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When will the next beta version be released?


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It’s nothing wrong with the ambition to replace the Adobe suit for some of its users, and it’s pretty obvious that Photo/Designer/Publisher aims for Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign.

That is actually how I use them, and l’ve been using the Adobe products for a long time (all the way back to Aldus Pagemaker days!). But you have to set your expectations accordingly and accept that you will stumble on various WTF:s when some feature is missing or not working as well as the Adobe equivalent. 

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On 7/23/2022 at 8:25 PM, Bryan Rieger said:

Unfortunately Serif also fuels these expectations by marketing their apps with copy such as "…Designer* is setting the new industry standard in the world of design…" and "…Publisher* is the next generation of professional publishing software…". Phrases such as 'new industry standard' and 'next generation…professional' will always serve to create comparisons in folks minds between the current industry standard, and the current generation professional product(s) with your product(s).

If you don't want to be compared to Adobe, stop marketing yourself in relation to Adobe.

*These phrases taken directly from both the Designer and Publisher product pages.

As I remember, Serif Pageplus was sold as a "professional" desktop publishing solution that was also suitable for the amateur. I always took that to mean it produced output of professional level quality, which for the most part it did, despite a lot of commercial printers not taking it seriously. Affinity Publisher also produces professional quality output. Affinity designer should really say it is "a new industry standard" or that it is "on course to be the new industry standard". The problem with sales speak is it has to sound grand to peak customer interest.

I am old enough to remember the release of the Sinclair QL "professional" computer. In this case, they were using the word professional to mean "serious" computer able to fulfil a professional role. Sadly, neither the professional nor the serious users in business never took it seriously, with good reason.

Let's just be aware that the Affinity Software Range can be used professionally. It may not yet fulfil every professional, or for that matter amateur, user's needs, but then what software does? Affinity is not really aimed at the amateur, but can be used by amateurs.

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On 7/25/2022 at 12:55 PM, Michael S Harvey said:

As I remember, Serif Pageplus was sold as a "professional" desktop publishing solution that was also suitable for the amateur. I always took that to mean it produced output of professional level quality, which for the most part it did, despite a lot of commercial printers not taking it seriously.

it was marketed as professional, but we never took it seriously because it never could output correct PDF's. They were always RGB even if the colors were correct in the file. Pageplus could export separations but we do not want the programs exporting them. Printers need to control how the files are exported and separated for their equipment and imposition purposes.

Affinity programs can export correctly with spot colors and pantone colors in the exported PDF files.

I always wanted PagePlus to export right, but it couldn't. I still use it for things such as calendars and other items because I don't know of any thing else that can do that. I then export the files as PDF, correct the colors, and then import them into Affinity or Adobe (pretty much have left Indesign). If I could find another generic calendar maker, I would drop Parallels and Pageplus, but for now I haven't found anything that competes with this old program.

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1 hour ago, Bryce said:

it was marketed as professional, but we never took it seriously because it never could output correct PDF's. They were always RGB, even if the colours were correct in the file. Pageplus could export separations, but we do not want the programs exporting them. Printers need to control how the files are exported and separated for their equipment and imposition purposes.

Affinity programs can export correctly with spot colours and pantone colours in the exported PDF files.

I always wanted PagePlus to export right, but it couldn't. I still use it for things such as calendars and other items because I don't know of anything else that can do that. I then export the files as PDF, correct the colours, and then import them into Affinity or Adobe (pretty much have left Indesign). If I could find another generic calendar maker, I would drop Parallels and Pageplus, but for now I haven't found anything that competes with this old program.

Fair enough.

As for Calendars, PagePlus and Microsoft Publisher are the only ones I can think of. Xara Designer may do it, but I'd have to research more into it. For the life of me, I cannot remember if Deneba Canvas did calendars. Probably not. I'm also not sure if Pagestream has kept up with development to provide these facilities. There also used to be Green Street Publisher, but that was aimed more at the home user, despite having excellent bar code creation features built in to it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 7/27/2022 at 7:06 PM, Michael S Harvey said:

As for Calendars, PagePlus and Microsoft Publisher are the only ones I can think of. Xara Designer may do it, but I'd have to research more into it. For the life of me, I cannot remember if Deneba Canvas did calendars. Probably not. I'm also not sure if Pagestream has kept up with development to provide these facilities. There also used to be Green Street Publisher, but that was aimed more at the home user, despite having excellent bar code creation features built in to it.

Creating a calendar is a pretty niche use case so it's not surprising that apps like InDesign, Affinity, and Xara don't have it built in although Xara had it in their legacy app just like Serif. AFAIK Deneb doesn't have this feature and PageStream definitely didn't have it but it would have been trivial for somebody to write a script for PageStream to create a calendar wizard. There is a very full-featured calendar script wizard available from a third party for InDesign.

Someday when Affinity offers scripting it would be easy to create a calendar wizard. I might write a script to draw stylized calendars because it would be straightforward and a fun project. But then once you've done that somebody will want holidays and you'll spend a lot of time finding a source of international holiday data. And then somebody will want you to add support for the 13-month Coptic calendar and the next thing you know it will no longer be a fun little project and will be real work. I think I've already talked myself out of it. 🙂 

Download a free manual for Publisher 2.4 from this forum - expanded 300-page PDF

My system: Affinity 2.4.0 for macOS Sonoma 14.4, MacBook Pro 14" (M1 Pro)

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"Someday when Affinity offers scripting it would be easy to create a calendar wizard. I might write a script to draw stylized calendars because it would be straightforward and a fun project. But then once you've done that somebody will want holidays and you'll spend a lot of time finding a source of international holiday data. And then somebody will want you to add support for the 13-month Coptic calendar and the next thing you know it will no longer be a fun little project and will be real work. I think I've already talked myself out of it."

And the formulae for calculating both Passover and Easter are ... a course of higher mathematics away.

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On 7/23/2022 at 9:25 PM, Bryan Rieger said:

Unfortunately Serif also fuels these expectations by marketing their apps with copy such as "…Designer* is setting the new industry standard in the world of design…" and "…Publisher* is the next generation of professional publishing software…". Phrases such as 'new industry standard' and 'next generation…professional' will always serve to create comparisons in folks minds between the current industry standard, and the current generation professional product(s) with your product(s).

If you don't want to be compared to Adobe, stop marketing yourself in relation to Adobe.

*These phrases taken directly from both the Designer and Publisher product pages.

Serif throws around fancy marketing terms to make money and capture customers because it works. Simply put. It has nothing to do with the programs themselves. I myself - like several in here - think their marketing shoots way over the mark, but I'm used to so much bullshit and so many exaggerations from many players in the market, so I'm immune. I detect it lightning fast by practical use of trials, and so the contrast between word and reality is definitely not in the software manufacturer's favor. There I must admit that my impression of Serif is not good after visiting the website. It is too much.

There's just one thing I think is silly I see a lot of in here, it's the total illusion many have about the programs ability and Serifs possibilities with them on the market. And all the original talk about "Adobe killers" is pure nonsense. Click bait and fantasies. 

Serif themselves know full well they don't make programs for companies of any significant size, nor do they target their marketing at such. I've never seen them direct significant or medium marketing at companies, I've never ever seen their programs among professionals, and their books and other materials are clearly aimed at pure beginners and creative individuals and partly at small businesses where money is scarce and needs small.

That's obvious, and it's perfectly fine. The Serif company has always aimed at the market they are aiming at now, but now a bit more ambitious and shiny. Unfortunately, progress is very, very slow. But it's a lucrative market, I have no doubt. And it's beyond doubt that Adobe and Corel can't or won't live off small customers. If anything, their programs are aimed at heavy, commercial use. That's why they cost what they cost. Serif, Xara and others are fighting for the small customers. There is not much overlap.

So it's interesting what Serif can and will do at all in the customer segment they live off. It is possible that some requested advanced features will only be used by a negligible part of Serif's customers, who write a lot in here, but make up a small part of the customers. And that Serif gets more out of developing features for the vast majority of their customers who are happy with the simpler and cheaper stuff. And who can easily be hit with marketing.

We'll find out. I certainly enjoy Designer as a niche program for limited use, but I long ago took the above as my starting point and bought and paid for the software that can deliver what I need. Today. Therefore, I don't have to wait with a mixture of blind hope and hard manual work. I have rewarded the competition because they have long since delivered the features you miss, and I am using them today.

Until then, be happy that there is silence from Serif for a little longer than you are used to, because they may be building on something bigger than they usually are. Just get used to the fact that everything costs time, money and people. And it hasn't been that long since the last version, anyway.

10 Reasons Why Strategic Plans Fail
Having a plan simply for plans sake - Not understanding the environment or focusing on results - Partial commitment - Not having the right people involved - Writing the plan and putting it on the shelf - Unwillingness or inability to change - Having the wrong people in leadership positions - No accountability or follow through - Unrealistic goals or lack of focus and resources.

Get it?

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On 7/27/2022 at 10:50 PM, Bryce said:

it was marketed as professional, but we never took it seriously because it never could output correct PDF's. They were always RGB even if the colors were correct in the file. Pageplus could export separations but we do not want the programs exporting them. Printers need to control how the files are exported and separated for their equipment and imposition purposes.

Affinity programs can export correctly with spot colors and pantone colors in the exported PDF files.

I always wanted PagePlus to export right, but it couldn't. I still use it for things such as calendars and other items because I don't know of any thing else that can do that. I then export the files as PDF, correct the colors, and then import them into Affinity or Adobe (pretty much have left Indesign). If I could find another generic calendar maker, I would drop Parallels and Pageplus, but for now I haven't found anything that competes with this old program.

 

This does Calendars.

https://www.broderbund.com/printmaster-v8

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14 hours ago, Winsome said:

... 

Serif themselves know full well they don't make programs for companies of any significant size, nor do they target their marketing at such. I've never seen them direct significant or medium marketing at companies, I've never ever seen their programs among professionals, and their books and other materials are clearly aimed at pure beginners and creative individuals and partly at small businesses where money is scarce and needs small.

... 

So it's interesting what Serif can and will do at all in the customer segment they live off. It is possible that some requested advanced features will only be used by a negligible part of Serif's customers, who write a lot in here, but make up a small part of the customers. And that Serif gets more out of developing features for the vast majority of their customers who are happy with the simpler and cheaper stuff. And who can easily be hit with marketing.

We'll find out. I certainly enjoy Designer as a niche program for limited use, but I long ago took the above as my starting point and bought and paid for the software that can deliver what I need. Today. Therefore, I don't have to wait with a mixture of blind hope and hard manual work. I have rewarded the competition because they have long since delivered the features you miss, and I am using them today.

Until then, be happy that there is silence from Serif for a little longer than you are used to, because they may be building on something bigger than they usually are. Just get used to the fact that everything costs time, money and people. And it hasn't been that long since the last version, anyway.

Insightful post. I don't  think Affinity is just for beginners and creative individuals. But I certainly hope you're right about the positive side of Serif being silent a little longer.

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El 29/4/2022 a las 8:43, Ecifircas dijo:

Teniendo en cuenta su bajo precio en comparación con Adobe, no me opondría a pagar de nuevo por una versión 2.0, incluso si sus funciones estaban inicialmente previstas para incluirse en 1.x.

Si me dieran una opción muy mejorada con un precio de descuento para los que ya les compraremos la primera versión, no tendría ningún problema, también aunque no hubiera descuento, pero el precio no fuera mayor a la versión que ahorita sale, con gusto compro la segunda versión, pero si que se viera una buena mejora a lo que ahora presentan.

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6 hours ago, Rodrigo Alberto said:

Si me dieran una opción muy mejorada con un precio de descuento para los que ya les compraremos la primera versión, no tendría ningún problema, también aunque no hubiera descuento, pero el precio no fuera mayor a la versión que ahorita sale, con gusto compro la segunda versión, pero si que se viera una buena mejora a lo que ahora presentan.

Yo tengo contemplado adquirir la actualización, en cuanto esté disponible, y, en calidad de cliente, seguiré pidiendo y hablando en favor de las características que creo que son más importantes / necesarias (eso y también la corrección de los errores que se presenten).

¡Saludos!

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The purpose of any application is to fulfill a need. Photoshop began on very limited hardware and there wasn't the same number of professionals or even amateurs using PCs for graphics jobs on a consistent enough basis back then and so it all started in a unfulfilled void and helped begin/grow a niche: people interested in using computers for graphics manipulation for general purposes. Every feature is user requested. Even people who have yet to take up a program but make comment on its usefulness are considered valuable feedback for future opportunities. Why add features almost no one asked for? Would be a strange use in development time. So many programs we use today are only created a standard because 1) they either captured a unique base at the time or 2) they were literal copies of a successful model but they did a far better job of delivering *consistent* and polished results. Thus people gravitated towards them over the long run for their high usability. Computer programs were known to be janky as the OS was incredibly primitive. How often do we really need to restart a machine to fix a memory leak? Almost never.

The issue for Affinity is not who they market to, it's that the main products that brought their current audience have failed in terms of polish and too many bugs are left in for an unacceptable length of time. I'm not under any illusion that I would be clairvoyant what their intents are. I would only mention they often cite they are working on bugs that go years untouched. It's become a pattern. It doesn't matter who they market to as any number of these users will run into those issues.

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15 hours ago, debraspicher said:

The issue for Affinity is not who they market to, it's that the main products that brought their current audience have failed in terms of polish and too many bugs are left in for an unacceptable length of time. I'm not under any illusion that I would be clairvoyant what their intents are. I would only mention they often cite they are working on bugs that go years untouched. It's become a pattern. It doesn't matter who they market to as any number of these users will run into those issues.

It is not a exclusive or scenario. Both are major issues.

10 Reasons Why Strategic Plans Fail
Having a plan simply for plans sake - Not understanding the environment or focusing on results - Partial commitment - Not having the right people involved - Writing the plan and putting it on the shelf - Unwillingness or inability to change - Having the wrong people in leadership positions - No accountability or follow through - Unrealistic goals or lack of focus and resources.

Get it?

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15 hours ago, debraspicher said:

The issue for Affinity is not who they market to, it's that the main products that brought their current audience have failed in terms of polish and too many bugs are left in for an unacceptable length of time. I'm not under any illusion that I would be clairvoyant what their intents are. I would only mention they often cite they are working on bugs that go years untouched. It's become a pattern. It doesn't matter who they market to as any number of these users will run into those issues.

Having myself faced very few bugs using Affinity for years, I must say I do get a familiar though not that welcome feeling when some people here point to these numerous bugs that get no attention from the devs. Perhaps I'm just not advanced enough user to nottice some of them, and perhaps you're right. I just feel as if there's something of a hyperbolic use of words there.

On the other hand I might use a similiar words of Adobe. For me Adobe only ever was full of features I never found good use of, organized in most un-userfriendly manner (agreed: Gimp was worse, but not bad for a GNU software), and it might have caused me to loose some of my works. So I myself think it was Adobe's marketing strategy more than its features that gave it the monopoly it now has. Have personally met lots of people who just won't try anything new because they only ever tried Adobe while studying media-work. I know you aint one of 'em since you have at least tried affinity - perhaps for many frustrating years -, but there are those.

For me, however Serif has delivered what they promised. I don't expect to have all the features I'm used to,  since even before touching Adobe Illustrator I'd allready accustomed to Inkscape (which also has some features I never found on AI), and while I was formerly able to do everything I needed with a combination of Adobe and Inkscape, I now can do it all with Affinity and Inkscape. I have my complains on Affinity as well, but for me AD is the only really user friendly 'vector graphics' software I've yet to try.

When it comes to tons of features nobody uses or tons of missing features every real professional needs or something like that I urge everyone to be careful. If one makes a gallup asking all kinds of different professionals which features are essential, then please publish it on a media- or science related magazine so someone can send a copy to Serif. Otherwise let us not try to speak for all the real professionals lest we end up insulting some of them.

Now I hope I'm not insulting anyone, so if I said something rude: I'm sorry for it. Truly.

I might just be too untrained or too inexperienced to understand whats wrong with Affinity products. I'm just trying to tell how I see the matter.

And now may we get back to the topic? 

Sincerely

Lassi P

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5 hours ago, LassiP said:

Habiéndome enfrentado a muy pocos errores usando Affinity durante años, debo decir que tengo una sensación familiar, aunque no tan bienvenida, cuando algunas personas aquí señalan estos numerosos errores que no reciben la atención de los desarrolladores. Quizás simplemente no soy un usuario lo suficientemente avanzado como para notar algunos de ellos, y quizás tengas razón. Siento como si hubiera algo de un uso hiperbólico de las palabras allí.

Por otro lado, podría usar palabras similares de Adobe. Para mí, Adobe solo estaba lleno de funciones que nunca encontré un buen uso, organizadas de la manera menos fácil de usar (de acuerdo: Gimp era peor, pero no está mal para un software GNU), y podría haberme hecho perder algo de mi obras. Así que yo mismo creo que fue la estrategia de marketing de Adobe más que sus funciones lo que le dio el monopolio que ahora tiene. He conocido personalmente a muchas personas que simplemente no intentarán nada nuevo porque solo probaron Adobe mientras estudiaban trabajo en medios. Sé que no eres uno de ellos porque al menos has probado la afinidad, tal vez durante muchos años frustrantes, pero los hay.

Para mí, sin embargo, Serif ha cumplido lo que prometió. No espero tener todas las funciones a las que estoy acostumbrado, ya que incluso antes de tocar Adobe Illustrator ya me había acostumbrado a Inkscape (que también tiene algunas funciones que nunca encontré en AI), y aunque antes podía hacer todo lo que necesitaba con una combinación de Adobe e Inkscape, ahora puedo hacerlo todo con Affinity e Inkscape. También tengo mis quejas sobre Affinity, pero para mí, AD es el único software de "gráficos vectoriales" realmente fácil de usar que aún tengo que probar.

Cuando se trata de toneladas de funciones que nadie usa o toneladas de funciones faltantes que todo profesional necesita o algo así, insto a todos a tener cuidado. Si uno hace un galup preguntando a todo tipo de profesionales diferentes qué características son esenciales, publíquelo en una revista relacionada con los medios o la ciencia para que alguien pueda enviar una copia a Serif. De lo contrario, no intentemos hablar por todos los verdaderos profesionales para no terminar insultando a algunos de ellos.

Ahora espero no estar insultando a nadie, así que si dije algo grosero: lo siento. Realmente.

Es posible que no tenga la formación o la experiencia necesarias para entender qué es lo que está mal con los productos de Affinity. Sólo estoy tratando de decir cómo veo el asunto.

¿Y ahora podemos volver al tema? 

Sinceramente

Lassi P.

Pues la pregunta sería para los desarrolladores de serif. ¿Cuando van a sacar nueva beta?, espero que en algún momento contesten , nosotros lo único que podemos hacer es quejarnos 🤣, lo que nos frustra de los errores de los programas de Serif.

Yo tengo pocas quejas de los errores del programa, mi único pesar con la suite de Affinity es que tiene poca compatibilidad para llevar a las empresas que tienen un monopolio de. Adobe o Corel , también me pesa que luego los clientes me piden los archivos en pdf o archivos fuente en eps o svg , y yo se los paso con el miedo que a ellos les cambie algo, como a mi me ha cambiado, también como los stock están llenos de gente que usa adobe, si son sencillos los archivos puedo tomarlos sin problemas, si son más complejos, con degradados y mallas , corta las imágenes en pedazos y me lo cambia a imagen.

Espero que pronto cambien eso los serif y sería completame Feliz en Affinity, se me hace programa facil de usar y se puede hacer todo.

Regresando al tema que nos interesa, porfas de  informes de la siguiente actualización, administradores .

 

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Arh man. OK, here are two pretty safe statements.

  1. Version 2 is coming, and there will probably be a (public) beta before that. I can wait. I need version 2, not version "2".
  2. Absolutely nothing will come of this thread and the like. It's a big messy spaghetti that somehow runs in endless circles. It's worse than Italian politics and governments.

I'm not wasting my time waiting for Affinity v2, I'm a creative, but damn I'm wasting my time reading these posts. And even more on posting in here.

I'm going back to the studio, my time there can at least be billed, to the delight of my family and of course the software vendors I purchase or rent my software from.

Maybe we'll meet in threads about solving problems or about inspiration.

Meanwhile, create, create, create.

🖼️🖌️

10 Reasons Why Strategic Plans Fail
Having a plan simply for plans sake - Not understanding the environment or focusing on results - Partial commitment - Not having the right people involved - Writing the plan and putting it on the shelf - Unwillingness or inability to change - Having the wrong people in leadership positions - No accountability or follow through - Unrealistic goals or lack of focus and resources.

Get it?

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On 7/15/2022 at 8:43 AM, Patrick Connor said:

AFAIK taking money again for a new release was not designed in to the Mac App Store or Microsoft Store architecture. A company cannot charge for a new version of something once purchased, and all "updates" are free. I think both stores expect the software company to make a new product that can be bought fresh or only ever make new software sales to new customers. Without the concept of a paid-for new version of AppX, the only option is to have "AppX" and "AppX ver2” as independent apps on the store.

That makes "AppX ver2” a new purchase, but worse still, neither company has a discount scheme that takes into account ownership of "AppX". Quite incredible in my opinion.

There is only ever one price for an application on the Mac App Store and the Microsoft Store, so you cannot easily offer a discount code for a new application either.

The software house can choose to leave AppX on the store available to buy after you release "AppX ver2" or not, but neither store has a built-in mechanism for an upgrade process. Biggest software companies in the world and they haven't got this sorted (smh).

IMHO to avoid the consequences of these design decisions by Microsoft and Apple, when Serif release a new version of Affinity apps on these stores (and our own store) we will need to be creative and/or generous in order to be seen as fair to our existing and new customers.

 

Once v2 is out and v1 no more available, would it not be possible to create a bundle of apps (v1&v2) and offer an option to complete bundle?
Only v1 buyers would have a discounted price :)

 

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12 hours ago, LassiP said:

For me, however Serif has delivered what they promised. I don't expect to have all the features I'm used to,  since even before touching Adobe Illustrator I'd allready accustomed to Inkscape (which also has some features I never found on AI), and while I was formerly able to do everything I needed with a combination of Adobe and Inkscape, I now can do it all with Affinity and Inkscape. I have my complains on Affinity as well, but for me AD is the only really user friendly 'vector graphics' software I've yet to try.

AI was very hobbling for me to use. I will be fair and say I miss some of what it can do, but by no means its presentation. It never felt like creative software for me. It felt like an assembly line, is the best way I can put it really. Just depressing and joy-stealing to use. I was happy to abandon it on this alone and support a competitor. Designer just happens to fit in with the way I work mentally and is less "you must do it this way or else". The options for grids are more versatile for doing layout design and it seemed it was more tailored for UI. As a Windows user, we don't have access to Sketch. I've tried Inkscape, but can't say I've fallen in love with the interface but haven't tried it long enough to give any kind of decent review. I recently tried it for "auto-trace" functionality since it is still missing in Designer and the results weren't usable for what I was doing. Designer is more pleasant to use and feels more exploratory but occasionally having to find workarounds is annoying. Though Illustrator had some ridiculous limitations/implementations of its own. AD however is 1.x so it's more expected. I was an AI user for a number of years and some habits are very hard to break no matter how committed, but I don't miss the way some of their programs were designed. I'd say Photoshop is largely responsible for the price. I've found better alternatives for the rest of the suite and don't miss the 9-12 Adobe executables doing God knows in the background at all hours.

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Features are tough.  I see people post that certain features are "must have" and they are things I have never used in over thirty years of using Adobe (and Aldus) products but everyone needs something different.

I got along fine with PageMaker 5 for I don't know how many years.  Then PM6 (or maybe it was PM6.5) introduced data merge.  Then that became a must-have.  Was disappointing when Affinity Publisher didn't have it, but they did add it so that was good.  I forget which version of PageMaker introduced the "build booklet" feature.  Got along fine before it, but that made things so much easier.  Early versions were still buggy, so sometimes you had to do it the "old-fashioned" way, but they eventually got it sorted out.  So, that became a must-have feature too.  However, nowadays it's more of a nicety than a must-have because the software on the digital press manages that now.

I still use Illustrator CS3 as well as Designer and VectorStyler.  Can get somewhat confusing at times as I go to do something in Illustrator then remember it's something I can do in Designer, not Illustrator.  Or vice versa.  I am hoping Designer v2 adds my must-have features so I can just use Designer rather than Designer and VectorStyler.  Nothing against VectorStyler; it's just easier if I can do everything in one application.

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44 minutes ago, dcr said:

Features are tough.  I see people post that certain features are "must have" and they are things I have never used in over thirty years of using Adobe (and Aldus) products but everyone needs something different.

I still use Illustrator CS3 as well as Designer and VectorStyler.  Can get somewhat confusing at times as I go to do something in Illustrator then remember it's something I can do in Designer, not Illustrator.  Or vice versa.  I am hoping Designer v2 adds my must-have features so I can just use Designer rather than Designer and VectorStyler.  Nothing against VectorStyler; it's just easier if I can do everything in one application.

Certainly there are niche features that Affinity users have been requesting that the majority of users will never need. Then there are much more common features that are STILL missing completely after all these years of requesting them - true vector brushes, text warp, fully functioning boolean operations, vector eraser/brush are a few that immediately come to mind. These are tools many would benefit from no matter what art industry they hail from. 
I've held out for years from using Adobe's creative cloud and just used my old copy of CS6 to accomplish what I needed, while waiting for Affinity to offer the tools I needed to accomplish my work. I eventually turned to Vectorstyler out of frustration and saw nearly every tool I was waiting on Affinity to add to Designer was already there and then some. Even as I use VS for most of my everyday work, I use specialized programs for specific tasks - such as VectorMagic to do my vector tracing and Vectoraster to handle customized halftones (though VS's Repeater tool is making a serious run at this). I currently use Patternode for my patterns because it's specialized and dedicated to that task. I pick and choose what programs will give me the best features and I benefit because I gain the advantage from their dedicated focus on a specific task. 

I am still a fan of Affinity, but I know they will never offer all the tools and features VS currently has available and that's ok because using the best of multiple programs is a great way to get all the functionality needed to complete professional work. If my professional work required basic vector tools, Designer would probably suffice (after version 2.0 drops). Since I need more complex features and options, VS gives me all of those options now without demanding Affinity at some point provides the same features. Back in the day I know for myself I had both Macromedia and the Adobe suite so I could maximize the use of the best features offered in both sets of graphic design apps. Adobe's current monopoly has led to a different and I believe flawed thinking that it could and should all be handled by one program alone.
 

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11 minutes ago, Boldlinedesign said:

I eventually turned to Vectorstyler out of frustration and saw nearly every tool I was waiting on Affinity to add to Designer was already there and then some. Even as I use VS for most of my everyday work, I use specialized programs for specific tasks - such as VectorMagic to do my vector tracing and Vectoraster to handle customized halftones (though VS's Repeater tool is making a serious run at this).

In my case, I will not use VectorStyler as my main design application because of the licensing process that requires an Internet connection.  Too much like Adobe for my liking.  With Affinity (at least the v1 apps--who knows what might change with v2), I enter my license key and the program works, no Internet connection required.  So I know that I will be able to use (and re-install if/when necessary) the Affinity apps (at least those purchased direct from Serif) regardless of Internet connectivity or regardless if the company keeps the "activation server" running.  I've already been burned by Adobe; I have no intention of repeating that.

That is one of the reasons I prefer to use Designer.  When I use VectorStyler, it's to do a specific task and then I bring that into Designer.  Plus, the UI in Designer is, well, better.

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7 minutes ago, dcr said:

In my case, I will not use VectorStyler as my main design application because of the licensing process that requires an Internet connection.  Too much like Adobe for my liking.  With Affinity (at least the v1 apps--who knows what might change with v2), I enter my license key and the program works, no Internet connection required.  So I know that I will be able to use (and re-install if/when necessary) the Affinity apps (at least those purchased direct from Serif) regardless of Internet connectivity or regardless if the company keeps the "activation server" running.  I've already been burned by Adobe; I have no intention of repeating that.

That is one of the reasons I prefer to use Designer.  When I use VectorStyler, it's to do a specific task and then I bring that into Designer.  Plus, the UI in Designer is, well, better.

Affinity also requires an internet connection to put in the license code - I can't think of any program that does not use the internet for that purpose. 

I hear often that the UI in Designer is "better" - but the question is, how so? Designer's UI feels overly sparse and empty to me. Granted I would like to see VS be able to reduce and add panels at will and minimize them. Designer looks and feels like a limited program. If Designer had anywhere near the number of tools and features offered by VS, it would look a lot fuller as well

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14 minutes ago, Boldlinedesign said:

Affinity also requires an internet connection to put in the license code - I can't think of any program that does not use the internet for that purpose. 

I hear often that the UI in Designer is "better" - but the question is, how so? Designer's UI feels overly sparse and empty to me. Granted I would like to see VS be able to reduce and add panels at will and minimize them. Designer looks and feels like a limited program. If Designer had anywhere near the number of tools and features offered by VS, it would look a lot fuller as well

I think, for me anyway, it's partially that document setup is more sensible. When I need to created a specific layout using grid systems, I spent way more time in AI setting up my document. The settings were all over the place for setting up for hinting. Smart Guides always felt cumbersome and was less assistive, more domineering. Pixel snap had to be turned on separately. I prefer "Snapping" features in Designer that allow us to setup snapping behavior based on whatever situation and preset we create which I find I use a lot for pen tool/hinting. In AI, I seem to remember you HAD to turn off Smart Guides in menu in order to place points anywhere near where it suggested, but in Designer can use a shortcut to ignore when placing points. The best contrast I can think of: I felt I spend more more time on canvas rather than in AI I spent more time in menus.

I agree it is slim on features and some of the features that are missing/broken that are highly requested tend to keep illustrators who are primarily vector artists from leaving AI, is my experience having seen commentary online. I seem to recall Photo put them on the map, but Designer is probably their cash cow if they can get long promised features in quicker. Someone said either in this thread or on one of the other "where are the updates" threads that they thought Photo required the least work... I generally agree with this, except maybe RAW editing. Although, I'm fine to use a separate RAW editor.

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