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Artboard Document Sizes


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When working with Art Boards, and going to pick a size from the dropdown Document window, I am totally lost.  As a Windows user, I have no idea what those sizes mean.  Can that be changed to something that is more meaningful to the non-apple users? I have attached the drop-down menu..

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Windows 10 Home
Affinity Designer 1.6.4.104
Affinity Photo 1.6.4.104

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The Dimensions section of the New Document dialog tells you the sizes as you scroll through the options on the Page Presets dropdown list.

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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Hi MaryLou,

These are templates with specific dimensions/options set that  you can use to design app interfaces (for example) for those devices, so you don't have to set them up every time you want to start a new project. They are also available in Designer for Windows because there's nothing stopping Windows users to design/build apps for these devices on a Windows machine. As you can see there's also a few templates for Nexus devices (Nexus5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7 - which are Android devices - smartphones/tablets - and are not related with Apple at all).

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I understand that these are templates, but what size are they?  The words are meaningless.  Actually, so are things like paper size A5, A6, etc. For those who don't know, it would be nice if the size was actually indicated instead of giving it just a name.  Any other program that I have used will tell you what the size is along with the name. 

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Affinity Designer 1.6.4.104
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They are not meaningless because those are "standards" (or at least size's references). It also helps to keep the dropdown/UI clean.

Why would you want to create a document choosing from the dimensions of an iPad template if you don't intend to develop/design for an iPad?

In other words users who want to target a specific device do know which template to choose from its name/reference. Similarly someone who works regularly with print know exactly what an A2 or an A1 is. You can see the exact dimensions of each one when you create a new document and set its type to Devices (or Print to keep with the examples above).

 

If you need a reference for those and other devices there's a few resources online that may help. Check Screen Sizes for example. I'm not saying they can't be there if you think they are useful/needed. That's up with the devs. I'm just trying to explain why i believe they were not included from the beginning.

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Well, maybe today I wouldn't want to design for an iPad as I have never seen one. However, tomorrow, it might be a different story. Having the sizes are also a learning tool. When you have just a name, there is nothing to relate to.  For example, I see various tutorials that ask you to open a new A5 image.  It would be nice if I knew what size that actually is before I open it.  You have the sizes in the Serif Plus series and it would be nice to include them in the AD series so users don't have to go to yet another web size just to see what it is. What may be a common size in one country may not be so common in other countries. 

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Affinity Designer 1.6.4.104
Affinity Photo 1.6.4.104

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Who's to say that I will not buy an iPad in the future? There are sizes on the Page Presets on the Document Setup, so why not be consistent throughout?  I don't agree that "most people" create an A4 page without caring what the physical dimensions are. If people didn't care,  why bother to have more than one size?  It doesn't matter, it's not worth arguing over but consistency makes things nicer for everyone.

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Affinity Designer 1.6.4.104
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I don't agree that "most people" create an A4 page without caring what the physical dimensions are.

 

Neither do I, especially if you're talking about creating something intended for print. For a drawing which will be printed on an A3 sheet and includes bitmap/raster images, you won't want to design it at A4 or A5 and then scale it up. And it's even worse with North American paper sizes: Tabloid size is exactly twice the area of Letter size, but (unlike the 'A' series) the proportions are different.

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Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

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  • 1 year later...

Well I am a bit puzzled by this size drop down menu too, Why can't there be all sizes including print and web standard in the drop down menu ? Why there is only apple or mobile products sizes?

For example If am designing and event poster it would be very handy to have quick art board creation for A3 and for A5 or then standard web sizes instead of only mobile devices.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

He likely means adding print and photos standards as well as digital.

Add in US Letter, Tabloid, 4x9 Rack Card and #10 envelope sizes for Print
Add in 4x6/5x7/11x14 for standard photo.
That might alleviate some confusion with novice users who might rely on presets.

But really, you can just choose "document" and set your dimensions manually, it's not that hard.

Art director by day, illustrator by night: Check Out My Shutterstock Gallery

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And therein lies the issue. We can’t expect the developers to add in every world wide standard because everyone’s  “standard” is different (except in the case of newer devices like phones and iPad screen, go figure).

If a would-be designer or illustrator is using an advanced vector tool, then they should have at least the knowledge to know what size document they need to be working on.

If this basic step is tripping up the user, then it’s likely best for them to start out by watching some intro videos on YouTube before blaming the developers for not holding their hand through the process.

Art director by day, illustrator by night: Check Out My Shutterstock Gallery

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I second @MaryLou's question.

When I open a new document in Designer 1.6.5, the list of available templates cover a wide range of Apple devices and only one Android (now few years old Nexus 5). I'm aware that in the age of responsive design these templates are only for some mock-ups, but it feels wrong prioritising one company over others.

I think the whole idea of templates should be re-thought and maybe, instead of listing specific devices, the list of dimensions should be made with ability to adjust them manually, i.e. "2160×1080 (Huawei 10 Mate Pro, Ratio 18:9)". It's impossible to make a list of all available dimensions (mentioned Huawei 10 Mate Pro can change resolution to save battery), but at least popular ones would be helpful. Maybe with each update the list of top 10 currently used devices could be made? Keep in mind that Android devices are more popular than Apple.

I don't know if there is any research on it, but I expect that Apple devices are mostly used by individuals (freelancers). I work for local government, and all our software is Windows and Android based. Serif should do some research on targeting customers to make more money, and I think, Apple devices would be left behind. Adobe prioritises Apple users, but I hope, Serif will change their approach.  

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That's why I suggested that we have the ability to create our own list of custom presets. Then everyone's "standard" would be taken care of.

This should extend to creating new documents which already allow me to create a custom size but there is no way to save the preset. That's just silly. It's really annoying having to do all that clicking all the time every time I want to create a new document of a certain size that is "standard" to me.

I fully support the team's strategy to port Designer and Photo to Windowd and iOS but now that these platforms are stable I think they need to go back, take a good hard look at all the pain points and pick some of that really ripe low hanging fruit and give us some of the functionality that loyal customers have been asking for for years now.

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20 minutes ago, tomek said:

That's why I suggested that we have the ability to create our own list of custom presets. Then everyone's "standard" would be taken care of.

I agree, this would be a good solution in the long run.

It is possible to create, save and reuse any kind of custom template already. Simply create a new document with all the preferred settings. Save it in a special folder maybe called 'My Templates' with a name that suites your needs.

To start a new project from these templates, open it from the 'My Templates' folder, save it with a new name (to a new project folder) and you are ready to go.

The only difference (or call it drawback) is that it is not part of the dropdown list in the 'New Document' dialog box. Instead you have to start with the 'File > Open' command ;)

d.

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