Affinity Publisher style shortcuts problems (with numkeys)

[wintermute]

There is a few issues with style shortcut:

1 - publisher do not distinguish if we press number on numkeyborad or "regular". It is problem because in my opinion numkeys are excellent for style shortcut - there is no option for shortcut conflict. But if there is no difference between regular number and numpad conflict is possible. (no option for numkeys shortcut with shift)

2 - publisher dos not allow assign 4 keys shortcuts with numpads - for example ctrl+alt+shift+num1 can’t be assign, when ctrl+alt+shift+regular1 can. Alt+shift also cannot be assign.

3 - alt + numkey can be assign but it doesn’t work. Instead of this publisher insert some symbols - for example ☺ (alt+num1)

so there are only 9 shortcuts available and it is a bit low. (ctrl+alt+num) 

 

 

[_Th]

Great catch. The numpad numbers really need to be addressed separately from the standard numbers, and all potential modifiers (and combinations of modifiers) should be available. No smiley face keyboard shortcuts, please! This should be treated the same way throughout the suite, not just in Publisher.

This seriously hampers the professional's workflow and should be addressed ASAP in my opinion. (Beta 2.2 would be lovely, thank you.)

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Aside: Why This Matters
I imagine there could be some on the forums—and, perhaps, even at Serif—who haven't or don't perform long-document formatting. In this case, the absolute necessity of "little things" like this may not be apparent. If I may, an example...

A typical workflow in a long document (book, magazine, etc.) involves a ton of keyboard navigation between paragraphs (Command/Control Up or Down) and keyboard shortcuts to change the style of the paragraph as needed, heading, subheading, byline, pull quote, bulleted list, etc. When you're doing this, a common approach is to assign all of your most-used styles a keyboard shortcut, e.g., CTRL-1 (numpad) for primary heading, CTRL-2 (numpad) for subheading, etc. The absolute last thing you want is to reach for the mouse, navigate to a style in the Text Styles palette, click, and return to the keyboard. That is a giant time killer, and having watched many who are good at both approaches, I won't hire someone who uses the mouse instead of the keyboard; the difference in speed, i.e. productivity, is night and day.

We all know time is money. Every workflow slowdown adds up, and collectively can make or break adoption of the software by (more) professionals. But, there's more to it than that. As a creative, you need the workflow to be as frictionless as possible. Every time the creative workflow is unnecessarily interrupted, creativity takes a nosedive.

As much as I and many here bash Adobe, they have honed the creative workflow over decades. This is why they are able to maintain their confiscatory rental model.

I hope this helps make the case why these issues of seemingly "little things" really do make a huge difference.

Serif, if you're listening—and I believe you are—thanks.

[PaulEC]

27 minutes ago, _Th said:

The numpad numbers really need to be addressed separately from the standard numbers

This is a great idea - except for people who don’t have separate numpads!

[_Th]

3 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

This is a great idea - except for people who don’t have separate numpads!

True, some don't have 'em even though they should 😜.

Of course, addressing this won't negatively affect those folks, but not addressing it sure does affect those of us who do.