Alignment and Artboard

[Andy Faulkner]

I use designer on a Mac and Windows, the artboard feature from a selection defaults to the whole document on the Mac but on windows it remember the last selection type, I think this may be a bug, any idea how to set the artboard to default to selection rather than the whole document.

also is it possible to have a single click align middle and centre button, or if this is already available where do I find it..

[walt.farrell]

1 hour ago, Andy Faulkner said:

I use designer on a Mac and Windows, the artboard feature from a selection defaults to the whole document on the Mac but on windows it remember the last selection type, I think this may be a bug, any idea how to set the artboard to default to selection rather than the whole document.

To avoid any confusion, it seems this part was also reported as a bug:

 

[Andy Faulkner]

Yes, i think it is a bug, I was hoping I someone might tell me there was a default setting I had missed.

any ideas?

[walt.farrell]

There are no settings for that as far as I know.

And, as the applications should function equivalently on both OSes, I suspect you're right that it's a bug on macOS.

[Gripsholm Lion]

Making an artboard sized to a selection works as I expect (choosing "selection" from the select dropdown) and said dropdown works as I expect, as it defaults to the first option. Could you give a little more detail about how you expect the feature to work?

19 hours ago, Andy Faulkner said:

…a single click align middle and centre button

I would like that, too, and I think that it has already been requested. If you can find a thread in Feedback, by all means add your voice to it. If not, start one up.

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, Gripsholm Lion said:

and said dropdown works as I expect, as it defaults to the first option. Could you give a little more detail about how you expect the feature to work?

Andy pointed out that on Windows, once you've chosen an option from that drop-down, when you create the next Artboards, it defaults to your previously-chosen option. But on macOS, it always defaults to Document. 

An inconsistency like that is not desirable, and Windows is behaving correctly in my opinion.

 

[Andy Faulkner]

Hi Walt,

thank for your comment, it is definitely a bug in the Mac version, in windows it always remembers my last selection.

and with regards to the single button to align middle and centre in one go, I used a awful human machine interface editor for a control system touch screen, the tools compared to affinity are rubbish, but a very nice feature was a one button press to align as described, I looked to see if I could create a macro in affinity to do this, but I don’t believe affinity has macro capability.

from a coding perspective, I cannot imagine it would be hard to connect the two functions together, but I note that many features are asked for but it seems there is an around to it mindset from affinity, will watch this space.

 

[Gripsholm Lion]

That does work as I'd expect it to, so I'm not convinced that it's a bug, but nvrmnd.

[Andy Faulkner]

Sorry but it doesn’t, I create an image and then create a second image, let’s say identical but a different colour, I click on the first object, and then add artboard, on the Mac is defaults to screen rather than selection, so I click selection and then add the artboard, I then want to create an artboard for the second item, but the Mac yet again defaults to screen, so I then have to click selection and then add artboard again.

 

on windows it remembers selection and make life a lot easier.

when you designing touch screen buttons, identical size but different features it’s very frustrating on the Mac, a lot easier on the windows version, it’s a bug.

I have designed 40 buttons today and would prefer to do this on my Mac laptop rather then at a desk as I want to export the slices on mass, but the Mac for this, given the bug, is a non starter.

 

[Andy Faulkner]

Just now, Andy Faulkner said:

Sorry but it doesn’t, I create an image and then create a second image, let’s say identical but a different colour, I click on the first object, and then add artboard, on the Mac is defaults to screen rather than selection, so I click selection and then add the artboard, I then want to create an artboard for the second item, but the Mac yet again defaults to screen, so I then have to click selection and then add artboard again.

 

on windows it remembers selection and make life a lot easier.

when you designing touch screen buttons, identical size but different features it’s very frustrating on the Mac, a lot easier on the windows version, it’s a bug.

I have designed 40 buttons today and would prefer to do this on my Mac laptop rather then at a desk as I want to export the slices on mass, but the Mac for this, given the bug, is a non starter.

 

What would be even better is the ability to group objects on the screen and then add an artboard for every selection on the screen, or exports assets as slices for the export persona.

[Andy Faulkner]

I imagine Walt with his Mac will experience the same thing.

[Gripsholm Lion]

9 minutes ago, Andy Faulkner said:

Sorry but it doesn’t

So… you're telling me that it doesn't work as I expect it to? You're welcome to have a different opinion, but not to try to tell me what my expectation is or should be.

[Andy Faulkner]

Fine, but is doesn’t work How I expect, but does on Windows, end of.

[Andy Faulkner]

I don’t use forums very often, and value Wilts reply, I am unsure why the other chap had to be so aggressive, it’s a shame that people need to be unpleasant, still there is some excellent value in being able to block them.

Anyway, hopefully affinity may get round to fixing the issue, until them will be obliged to run it in windows.

also and oddly enough when I was using Serif publisher and draw there were a lot of graphical options that don’t seem to have been ported to affinity.

[R C-R]

2 hours ago, Gripsholm Lion said:

So… you're telling me that it doesn't work as I expect it to?

I think the point here is all (or at least most) of us would expect it to work the same on the Mac & Windows version, but it does not.

Since there does not seem to be any logical reason for that, the Mac version always reverting to "Document" vs. the Windows version remembering the last selection (sticky) seems to be a bug, but as for which is the better or should be expected one, I have no idea.

[Andy Faulkner]

Thanks, I thing the last selection option is the best, especially when I am designing scada objects, many of which are the same size.

[HCl]

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[R C-R]

2 minutes ago, Return said:

You can also cmd/ctrl+drag or cmd/ctrl+j the objects to the pasteboard>convert to artboard and duplicate as many times as you like.

If you are starting out with an empty document why not just create the first artboard, select it, & CMD-drag it with the Move Tool?

Also, the new Move/Duplicate function (invoked by tapping the Return) key with an artboard selected can create multiple duplicate artboards spaced however far apart you want, but like Power Duplicate it will not duplicate the contents so it is only suitable for newly created documents.

[Andy Faulkner]

11 minutes ago, Return said:

You can also cmd/ctrl+drag or cmd/ctrl+j the objects to the pasteboard>convert to artboard and duplicate as many times as you like.
There's just one caveat that the power duplicate function doesn't work for artboards at the moment.

 

11 minutes ago, Return said:

You can also cmd/ctrl+drag or cmd/ctrl+j the objects to the pasteboard>convert to artboard and duplicate as many times as you like.
There's just one caveat that the power duplicate function doesn't work for artboards at the moment.

I will give this a try, thanks, to be clear I have 10 objects identical apart from colour so how exactly does this work?

[Andy Faulkner]

2 minutes ago, R C-R said:

If you are starting out with an empty document why not just create the first artboard, select it, & CMD-drag it with the Move Tool?

Also, the new Move/Duplicate function (invoked by tapping the Return) key with an artboard selected can create multiple duplicate artboards spaced however far apart you want, but like Power Duplicate it will not duplicate the contents so it is only suitable for newly created documents.

That’s sound good too, does the artboard size change the export,say as an example I have a button 40px x 40px if the artboard is larger and I export to let’s say PNG will the export be at the size of the artboard or the object.

[HCl]

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[HCl]

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[Andy Faulkner]

I am not sure if my last message was posted, but thanks for all of your great suggestions, I wasn’t aware I could use grouping to create slices, and after testing your suggestions it works a treat, I still think the Mac artboard selection needs correcting.

Thanks for all your valuable assistance.

[Pšenda]

On 11/15/2024 at 9:42 PM, Andy Faulkner said:

I thing the last selection option is the best

There may be specific situations, but in general it is true (must be true) that remembering the user's choice (so-called sticky option) is a better and more suitable solution. The user had some reason for changing the default (last selected) option - so it is very likely that he will need and request this option next time. If he does not like this sticky option, he will simply change it again, and the option will be like the default one again. In contrast to the constant and stubborn promotion of some default option chosen by the developer, the sticky option is simply the more user-friendly.

I've already written about it here and requested it in many places, but unfortunately Affinity has a big problem with tracking the context that could be used in these and similar cases. For example, you have an object selected, and you use the Artboard tool to create an artboard - isn't it likely that the Selection option will be more suitable for you? So why offer the Document option as default? If you don't have any object selected - which option will you probably use when creating an artboard using the Artboard tools? Selection or Document? This is a common context error in Affinity applications, by the way - I have no object selected before using the Artboard tools, and yet I am offered the Selection option, which is completely wrong and meaningless! Why? - executing this option of course does nothing at all! So why is executing this command, which does nothing, even possible?

[Andy Faulkner]

I agree with your comment, the truth is that either document or selection should be as you describe, sticky.