Affinity Photo V2. interface question

[thomB]

Just purchased and installed yesterday. Its an interesting program.

 

My first question has to do with the SIZE OF THINGS in the program window. 

 

I am using a 32" HD LED TV monitor as a computer screen, so i know i have some size ability. 

 

I can find the EDIT menu easily enough, i can squint hard enough to see the export and design persona icons. I can sqsuint enough to see the left hand icons for each persona. 

 

However i have a very hard time with the little windows, and the menus on the right hand windows.. 

 

for example when i go to do a crop, i can find the crop button on the left hand side, i can find the two little windows on top where i can type in my desired crop size,, but for the life of me i cannot READ the numbers i input into it. For example I can click in the box, and use my keypad to input 4000 in each box, but i cannot actually READ the numbers i type in.  

 

When exporting to a new format, i can barely make out the file extension options in the pull down menu.

 

Is there any way to increase the size of icons and tabs and text in the program?

[walt.farrell]

If you're on a Mac, you'll have an option in the application Settings, under User Interface, that lets you select Default or Large for the UI text.

If you're on Windows, you can set your system Display Scaling to a larger value, which will affect all applications.

That's about it, as far as I know. You'll find many discussions about this, and requests for enhancements, if you look through the forum.

[thomB]

its bad enough im wondering if i need a magnifying glass.. 

 

and at same time, im happy i did not get an ipad for my photo work.. that would be horrible i think..

[Granddaddy]

Sadly @thomB you have discovered the fatal flaw in all Affinity software applications. The user interface is unpleasant to use and even dysfunctional in many ways. Still, some of us continue to put up with it for reasons of our own.

Eight years of begging Serif to make the UI readable have fallen on deaf ears. The upgrade to Affinity 2 actually made the interface worse and doubled down on reducing contrast.

For more background and some suggestions for partial solutions under Windows, see my post  at
https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/191947-ui-sizing-for-apps/&do=findComment&comment=1125237

It will lead you to other discussions of the usability problem. I'm working on two 24" monitors at 1920x1280 resolution. Windows Accessibility settings let me enlarge text in those UI elements that use the Windows system font. Unfortunately, most text elements and the icons are hard coded into Affinity apps. There is no way to increase their size without scaling all of Windows, a highly undesirable workaround that messes up all other applications.

I have several quirky personal reasons for sticking with Affinity for now, but I would never recommend it to anyone else. And I will never be able to upgrade to a high resolution monitor if I want to continue with Affinity products.

 

[moniuch]

I totally second the OP in their concern. I must admit I felt some sort of satisfaction finding this thread so fresh, at the top of the list... what a perfect timing, purely coincidentally! I was just going to look for some UI Font Size feature requests to vote on.

The UI anti-aliased rendering of small text is terrible and barely usable. It might not be a problem if you are on an expert level and basically don't need to read what the UI says, but for beginners it means some horrible eyestrain.

I do graphics occasionally. Before, with Photoshop or Illustrator, I was more likely to get on an exploration whim once in a while, just for fun, to experiment with graphics. Today as I am on Affinity, the very thought of try to create a new personal avatar gets me those shivers of repulsion. Just because of the awful eyestrain association. (Well, the way/timing spacebar works for zoom contributes to it too)

Adjusting the UI Font Size to Large was the first thing I changed after my initial installation. It doesn't help much.

This hits me most in those text-rich preference screens where I need to lean almost into the screen to be able to read. And to be honest, when I switch momentarily to Default, I ask myself who's even able to think this setting would be a good starting point for anyone.

There's one more thing. For example, while the New Document screen is tabbable (the basic level of accessibility), most of the Settings sections are not. This also results in additional eyestrain on overload when you need to point your mouse to a precise point on a screen.

It's beyond my comprehension how one can do so inaccessible and unfriendly software these days. Seriously.

[thomB]

nikon does just as poor a job with its free to use editing programs, but they barely do anthing else..only 1 of those nikon programs can make an actual crop, and save it as its own image. 

 

but changing the windows settings to make the UI easier to deal with is not a solution. 

[Grow Genius]

On 12/5/2023 at 8:45 PM, walt.farrell said:

"You'll find many discussions about this, and requests for enhancements, if you look through the forum". - That's pretty damming 😞

 

[walt.farrell]

@Grow Genius: Please note that you replied inside the Quote box, which attributes words to me that I did not write

(I'm not terribly bothered by that this time, just wanted to point out that you should add your text outside the quote box when you're replying to someone.)