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Ash

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54 minutes ago, Rubbington said:

Cheers. Yeah I assumed from the beginning that the stated 5-7 days wouldn't apply to me. I just hate not having tracking!!

 

@Rubbington, mine arrived in the post this afternoon.

 

I had to contact Affinity Serif and they chased up on the dispatch as there were delays with the recent promotions. It took about 7 days from the day I got the dispatched email.

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If helped with some translations for the 1.6 release. If they provide me with the original files of the Workbook... :$

 

¡Saludos!

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On 19/10/2016 at 6:49 PM, Ash said:

This is a big book - 448 pages, in hardback

It has many pages, but the actual size is rather small... 200mm x 227mm.

 

Aussies who are wondering how long it takes to arrive, I ordered mine on August 8 and it got delivered yesterday - September 4.

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1 hour ago, Canuck said:

   I miss the good old days, when your software CAME WITH THE WORKBOOK. Every company I worked for, our CorelDRAW software came with a full workbook. We never had to pay separately for it. 

Corel no longer ships books. There are non-affiliated authors who write them. Because they use publishers, they are less expensive and available online and brick and mortar stores. 

 

As to the cost, they are about half or a bit less than the Affinity books, but that is likely due to the print run size. They are also paperback books and the interior is on lesser quality paper. Serif chose higher quality all around. That is reflected in the cost too.

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Cute, Canuck.

 

Nope, I didn't miss your phrasing. Just pointing out that you omitted the all important comparison to today. What was once done doesn't really matter.

 

I've written a bazillion technical manuals for both hardware and software. Still do a few. And the costs of so doing have increased. So these days the norm (for my manuals) has the process switched from 175 lpi offset to digital & the paper downgraded in order to save costs.

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I've been around the block once or twice as well...

 

Pretty certain that full color offset at 175 lpi on thinner, gloss opaque stock is more expensive today than yesteryear.

 

This is true if for no other reasons than the stock (of any quality), the ink and the labor costs. 

 

Thus all is absolutely true of even the catalogs I do compared to back then that are still done offset.

 

But hey, you can have the last authoritative word because it just ain't worth the eInk I am using up.

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I bought the Workbook when it first came out, hoping it would work as a manual.  Really didn't want to work my way through projects that I would never use just to find out how best to use the tools, so it's been worthless to me.  Still wish it had been a real printed manual.  Those I study; help files I go to only when stuck.  Just stating my preference.  No longer hoping for a real printed manual in either app.

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I also bought the Affinity Designer Workbook when it first came out; I think the Windows version of AD was still in public beta at the time. That was nearly a year ago, and to this day I've only worked my way through a very small part of it (probably all within less than a month of receiving it). It's a beautifully produced book, but I don't think I'll be snapping up the launch offer for its Affinity Photo counterpart.

 

Alfred spacer.png
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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4 minutes ago, MikeW said:

Sounds like an opportunity for a third-party to do a technical manual if Serif isn't going to. Something that is far better than the source for the help file.

 

I'd buy one for Designer and one for Photo.  I doubt that I'm the only one who would.

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As a newbie, my first course of action is to ask a newbie question . . .

As a beginner in graphic design, do you think that the Affinity Designer Workbook will be useful as a learning tool not only for the Affinity Designer software but in some aspects of graphic design as well?  I may or may not purchase the book depending on whether or not I will gain anything worthwhile, in general, in graphic design.  I have plenty of tutorial resources for learning the tools themselves.

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Hi Lille,

 

If it were me, I would only consider it in time with the 2.x release and, even then, it requires coordination with Serif. It also requires unfettered access during the planning and implementation of the features and functions during that stage.

 

It would also require writing now for what does exist with dummy writing of those planned new features that are based upon the planed new functionality that gets multiple rewrites as the functions edge towards completion. 

 

They are a lot of work, especially with rapidly developing non-mature software.

 

Incremental updates thereafter can be dealt with via appendix additions and possibly HTML5 publications that are live on the web.

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Unexpected support for preferring printed manuals today at BusinessInsider.com in the Strategy section.  

 

Headline:

"A new study shows that students learn way more effectively from print textbooks than screens"

 

Partial quote:

"Our work has revealed a significant discrepancy. Students said they preferred and performed better when reading on screens. But their actual performance tended to suffer.

For example, from our review of research done since 1992, we found that students were able to better comprehend information in print for texts that were more than a page in length. This appears to be related to the disruptive effect that scrolling has on comprehension. We were also surprised to learn that few researchers tested different levels of comprehension or documented reading time in their studies of printed and digital texts."

 

I realize, of course, that this changes nothing.  Printed Manuals are not coming back.  At least, not as included documentation.  But those of us who prefer them get a little tired of feeling like dinosaurs for not thinking that digital is always better.  

 

 

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Oh, I agree completely (says the idiot who works in print).

 

I still have companies I do the odd manual for. Such technical and reference manuals may be dying, but they aren't dead yet. But the industry as a whole has pretty much abandoned them. I believe it is largely due to users demanding lower cost software over the years & companies deciding they like larger profit margins. I mean, I paid over $2k for Ventura Publisher and its various modules/applications in 1989. There was quite a box of manuals. Same with CorelDraw, Illustrator and the others. I paid a lot for software/hardware when I started that business. But think about it, the software cost was large, employee costs were a fraction of today, real-estate was inexpensive, taxes were way lower. They had the "extra" money to spend on such things.

 

I wrote and illustrated 30 to 40 technical, reference and user manuals between 1989 and 1992. Some of those companies are still around and still updating, adding and creating new manuals. They are a heck of a cost burden for a modern company to bear--despite what these recurring studies show.

 

One of these days I'll be able to sit on the porch in a rocking chair, G&T in-hand, and opine about the good ol' days that have completely vanished. Oh, wait. I guess I do that now...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Remember when you got 576 discs to load Mi rosoft Office and a quarter of a rainforest in manuals.

 

Our software now comes as Apps.  If you buy a printer how many people use the enclosed disk, in fact how many of you have a disk drive?

 

Same with manuals - if your software comes as an App then you get on line help and if you buy a physical product most people got to the website to get the latest.

 

saying that I have just bought a Plustek Film Scanner which comes with 2 manuals and a DVD for the apps and software

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  • 2 weeks later...

Does this book even exist? l ordered this book October 19th and never received. l then talked to someone about it, and never got a confirmation or anything. I’m beginning to think this affinity designer book and company is a joke. lt is  November 12th, nearly a month, not the (5-7) days they say. 

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1 hour ago, Ckreitzer said:

l ordered this book October 19th and never received. l then talked to someone about it, and never got a confirmation or anything

 

What does it say about your order when you sign in to your Affinity account? My account showed the AD Workbook as 'Awaiting shipping' a day or two after I had received it, but that was way back when the store was first launched and there were still some teething troubles to iron out.

 

Alfred spacer.png
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 minute ago, noombeat said:

i want to but Affinity Designer Workbook but no shipping to Thailand :(

@noombeat

Welcome to the Serif Affinity forums. 

Sorry but we don't offer all countries for shipping. If this ever change we will notify this thread. 

Patrick Connor
Serif Europe Ltd

"There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man. True nobility lies in being superior to your previous self."  W. L. Sheldon

 

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