How to Add Columns to text Frames in Designer?

[Willy Pimentel]

How do I add Columns to text Frames in Designer?

[MikeTO]

I don't believe you can create multiple columns in a text frame in Designer, just in Publisher. However, if you copy a text frame with multiple columns to the clipboard and paste it into Designer, it will work. You won't be able to change the number of columns inside of Designer, although there is a Remove Columns button in the Context Bar so you can revert it to 1 column at any time.

[Willy Pimentel]

I don't understand Why this feature is not included in Designer.  

[MikeTO]

I assume because people using Designer aren't creating 500 page books so if you need two columns on a page you can just draw a second text frame.

I know it seems silly, it obviously could work so why not, but if Serif were to put all the features into a single app then they'd have to sell it for the price of the entire suite or they'd make less money. And then people who just needed photo editing features would complain that they were subsidizing the development of footnotes, or vice versa.

[Willy Pimentel]

I agree with that idea.  BUt I have Publisher.    

If I have bought the program, them those features should appear there simply because i mainly know how to use Designer and not publisher.   

if i bought it, it should be part of it....

[MikeTO]

2 minutes ago, Willy Pimentel said:

I agree with that idea.  BUt I have Publisher.    

If I have bought the program, them those features should appear there simply because i mainly know how to use Designer and not publisher.   

if i bought it, it should be part of it....

Yes and no. In this case I agree it wouldn't do any harm, but I'm a publishing guy and my photo processing needs could be met with MS Paint. Kidding. But I'd hate it if all the Photo features were crammed into Publisher, it would clutter up the interface. Publisher already has a lot of non-publishing stuff that I wish wasn't there.

So I agree it's an inconvenience but at least you have a workaround - just copy it from Publisher.

[loukash]

42 minutes ago, Willy Pimentel said:

I don't understand Why this feature is not included in Designer.

It's 1) a marketing decision, and 2) it avoids unnecessary bloat, especially for casual users.

Because strictly technically, the Affinity Suite is in fact just one file format with three different file extensions to mark the default app to open it, and theoretically just one app split into a "holy trinity". But selling it as just one app would unnecessarily bloat it. Sometimes you need to focus, and Featuritis™ doesn't necessarily help here. In spite of that, this is obviously why the Studio Link was eventually added to Publisher which just by itself doesn't necessarily need other personae.

But in fact, Designer on its own is the most universal of all three: apart from advanced vector tools, it can also do a bit of typography and layout, and it can also do some basic bitmap editing. For hobbyists, Designer is a good place to start at a good price.

[industrialstudios]

I struggle with the notion that basic text formatting (or however you want to call it) would significantly add to the size and speed of designer.

[loukash]

It's definitely not about size because the functionality is already there, just hidden.
It's a bit about speed in the sense that Designer's focus is vector object design, not typography.

If you need advanced typography features, the Affinity concept is that you can always add Publisher to your app collection as your Advanced Typography "Plugin" for Designer. (Heck, back in the day I paid more than the double price of an Affinity app for a single InDesign plugin that enabled multiple page sizes within a document.)

Of course, Serif could have also released an "Eierlegende Wollmilchsau" (as the Germans say), a fat bloated app with dozens of tools and panels and hundreds of menu items, that can do everything in one window, and sell it for 200 bucks.
Good luck marketing it.
Good luck using it.

Focus is a virtue.

[thomaso]

On 11/11/2022 at 5:00 PM, Willy Pimentel said:

If I have bought the program, them those features should appear there

They do … if you open your .afdesign in APub and use the AD persona. 'Studio Link' is the benefit for those who bought more than one of three.