Who creates new software that doesn’t at least have ALL the features the previous software had?

[ReebahSu]

As a decades-long user of Serif’s Pages Plus software, who was forced to get the affinity publisher as a replacement on my new laptop, I am disappointed that it doesn’t seem to have all the features pages plus had. For instance:

Where are the undo and redo buttons? (Yes, I’m aware there’s a function button to do that, but an undo arrow and a redo arrow are much easier!)

Next, where is the “replicate“ button? I used Pages plus and I’m now using Xfinity publisher to create all of my product labels. The button was much easier than manually doing “control C” plus “control V” over and over to make a sheet of labels.

I would love to see an undo button and a replicate button on the next update, please.

I was told before I purchased this software that it would do everything pages plus did, but it certainly doesn’t, and certainly isn’t quite as user-friendly!

Edited December 15, 2024 by ReebahSu

[walt.farrell]

35 minutes ago, ReebahSu said:

Next, where is the “replicate“ button? I used Pages plus and I’m now using Xfinity publisher to create all of my product labels. The button was much easier than manually doing “control C” plus “control V” over and over to make a sheet of labels.

Welcome to the Affinity forums.

Your feelings about buttons for Undo/Redo seem to be shared by some other users, though I've never wanted them. I doubt they will happen any time soon.

For replicating, Ctrl+J might work better generally, as it combines copy and paste, but specifically for a sheet of labels, I think using the functions of Data Merge and specifically the Data Merge Layout Tool would be easiest. Or using the Move Data Entry function.

46 minutes ago, ReebahSu said:

I was told before I purchased this software that it would do everything pages plus did

I've never seen Serif say that. Generally they point out that the Affinity suite is a completely new design and implementation, and was not intended to necessarily do everything that the prior software did, and certainly not in exactly the same way. 

[R C-R]

8 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

I've never seen Serif say that.

That is because they never have said that, or even hinted that it would include everything from the old Windows-only apps.

[Meliora spero]

Your extreme regular-customer status and replies to Serif's honoured customer now give me the impression of witnessing a bar counter handling of an out-of-town guest. It’s social realism that’s hard to miss.

I rate the forum's ability to handle customers in a serious and professional manner a 0 out of 5. A brand killer.

[Alfred]

On 12/15/2024 at 1:08 PM, ReebahSu said:

As a decades-long user of Serif’s Pages Plus software, who was forced to get the affinity publisher as a replacement on my new laptop, I am disappointed that it doesn’t seem to have all the features pages plus had.

Affinity Publisher (APub) is very much younger than Serif PagePlus (PP). It’s unrealistic to expect it to have a feature set as comprehensive as that of the older application.

In what sense were you ‘forced’ to get APub as a replacement for PP? Recent versions of PP will run on Windows versions 10 and 11.

On 12/15/2024 at 1:58 PM, walt.farrell said:

For replicating, Ctrl+J might work better generally, as it combines copy and paste

The ‘Copy’ step of Copy (Ctrl+C) and Paste (Ctrl+V) puts the copied material on the clipboard, overwriting any existing clipboard contents. One potential advantage of Duplicate (Ctrl+J) is that it bypasses the clipboard, thereby preserving existing contents for further use.

[Catshill]

4 hours ago, Meliora spero said:

I rate the forum's ability to handle customers in a serious and professional

A bit of a generalisation given the the forum is a community of users with a few support staff thrown in.

[অরুণ সরকার]

On 12/15/2024 at 6:38 PM, ReebahSu said:

Next, where is the “replicate“ button?

 

 

[PaoloT]

Apple rewrote all its software, to get rid of all the older garbage, and had to remove a good amount of features, that were then reintroduced year after year.

At the same time, Microsoft didn't, and it shows.

[Granddaddy]

The OP asked
Who creates new software that doesn’t at least have ALL the features the previous software had?

Answer number 1:
Adobe

For a couple of decades I bought a new version of Photoshop Elements every few years to take advantage of improvements and new features. Then I bought PSE 14 as an upgrade from PSE 10. To my dismay, a feature I used regularly to make backgrounds for portraits had been removed from the software (Clouds I think it was called, a configurable Perlin Noise generator far, far superior to that in Affinity Photo). I read in user forums that Adobe removed the feature to avoid the cost of updating to 64-bit from the earlier 32-bit version.  

By removing that one feature, Adobe provided me with a compelling reason to look for another photo editor. And so I ended up buying Affinity Photo about seven 7 years ago after trying a couple of competing products over a couple of years. I haven't used an Adobe product since.

Answer number 2:
Foxit Software

The free Foxit Reader was the best PDF reader I ever used. It was frequently updated and improved. Then a couple of years ago  Foxit "upgraded" by removing the ability to add bookmarks, making it largely useless for me. Users created an uproar that did no good. I reverted to an earlier version and put to rest any thoughts I might someday buy some of the more advanced Foxit products.

Lessons learned:
1. Newer does not mean better whether you pay for software or get it for free
2. Always keep older versions of software

 

[Meliora spero]

15 hours ago, Catshill said:

A bit of a generalisation given the the forum is a community of users with a few support staff thrown in.

Perhaps? But... there's not much diversity in who responds. If you tally up who answers the most, an extreme minority here accounts for an overwhelming share of all replies, and it's not exactly people whose professional background is visible. Furthermore, support staff doesn’t respond to such inquiries at all, so customers with that kind of feedback encounter the same 10–20 people’s predictable loyalist answers. That’s cult, not customer care.

And then the concept of community... there’s no quality in that term. It is, however, a guarantee for survivor bias, and that’s exactly what you see here, big time.

What we’ve seen here is pure pub talk. But perhaps examples for training new employees in companies under the chapter 'how not to respond to customers' ?? Except that the above will probably be commented with: 'But no one would respond like that, it’s too exaggerated an example.' So, no.4

Anyway, back to adult life.

[R C-R]

1 minute ago, Meliora spero said:

so customers with that kind of feedback encounter the same 10–20 people’s predictable loyalist answers. That’s cult, not customer care.

Nonsense. It just takes a bit of browsing through this forum for anyone with eyes to see that essentially every one of the top 10 to 20 posters frequently post something critical of the issues they have encountered using these products.

[PaulEC]

2 hours ago, Meliora spero said:

it's not exactly people whose professional background is visible.

I get a bit fed up with this "professional = good : non-professional = bad" nonsense. It's knowledge and experience that matters, not just the ability to land a job and get paid for doing it! 

[Pšenda]

31 minutes ago, PaulEC said:

professional

You may have also noticed, that most of the "self-proclaimed" would-be professionals here on the forum, apart from constantly commenting negatively on everything, have not demonstrated anything that would correspond to the expertise they claim. They only talk, talk, and whoever disagrees with me is an amateur.

[PaulEC]

11 hours ago, Pšenda said:

amateur

I'd just make the point that, although often used pejoratively in the sense of being "amateurish" (or not very good,) "amateur" can also refer to someone who does something for pleasure, rather than being paid to do it; which often means that they have more interest in and commitment to what they are doing than some "professionals" who only do what they do for money! 

It would also be nice if all users were treated equally, rather than a handful of, so called, "professionals" constantly telling other users that they don't know what they are talking about and that they don't even have a right to express their opinion!

[Pšenda]

4 hours ago, PaulEC said:

than some "professionals"

Unfortunately, many users do not distinguish between a "professional", i.e. someone who is paid for it, but whose knowledge of the given industry or application (perhaps because they are switching from another camp) is minimal - and therefore completely useless, and an "expert" (and it does not matter whether paid or unpaid, i.e. amateur), who is able to share their knowledge and expertise with others and give advice to others. Recently, retirees were ridiculed here - in context with the fact that only they have time to contribute to the forum. But at the same time, their expert knowledge and experience - often from professional practice - are a great asset here, because they are willing to share them with others.