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Feature request - horizontal sidenotes


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Publisher has an excellent sidenote feature but recently I've been wishing it could position sidenotes horizontally as well as vertically.

I have a horizontal timeline along the bottom of each page of my family history book. Each timeline marker is a separate frame with a date, body text, and a decoration for the left rule. I have to keep moving these frames as I edit the text which is tedious in long chapters.

The sidenote feature would be perfect for timelines like this except that it doesn't work horizontally.

image.thumb.png.fc6bd892a8278d1941808f9532429200.png

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Sorry, Mike, but I'm a bit confused. What is the sidenote in that example?

-- 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 18.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sequoia 15.0.1

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1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

Sorry, Mike, but I'm a bit confused. What is the sidenote in that example?

I'd like the three text frames shown above to be sidenotes from the main text frame which I didn't show, so I don't have to manually move them as I edit the text. Here's a better example. Everything would just be reversed from sidenotes so the Width field would become a Height field. In my book, I adjust the width of each to nicely fit the content but unless Affinity got fancy and could dynamically adjust width based on the number of notes on the page and the length of text that would fit in the specified height, there would likely need to be an option to specify the width for all of these notes.

I tried pinning them and using the Pack Horizontally option but I tried that with Tips in my manual and there are drawbacks such as them running off the page if there are too many. A version of sidenotes would push the marker to the next page. If I have to keep fixing it manually, I might as well do it manually.

image.png.1bf87a6f03f41356891c0f62c26a515e.png

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Why not a freeform notes frame where one could add the note at will and define the settings themselves.
AKA a self created text frame that could be set as the notes placeholder.
This could also be implemented with index and toc.
This way one can define the looks and place the frame wherever one wants or use the standard dtp options if needed or wanted.
Seems very logical in a "creative" suite.
 




 

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2 hours ago, MikeTO said:

I'd like the three text frames shown above to be sidenotes from the main text frame

But they're not sidenotes, because they're not beside the text they're referencing. They are footnotes. And I don't think it's a good idea to muddle that distinction.

I would suggest an improvement to the footnote packing function is more appropriate.

-- 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 18.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sequoia 15.0.1

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7 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

But they're not sidenotes, because they're not beside the text they're referencing. They are footnotes. And I don't think it's a good idea to muddle that distinction.

I would suggest an improvement to the footnote packing function is more appropriate.

I think them of them as sideways sidenotes. 🙂

Footnotes get stacked vertically at the bottom of the frame or column and have inconsistent heights. I want sideways notes that are stacked horizontally with a consistent height.

It's a niche use case, I can't think of much else to use them for except timelines, highlights, and other design-y callouts, but it seems like a small feature request since it's just a flipping of the sidenote feature.

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2 hours ago, MikeTO said:

It's a niche use case....

I would say it is a unique case.

Mac Pro (Late 2013) Mac OS 12.7.6 
Affinity Designer 2.5.5 | Affinity Photo 2.5.5 | Affinity Publisher 2.5.5 | Beta versions as they appear.

I have never mastered color management, period, so I cannot help with that.

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