Very very disappointed with Publisher 2

[ericGa]

Publish is a software that I would love to love but is packed with irritating UX/UI decisions

I struggle to achieve Little/basic things like drawing a shape with specific values (let’s say 10mm x 25pt)
With the competitor software (Indesign to name it) select rectangle tool, left click + enter values… done
With publisher I have to draw first and go to the transform palette to change values (am I missing à contextual menu or something here?)

And I'm not talking about spread pages visually similar to a page in the spread page and page palette. A spread composed of two pages should be draw with two rectangle…

[grapher]

postmaddesign  - sorry, but tables across more pages is basic feature, and we are asking for it since beginning. Also its weird, as serif have very long history with their DTP suite before affinity. Argumenting with many years of indesign also isnt fair, because its  different time, with different tools and workframes in programming. and yeaa. tables were in indesign very soon. So no, we are not being negative only, we just wish that the focus in the development is on things that are preventing to do our jobs with this tool.

And again. As i said, i supported the devs with buing v2, becase i believe in their work.

Howgh.

[Distill7]

1 hour ago, PaoloT said:

I don't know how much these things are related, but Adobe stock values plummeted at the end of August. Maybe news of the imminent release of Affinity V2 were spreading in the big investors environments. They had to do something to avoid the worse.

The stock value increased rapidly after the announcement, two days ago. It might not be related, but it is a curious coincidence. By following my conspiracy theory, one could say that after seeing that Affinity V2 is not yet ready to replace the Adobe workflow in production, with no way for freelancers and shops to replace InDesign with a compatible product, and no compliance with the accessibility laws, they breathed a sigh of relief.

Paolo

 

Every software company stock plummeted in the last year including zoom, spotify and hardware like AMD, nvidia. The sudden rise is to all stocks too due to the federal bank saying that they'll stop increasing the interest rate.

The people who didn't get their needed features implemented got angry. And to be honest, there are things that render the software unusable to for a lot of graphic design work. Luck of complex layout text and RTL languages support, even sino languages users complain all the time from luck of vertical text and punctuation support. And luck of ebook export too.

I understand that the company can't add everything at once, and they also has the right to ask for another round of payment after 3-8 years of free updates. But I guess a not of people's work can't wait for another couple of years for them to be implemented and need them now.

[debraspicher]

18 hours ago, Patrick Connor said:

There will be customer betas here on these forums very soon. Be as critical as you like and we would appreciate your credentials improving the software.

Good to hear ❤️

[Opera]

On 11/10/2022 at 4:34 PM, Mark Daniel said:

Please feel free to stick with V1 until we get to a point you see as a worthwhile upgrade. There's no compulsion to pay again right away. V1 will keep working, we'll keep working, upgrade only when you see fit.

Mark

Thank you

[Gianni Becattini]

Sorry Friends,

we have been discussing about marketing strategies, prices, ethics etc. We were wrong. The real point is that this version 2 is not a real release, just a beta version (alpha?).

I am having lot of problems with Publisher: cannot save, cannot load, broken links, stops with endless wait, tables without row and column labels, etc. I need to save the file every few minutes, and saving is a jump in the dark. What could happen this time?

Someone felt insulted by a previous opinion from me. Now I feel me insulted by an early release, with very difficult way back to V1.

Dear Serif, you are playing with our time and our work, do you understand that?

Fully ready to cooperate for bug fixing, my aim is the result, not arguing.

[LSDJE]

For tools that are hard to see in V2 - In one of the programs, click on View, Customize Tools - Add ANY tool to the tool bar, click okay - and they all went back to wonderful viewing. 

 

ALSO in Program Preferences I found it VERY handy to make UI Text larger - played with contrast and dartboard color - 

 

For me, it all turned out AWESOME and BETTER than V1.

 

P.S.  Once I added that tool in one of my Affinity Programs, the tool bar was better in all 3 programs.

 

[LSDJE]

SO FAR I have had no problems with V2 - all 3 programs have exceeded their V1 predecessors for me.

 

I usually do not jump on a new version for glitchy reasons - but I did want the promo deal - and I felt comfortable with knowing, YES, I can simply go back to using V1 at any time if I want - cause if worse came to worse, I can copy info from a V1 file to a V2 file.

 

SO, I did not personally feel trapped in to an upgrade I could not work around - stay with v1 for awhile then - set up your computer to open up all affinity programs in V1, instead of V2 for awhile.

 

$30 for an awesome program was worth it to me.

[LSDJE]

OOPS, I mis-spoke - 

and I felt comfortable with knowing, YES, I can simply go back to using V1 at any time if I want - cause if worse came to worse, I can copy info from a V2 file and paste to a V1 file.

 

[Gerard Moeres]

Hello, I have the feeling that you are on the right path, but you haven't arrived yet! After the first good feeling after the installation, crashes and inexplicable errors are piling up, e.g. a finished, saved document with 32 pages crashes and is suddenly at the status of 3 hours ago. The saved version is also changed and so on. This is not the way to use it!

[CWFII]

On 11/11/2022 at 12:57 AM, Patrick Connor said:

For the first time this release was not given a public beta, but going forward all V2 betas both minor and major (2.0.1, 2.1,  2.2 etc) will be done in these forums, prior to public release 

What was the logic behind not doing a public beta? In addition, should users start posting issues in those relevant forums now, or wait for Serif to release the latest beta version?

Edited November 12, 2022 by CWFII

[Patrick Connor]

2 hours ago, CWFII said:

What was the logic behind not doing a public beta?

It was a joint marketing/development decision but I'm not at liberty to discuss it 

2 hours ago, CWFII said:

should users start posting issues in those relevant forums now, or wait for Serif to release the latest beta version?

For issues found using release builds post your issues in the Bugs in... Forums

For issues specifically new in customer beta builds, post those in the beta forums. There are no customer beta builds yet, so there's nothing to post

[VX27]

Long time Adobe user here (InDesign being my primary jam), and was really hoping Publisher 2 would shore up some of the missing features that I so desperately have to have such as "Span Columns" for instance. I prematurely picked it up but I suppose I should have grabbed the 30 day trial or just stuck with V1. Would love to jump ship from Adobe but no way can I until very simple things such as Span Columns make it into Publisher. 

[SKT7]

22 minutes ago, VX27 said:

Long time Adobe user here (InDesign being my primary jam), and was really hoping Publisher 2 would shore up some of the missing features that I so desperately have to have such as "Span Columns" for instance. I prematurely picked it up but I suppose I should have grabbed the 30 day trial or just stuck with V1. Would love to jump ship from Adobe but no way can I until very simple things such as Span Columns make it into Publisher. 

Everyone is missing something or the other when compared to other apps (including me) - however, for me there are quite a few improvements that makes it worth it (and I want to continue with Affinity for various reasons esp because I decided to move away from Adobe) .

I haven't explored but you can check if they have a return policy if it's not meeting your requirements. 

[Horseflesh]

On 11/10/2022 at 12:16 PM, captain_slocum said:

As a professional designer, I spend a lot of time finding out exactly what my customers want, but I'm not sure Serif have done this.

My job is making software and part of that is figuring out what users want. Time after time I have figured that out, only to find that the userbase didn't actually want it. They just thought they did. So you try to figure out what they really need, not what they say they want. And if you give them that, they are still unhappy because they think you didn't listen.  

I have a lot of sympathy for anyone that tries to prioritize enhancements. It always seems like there is no right answer. 

I am not trying to defend Serif from any specific oversight, just making a general observation. 

[VX27]

40 minutes ago, SKT7 said:

Everyone is missing something or the other when compared to other apps (including me) - however, for me there are quite a few improvements that makes it worth it (and I want to continue with Affinity for various reasons esp because I decided to move away from Adobe) .

I haven't explored but you can check if they have a return policy if it's not meeting your requirements. 

Definitely not looking for a return, and I definitely like what's there I'm just whining about having to use a work around for something that I can easily do in another program. Affinity is a good alternative for anyone looking for a non-subscription design suite. Designer and Photo feel like decent enough replacements for me since Illustrator and Photoshop are secondary to my InDesign use. 

[VX27]

39 minutes ago, Horseflesh said:

My job is making software and part of that is figuring out what users want. Time after time I have figured that out, only to find that the userbase didn't actually want it. They just thought they did. So you try to figure out what they really need, not what they say they want. And if you give them that, they are still unhappy because they think you didn't listen.  

I have a lot of sympathy for anyone that tries to prioritize enhancements. It always seems like there is no right answer. 

I am not trying to defend Serif from any specific oversight, just making a general observation. 

Agreed, it's a losing battle trying to win over a legion of designers that are used to another tool set. Like I said above, I like what's there in all of the three programs but it's just a matter of reorienting my work flow in order to achieve some of the same results in other software. 

[CWFII]

2 hours ago, Patrick Connor said:

It was a joint marketing/development decision but I'm not at liberty to discuss it 

Not unexpected, but understood.

2 hours ago, Patrick Connor said:

For issues found using release builds post your issues in the Bugs in... Forums

For issues specifically new in customer beta builds, post those in the beta forums. There are no customer beta builds yet, so there's nothing to post

Thank you for clarifying!

[fde101]

It doesn't have a remote control for my toaster oven either.  Sad.

[CWFII]

17 minutes ago, fde101 said:

It doesn't have a remote control for my toaster oven either.  Sad.

Wait. What? That seals it for me; no sale here! 😁

 

Edited November 12, 2022 by CWFII

[Foucault]

6 minutes ago, CWFII said:

Wait. What? That seals it for me; no sale here! 😁

 

Which version are you using? My Mac-Version can do this - its in the Dodge&Burn submenu👍. May you also have to upgrade your Toaster😁

[CWFII]

Just now, Foucault said:

Which version are you using? My Mac-Vsrsion can do this - its in the Dodge&Burn submenu👍. May you also have ti upgrade your Toaster😁

Freakin' Windows! I'm getting a Mac! 😜

[Old Bruce]

My toaster oven doesn't have bluetooth. 

[fde101]

7 hours ago, Old Bruce said:

My toaster oven doesn't have bluetooth. 

That's no excuse.

Just because the toaster oven can't receive the remote control signals does not mean the computer should not be able to transmit them.

[chessboard]

On 11/13/2022 at 11:56 AM, fde101 said:

That's no excuse.

Just because the toaster oven can't receive the remote control signals does not mean the computer should not be able to transmit them.

I would like to add here: "This is essential!" How shall I live without my morning toast! 🙃