomed to the concept, but I doubt I'll ever prefer it.

[AuthorMedo]

This has been super-helpful. I'm new to Affinity and, like others above, am migrating from Illustrator, so I'm used to that. I have been spinning my wheels for two days trying to get a clear understanding of Affinity layers. Every time I made some small modification (for example, changing the font or spelling of a text element), it would drop that to the bottom of the Layers panel and I'd have to drag it up the Layers to where I wanted it. I could NOT figure out why that was happening. Very frustrating I did see the layers choice for "insertion" (default or top), but that didn't seem to make a difference. I'm betting this is my problem. . . I was thinking of the ELEMENT (text, a photo, etc.) as being a  layer (because it SHOWS in the layers panel) while in reality Affinity doesn't consider it a layer of its own. Still don't understand why it drops to the bottom after any change, though. But sticking it in a layer will probably help. Maybe if nothing else the Affinity folks can post a short video for Illustrator converts explaining the different strategy needed. Thanks so much for this thread.