MikeTO Posted November 6, 2023 Share Posted November 6, 2023 (edited) The search feature in online help is limited so a lot of people prefer to use Google. But when you search for something like "affinity publisher 2 index", the first hit will be the version 1 page. The online help needs a bit of optimization so that the v2 help appears first. To search just the v2 pages, prefix your Google query with: site:affinity.help/publisher2/ site:affinity.help/designer2/ site:affinity.help/photo2/ Edited November 8, 2023 by MikeTO corrected typo Quote Download a free PDF manual for Affinity Publisher 2.5 Download a quick reference chart for Affinity's Special Characters Affinity 2.5 for macOS Sequoia 15.0.1, MacBook Pro 14" (M1 Pro) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deeds Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 17 hours ago, walt.farrell said: Unfortunately, showing a screenshot like that tells us Tell us about this us? To the two of you, give the guy a break. He's right, the writing is atrocious. The publishing pathetic, the layout greatly lacking. All things a company making presentation software should have absolutely nailed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllanP Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 Those of us with long memories of using Serif's "Plus" range of software will recall the manuals that came with that range. I still have the impressive bundle of manuals that came with my PagePlus 3.0 suite - 0ver 700 pages of information both in using the software together with DTP guidelines. I van appreciate why Serif don't produce printed manuals these days, but I am sure a PDF Manual/handbook would be useful and give more room for ecamples. peter and deeds 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Breis Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 On 11/7/2023 at 1:36 AM, walt.farrell said: Unfortunately, showing a screenshot like that tells us very little. You need to tell us the URL that was returned. It would also help to expand the Introduction tab. My guess: you got a V1 Help page. If you want to search the web for Publisher 2 Help, include the search term site:affinity.help/publisher2 or you can't be sure what you'll get. Or, go to https://affinity.help and then click on the link for Publisher 2 (desktop or iPad, as appropriate) and use the Search box there. But sometimes using a web search will give more results. You are lucky you got that screenshot. Who except nerds like me constantly documents their searches on the off chance that someone will ask for "more in formation" 😊 Yes it is possible in that instance I got V1 Help despite my search, I took a snap so I'd have the topics list for when I created my own manual to try and sort out how Publisher works. Something which as I've said, would be better if Serif did it. I'd put my hand up for the job, but can't fix everyone's shortcomings, I've got work of my own to do. deeds 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Breis Posted November 7, 2023 Share Posted November 7, 2023 AllanP Apple still creates User Guides for its iWorks suite and certain hardware, also there are Teacher Creativity guides. All available in their Books App. But it is very much a "used-to" thing. A real shame. Nobody feels they have to give a stuff so it's sunk to the lowest common denominator. deeds 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 On 12/14/2022 at 4:20 PM, dcr said: I also like to be able to print PDF manuals. That way, instead of having to flip back and forth between the application and the documentation, or having one on the computer and another on the iPad, I can have the printed PDF on my desk and flip to the necessary page without leaving the application.I had a bridge camera When I was given my Fuiji bridge camera, many moons ago, I decided to print the whole 150 pages onto a A5 landscape and double sided bound booklet. This was finicky, most but printers are. In the end, I managed to get all of the pages together, (print page 1&2, 3&4, 5&6 etc single feed) neatly stacking them together and with some creative skills. I then cut two grooves, across the spine on the left side, where I applied several layers of superglue and allowed each layer of glue to dry thoroughly. This took a while. But one dried, a little bit of black tape over the spine gave it a bit of extra protection. So what I had was, a hard copy of a well written PDF file that could fit inside my camera bag. I really like seeing the end product and, for me that's print, not screen. This would have been a good booklet to find the box from the start. Quote MacBook pro, 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB, OS X 10.11.6 http://www.pinterest.com/peter2111 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 On 11/7/2023 at 12:27 PM, AllanP said: Those of us with long memories of using Serif's "Plus" range of software will recall the manuals that came with that range. I still have the impressive bundle of manuals that came with my PagePlus 3.0 suite - 0ver 700 pages of information both in using the software together with DTP guidelines. I van appreciate why Serif don't produce printed manuals these days, but I am sure a PDF Manual/handbook would be useful and give more room for ecamples. Wow, I remember seeing the tiger on DrawPlus 2, my first product! Quote MacBook pro, 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB, OS X 10.11.6 http://www.pinterest.com/peter2111 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfred Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 1 hour ago, peter said: Wow, I remember seeing the tiger on DrawPlus 2, my first product! DrawPlus 2 was also the first Serif product that I purchased, but I had a magazine cover disk with free products including (if I remember correctly) DrawPlus Intro. Quote Alfred Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.5.1 (iPad 7th gen) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 If Serif had used any number of help creation tools (maybe they do) they could simply export the web help system and a pdf whenever desired. But, Serif really needs someone who can actually write decent software manuals to begin with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loukash Posted July 1 Share Posted July 1 2 hours ago, MikeW said: Serif really needs someone who can actually write decent software manuals to begin with Since many decades I have the habit to actually read manuals. Gear manuals, tools manuals, hardware manuals, software manuals, you name it. (I wonder if that could be the reason why I actually understand how to use my tools properly…? ) I've read many bad software manuals. Too many to remember them all. https://affinity.help wasn't among them. PaoloT 1 Quote MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walt.farrell Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 11 hours ago, loukash said: https://affinity.help wasn't among them Wasn't one you read? Or wasn't one that was bad? It could certainly be improved, and I won't claim to have read it completely, but I read at least the opening chapters when I first installed the programs, and I generally read the What's New for each major release. PaoloT 1 Quote -- Walt Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases PC: Desktop: Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Laptop: Windows 11 Pro 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU. Laptop 2: Windows 11 Pro 24H2, 16GB memory, Snapdragon(R) X Elite - X1E80100 - Qualcomm(R) Oryon(TM) 12 Core CPU 4.01 GHz, Qualcomm(R) Adreno(TM) X1-85 GPU iPad: iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.7, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard Mac: 2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaoloT Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 The Affinity online manuals seem good to me. They may be made richer in many parts, but the information they contain are clear and well organized. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterBreis2 Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 30 minutes ago, PaoloT said: The Affinity online manuals seem good to me. They may be made richer in many parts, but the information they contain are clear and well organized. html manuals are not as easy to systematically read as a printed or pdf manual which will not send you in loops or hide deatils. I like adding my own notes and not having to juggle both the manual and the App on the same screen. Orbit-50 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 Currently, there is some incorrect information, misleading information, and in some places, wrongly categorized information in the manual. Have the manuals gotten "fuller" over time, yes. But they are still more like a reference manual versus the old-days type of User Manuals. The current manual could make better use of hyperlinks when in one subject touches upon another. They (the manuals) do not make fuller use of the underlying technology. But hey, what do I know... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loukash Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 7 hours ago, walt.farrell said: Wasn't one you read? Or wasn't one that was bad? Oh, definitely one that I've found pretty well written. But as already noted on page 1, I'd prefer a PDF version. walt.farrell 1 Quote MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeW Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 12 minutes ago, loukash said: Oh, definitely one that I've found pretty well written. But as already noted on page 1, I'd prefer a PDF version. If the APub on-line manual was well written, did @MikeTO waste his time by writing his manual? It (Mike's) is more akin to a user manual of old than the on-line help system. Fuller, richer content with actual examples. And it doesn't quite cover all methods of operation. But it is quite good. I downloaded it this morning and compared many parts to the on-line version. Heck, if I was at Serif, I would offer to purchase the rights to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loukash Posted July 2 Share Posted July 2 1 hour ago, MikeW said: If the APub on-line manual was well written, did @MikeTO waste his time by writing his manual? Two quite different approaches. Also, while affinity.help is (quoting myself) "pretty well written", Mike's PDF book is thorough and excellent. Those two models are not mutually exclusive. Both have their benefits at times. Back in the day I was reading official manuals of, say, QXP, yet I also bought e.g. Samuel Hügli's "Insiderbuch QuarkXPress" which had more practical examples and tutorials. Same e.g. for Freehand, Emagic Logic and quite a few other complex software tools I was using in the 90s and 00s. I've always found Adobe's manuals abysmal. Even in the olden days when inDesign was the best thing to happen to desktop publishing. PaoloT 1 Quote MacBookAir 15": MacOS Ventura > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // MacBookPro 15" mid-2012: MacOS El Capitan > Affinity v1 / MacOS Catalina > Affinity v1, v2, v2 beta // iPad 8th: iPadOS 16 > Affinity v2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter Posted July 4 Share Posted July 4 On 7/1/2024 at 9:35 PM, Alfred said: DrawPlus 2 was also the first Serif product that I purchased, but I had a magazine cover disk with free products including (if I remember correctly) DrawPlus Intro. Me too. So grateful for the free software and chance to discover what can be done with zero training. Quote MacBook pro, 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB, OS X 10.11.6 http://www.pinterest.com/peter2111 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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