Symbol sync button never changes state? Designer 2.2.1 macOS 14.1

[tamaracks]

I can't tell if the sync button in the Symbol panel is on or off. It never seems to change appearance when I click it. I am trying to work out a problem I'm having getting a symbol to behave, but I can't tell if it's user error due to me not knowing if sync is on or off.

Is it just me? What am I missing?

Designer 2.2.1 macOS 14.1

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, tamaracks said:

Is it just me?

No, it is not just you. On my Mac, there is zero difference in how that button looks if it is enabled or disabled in the Light UI, & the difference in the Dark UI is quite small & easy to overlook because when enabled its black background is only slightly darker than the surrounding dark grey of the panel.

This is just one more of the very many places in the Affinity UI where low contrast makes it much much harder to use than it should be.

many of us have been complaining about this since the first release of the Affinity apps but the developers seem not to care about improving this, in part because it is only getting worse with new releases.

[loukash]

The Light UI Sync button visibility has already been fixed in 2.3.0 beta.
Some other buttons like "K Only" haven't yet.

[tamaracks]

1 hour ago, loukash said:

The Light UI Sync button visibility has already been fixed in 2.3.0 beta.
Some other buttons like "K Only" haven't yet.

Does that mean there should already be a difference in Dark UI in 2.2.1, or does that mean Dark UI hasn't been fixed yet?

Because even after setting dark UI, enabling the high contrast, maxing display brightness, and using display zoom to zoom in on the button, I see zero difference in the sync button after clicking it.

[loukash]

7 minutes ago, tamaracks said:

Does that mean there should already be a difference in Dark UI in 2.2.1

In v2.2.1 the Dark UI display works for me as expected.

But…

8 minutes ago, tamaracks said:

Because even after setting dark UI, enabling the high contrast, maxing display brightness, and using display zoom to zoom in on the button, I see zero difference in the sync button after clicking it.

… they fixed the Sync button Light UI display in the beta v2.3.0.2114 but they broke it in the Dark UI for a change!

*face palm* 

[loukash]

43 minutes ago, tamaracks said:

after setting dark UI

Alright, in v2.2.1 it "works" like this:

• It will work in the Dark UI until you switch to the Light UI where it's broken. Then when you switch back to the Dark UI, it will be broken as well, until the next time you relaunch Designer.
• And exactly vice versa, if you launch Designer with the Light UI, it will work, but it will break if you switch to the Dark Ui.

[R C-R]

44 minutes ago, loukash said:

In v2.2.1 the Dark UI display works for me as expected.

Really? For me the difference between sync enabled & disabled in the Dark UI is all but invisible:

In one screenshot it is enabled & in the other it is not. Can you tell which is which?

EDIT: OK, just saw your last comment so it is definitely broken, just not quite in the same way as I first thought.

[loukash]

I also just posted a bug report in the Beta forum, thinking there's a new variant of the bug, but it appears to be the same in 2.2.1 and 2.3.0:

[loukash]

5 hours ago, tamaracks said:

What am I missing?

So the temporary solution here is "Don't change horses in the middle of a stream (giddy up, giddy up, hi-ho silver)" (quoting Tower Of Power… )
As in:
Don't switch from Light UI to Dark UI or vice versa while working with Symbols.

There's also a workaround for fixing it "on the fly" without having to save and close an open Designer document:

1. File→Edit in Publisher or Edit in Photo (doesn't really matter since we won't be editing anything there)
2. quit Designer
3. back in the other app: File→Edit in Designer
4. voilà, the Sync button should be back with both states visible and with the document in the same state where you left off

[R C-R]

36 minutes ago, loukash said:

(quoting Tower Of Power… )

Totally off topic but ToP has always been one of my favorite bands. Back in the day I used their extremely well recorded "Monster on a Leash" album as my tuning & evaluation music when I was a live concert mixer.