Other Improvements in 2.6

[MikeTO]

The Tags panel enhancements did something to the panel background in light mode. Here's the panel in light and dark mode in 2.6 (left) contrasted with the panel in light mode in 2.5.5 (right)

  

[sansnom]

Hi @MikeTO, I have the "feeling" that we are still far from the long-awaited delivery of the next update of the suite with such obvious and flagrant "bugs".

So, patience, patience, patience, patience, patience, patience, patience, patience...

[PaulEC]

Much as I like Affinity software, there is one thing that has always annoyed me about Serif, and that is the time it takes them to fix some bugs. It's been the same since the old "Plus" range days and doesn't seem to have improved since Serif was bought by Canva. The problem seems to be that the "developers" decide which bugs to prioritise, and which to ignore. Obviously the more serious bugs, which cause crashes, loss of work etc, and those which affect most people have to be prioritised over the others, but the problem is that, as new updates come out, and new features are added, the list of new bugs keeps growing and many of the older ones get pushed further and further down the list, until they just get forgotten about. Many of these tend to be what I refer to as "silly" ones; things like incorrect or inconstant labels, wrong translations, missing icons, poor UI implementation and the like. The end result is that, after a time, the software is full of bugs that have been around forever but never fixed, because they were never considered to be important enough, although they are, never the less, still annoying many users!

Eventually the old, legacy/Plus range became so bloated and "buggy" that Serif really had no choice but to scrap it and replace it with completely new software: I'm just hoping that Affinity doesn't go the same way as the previous Serif software – but I'm not holding my breath!

[MikeTO]

@sansnom I don't know why you tagged me. I was just reporting a small regression related to one of the features announced in this thread.

[sansnom]

@MikeTO, I am French and I am posting by translating with Google Translate: there may have been a misunderstanding or clumsiness.

I do not understand the verb "tag" here.
My post had no intention of attacking you. I was just expressing a feeling about the progress of the work with the support of your post.

[MikeTO]

10 minutes ago, sansnom said:

@MikeTO, I am French and I am posting by translating with Google Translate: there may have been a misunderstanding or clumsiness.

I do not understand the verb "tag" here.
My post had no intention of attacking you. I was just expressing a feeling about the progress of the work with the support of your post.

No problem but I don't work for Serif and know nothing about when a version will be released. I don't think the enhancements to the Tags panel are indicative of the schedule - it's just an oversight that you wouldn't notice unless you use light mode. These sorts of issues happen.

[Evaluation complete.]

On 11/1/2024 at 12:42 PM, Patrick Connor said:

The Tags Panel has been updated to allow users to use Alt Tag and Extended Description XMP tags inside images. To do this your image will require the XMP data to be included as either Iptc4xmpCore:AltTextAccessibility or Iptc4xmpCore:ExtDescrAccessibility respectively. When an image is placed with this data you can select the dropdown in the Tags Panel as appropriate.

I've attached a zip containing an image with these tags already embedded as well as its sidecar file.

AccessibilityTags.zip 8.14 kB · 12 downloads

Isn’t it limiting if Affinity Publisher requires images to already have XMP data for Alt Text and Extended Descriptions? Wouldn’t it be more flexible if users could enter or edit these tags directly in the Tags Panel after placing an image, especially if the images didn’t come with XMP metadata initially? Or have I perhaps misunderstood something?

[Sean P]

7 hours ago, Ingelise said:

 

Isn’t it limiting if Affinity Publisher requires images to already have XMP data for Alt Text and Extended Descriptions? Wouldn’t it be more flexible if users could enter or edit these tags directly in the Tags Panel after placing an image, especially if the images didn’t come with XMP metadata initially? Or have I perhaps misunderstood something?

These tags are used as source of alt text (note the dropdown's label in the Tags Panel) when exporting to tagged PDFs - i.e the alt text that appears when I hover over the image in Acrobat. Alternatively the text is also used when the item is added to the Reading Order Panel, and is then used to feed information to a screen reader. Other sources that already existed in the panel were XMP Title, Description and Headline fields.

In the image sample attached to Patrick's post it contains an XMP Title tag of "XMP - Extensible Metadata Platform" as well as XMP Alt Text in a series of languages similar to this "This is reading Alt Text Accessibility that has been specified..." or XMP Extended Description in a series of languages similar to "This is reading Extended Description (Accessibility) that has been specified...".

If you users want to enter custom text this can already be done as by selecting 'Custom' in the dropdown and entering the text in the text field.

 

[Sean P]

16 hours ago, MikeTO said:

The Tags panel enhancements did something to the panel background in light mode. Here's the panel in light and dark mode in 2.6 (left) contrasted with the panel in light mode in 2.5.5 (right)

  

Thanks Mike! I'll get it logged!

[Sean P]

9 minutes ago, anto said:

There is no such tool. I have Stroke Width Tool. Did you change the name?

My apologies - it was originally called Line Width Tool during development but later changed to the more accurately named Stroke Width Tool. I occasionally get the naming mixed up! I'll edit that. Thanks! 

[Hangman]

It’s currently a prerequisite to have the appropriate Hunspell language dictionary installed before Alt Tag and Extended Description XMP Tag text will display the text for that language in the Tags panel when selected from the XMP:Alt or XMP: Extended Description Language dropdown…

Expectation

Alt text for the selected language should be read from the XMP data without the need to install the respective Hunspell language dictionary. Taking the sample image provided in the earlier post, the built-in Mac dictionaries don't pick up the English (United States), German, French or Italian XMP:Alt or XMP: Extended Description data...

While all the default languages included in the source file are picked up on Windows the same is true when adding non-default languages, e.g., Dutch and Polish... I've added Dutch and Polish to the same file and these languages are not picked up until the relevant Hunspell dictionaries are installed on Windows...

Sample Image Before Dutch Hunspell Dictionary Installed Left | Sample Image After Dutch Hunspell Dictionary Installed Right

 

Sample Image 

tagsps.zip

 

[Bearjerr]

I don’t see that this version solves the preview file icon mystery. Is this anomaly problem rectified in 2.6?

[MikeTO]

1 hour ago, Bearjerr said:

I don’t see that this version solves the preview file icon mystery. Is this anomaly problem rectified in 2.6?

It solved it for me. If you just installed the beta, reboot and check again later.

Good luck.

[TonyS3]

i can't see "

• Stroke Width Tool - added 'Reset' button to the context toolbar"

in the Mac Designer beta

[carl123]

19 minutes ago, TonyS3 said:

i can't see "

• Stroke Width Tool - added 'Reset' button to the context toolbar"

in the Mac Designer beta

It's there in Windows but it's greyed out until you modify the stroke then it's more visible

[TonyS3]

Finally found it  it is there on the mac

[Hangman]

The Tags Panel doesn't show the available languages in the Language dropdown for tagged images when Publisher is first launched...

The Tags panel doesn’t show languages in the Language dropdown for tagged images when the Alt Text Source is set to XMP:Alt Text (Accessibility) or XMP: Extended Description when Publisher is first launched… The text shown for both suggests that the default text for None is being read despite the option not being displayed in the dropdown, i.e., the text shown is:

"This is reading Alt Text Accessibility that hasn't been specified with a language"

Steps to Reproduce

1. Launch Publisher and create a new document
2. Add one of the attached tagged images to a page in the publisher document
3. From the Tags panel for the Alt Text Source select either XMP:Alt Text (Accessibility) or XMP: Extended Description (Accessibility)
4. From the Language dropdown select a language
5. No languages are displayed
6. Create a second Publisher document
7. Add one of the attached tagged images to a page in the new publisher document
8. From the Tags panel for the Alt Text Source select either XMP:Alt Text (Accessibility) or XMP: Extended Description (Accessibility)
9. From the Language dropdown select a language
10. All available languages are displayed
11. Go back to the first Publisher document and the languages are now available in the Language dropdown for the tagged image

 

 

[Hangman]

When the Welsh Language is included in a tagged image, cy-GB, the tags panel incorrectly displays this as Welsh (Cyprus)...

[Affinity Info Bot]

The issue "The Tags Panel Doesn't Show Available Languages in the Language Dropdown for Tagged Images When Publisher is First Launched" (REF: AF-5081) has been fixed by the developers in the latest beta build (2.6.0.2900). The fix is planned for inclusion in the next customer release.
Customer beta builds are announced here and you can participate by following these instructions.
If you still experience this problem once you are using that build version (or later) please reply to this thread including @Affinity Info Bot to notify us.

[Affinity Info Bot]

The issue "A Tagged Image Including the Welsh Language Displays as Welsh (Cyprus)" (REF: AF-5082) has been fixed by the developers in the latest beta build (2.6.0.2900). The fix is planned for inclusion in the next customer release.
Customer beta builds are announced here and you can participate by following these instructions.
If you still experience this problem once you are using that build version (or later) please reply to this thread including @Affinity Info Bot to notify us.

[Affinity Info Bot]

The issue " Alt Tag and Extended Description XMP Tag text Won't Display in the Tags Panel Until the Associated Hunspell Dictionary is Installed" (REF: AF-4911) has been fixed by the developers in the latest beta build (2.6.0.2900). The fix is planned for inclusion in the next customer release.
Customer beta builds are announced here and you can participate by following these instructions.
If you still experience this problem once you are using that build version (or later) please reply to this thread including @Affinity Info Bot to notify us.

[MikeTO]

Another minor improvement in 2.6 that could be added to the list at the top of this thread is the addition of the new Publisher and ISBN fields to the Fields panel.

[MikeTO]

Another minor improvement in 2.6 that I don't think is listed yet is the new "Show page edges in preview" command.

[edge261]

Sorry, would it be too difficult to add the native shadows and border style of Windows?

It's difficult to differentiate windows and panels opened because there's no shadow or indication of a focused window.

[Affinity Info Bot]

The issue "Add Expand Stroke to Right Click Context Menu" (REF: AF-4754) has been fixed by the developers in the latest beta build (2.6.0.3089). The fix is planned for inclusion in the next customer release.
Customer beta builds are announced here and you can participate by following these instructions.
If you still experience this problem once you are using that build version (or later) please reply to this thread including @Affinity Info Bot to notify us.