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Affinity Designer Customer Beta (1.6 - Beta 1)


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Also, the transparency grid jumps around on zoom.

 

http://imgur.com/a/lYgEU

 

Note: The blue outline indicates the borders of the artboard. There's a single solid rectangle filling up the entire size of the artboard exactly, but the transparency grid is all over the place.

 

Another important note: I forgot to say, this only happens when I'm in pixel mode.

 

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SjgkqPV.png

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Oh, and you asked for the blurry and low contrast icons I had mentioned, Matt. 

 
I fear this is an entirely different matter, and I don’t think it can be regarded, for the most part, as belonging to the “bugs” category. Let me say, I *really* love the new light interface, but after playing around with the new version for some time, I hope there will be improvements to the user interface in upcoming versions. I am actually not sure, if it would make sense to mention my concerns at this early stage, but let me share just a few observations. Most importantly, I wonder if we could get a little more contrast on the UI.
  • To my eyes, the selected tool highlight should definitely be darker. The contrast is just too low to see at a glance which tool is selected. By the bare numbers, the contrast is even lower than in the dark version (light version 86 : 83, dark version 61 : 39), though I am aware that the numbers alone are not very telling in this case.
  • The main toolbar buttons are confusing to me. I cannot figure out at first glance which buttons are engaged and which are not engaged, which are interactive and which are “greyed out.” Again, the contrast seems too low. The grey level that is used for the active (“pressed”) state is very close to the grey level that standardly indicates a disabled state in macOS (“greyed out”). That is really confusing. In the dark version, you get at least the impression to press down a button by the background color change, but in the light version, you somehow get the impression that you are disabling a button by pressing it. Just compare the standard buttons of the OS to see what I mean by increased contrast. 
  • In addition, the main toolbar buttons on non-Retina displays do not have very sharp and actually somewhat inconsistent borders (stray dark dots in the corners, divider color). And the same goes for other buttons and button combos, such as Cap, Join, Align on the Stroke panel etc.
  • Finally, there are quite a few cosmetic issues. Do we really need to have such a marked gradient on the main toolbar? In that particular case, I would say the contrast is too high. In the dark version, the main toolbar is visually flat, though in the light version it has a very marked bevel (or how you may call the effect suggested by the gradient). And frankly, there are a lot of inconsistencies and alignment issues throughout the user interface that should be ironed out. Clearing up these inconsistencies will make, in sum, a huge impact on the appearance and the usability of the application.
But anyway, I hope this post won’t be received badly. Again, I like the new interface, but in my opinion there are still some issues that have to be resolved in order to make the user experience better. And maybe it makes sense to voice these concerns as early as possible …
 
Thank you again for all your hard work … :)
Alex

 

 

Yep, I second your comments, but I also have to add a few more thoughts on the title/toolbar gradient; it does indeed seem a bit weird when compared with the native “flat Aqua” style… Not only is it much more marked at all gamma levels, and only vaguely similar to the OS in the darkest setting (shouldn't the equivalent look to the native mac OS UI be maybe at the lighter end of the slider and the latter allow for a neutral, OS 8/9 Platinum / Windows 9x gray, just like Adobe CS6/CC?), but the tint itself is off.

 

post-440-0-49779100-1495474668_thumb.png

 

Also, the selected, radio button-like dark background should apply also to the Persona buttons, don't you think? As it stands, it seems as if the other Personas are deactivated and non-selectable, and the selected Persona isn't distinctive enough at a glance. And I'm noticing this only now: the Preferences window and other modal dialogs (like the New Document window) look distinctively non-native, including but not limited to the anti-aliasing, the titlebar gradients and the fact that these don't even have an inactive state look consistent with the rest of the OS…

 

Up until now, when using the dark interface, those weren't very noticeable, but now that one can compare the interface directly with the native OS interface, the differences became jarring. Should the Preferences dialog really have a “Close” button (not to mention that the look is really weird, with the non-changing titlebar (something which is commonplace on Mac app preference dialogs) and lack of alternating line shading commonly found on list views? And why do the Back/Forward chevrons and the square grid on the toolbar buttons look that much different from the ones in System Preferences and Safari?

 

post-440-0-95060400-1495475107_thumb.png

 

And… aren't the Cancel and OK buttons in the “New” dialog too tiny?

 

post-440-0-36016600-1495475557_thumb.png

 

Aren't the search boxes super weird, as they are tiny and have a left-justified magnifying glass icon on a blank field instead of the HIG-mandated centred (until you select it, that is) magnifying glass icon+“Search” string?

 

post-440-0-13641000-1495475389_thumb.png

 

I don't want to be too much of a nitpicker, seeing that the dark interface grew on me to the point that I switched to it also on CC and doesn't, like I said, look as jarring, but… You can either go the Adobe route (which I loathe, by the way, but I do respect that at least their interfaces are now turning a bit more consistent across apps as of late) and do completely non-native interfaces (and the dark interface kind of went in that direction and masked all the imperfections, sort of), or go the extra mile and make it completely consistent, because leaving it in this uncanny valley kind of makes it look a bit weird and unpolished (you can of course do the same for the dark interface mode and even for the Windows version – which I suspect may have some inconsistencies of its own with the OS itself especially if the Preferences dialog looks in any way like the one on the Mac version, but I can't really comment on that one because I haven't tested it lately). I'd go as far as saying that not even iTunes, of all apps, looks this out of place (to be fair, with the advent of the flat design trend, it has been refreshed to the point that it no longer looks like a Carbon app in a Cocoa world, though some non-native controls like the non-expanding scroll bars still give it away).

 

I know that you use a very specific set of tools and are maintaining and greatly expanding a cross-platform suite of apps, but if you're still aiming for Adobe's turf (and everything seems to point that way), you really need to address all these issues. I mean, many of your current and future clients are the same who created and contributed to blogs like Adobe Gripes, we are nitpickers at heart. ;)

 

Anyway, kudos for finally getting the 1.6 betas out of the door… I'm still holding out for Publisher and advanced OpenType support (more on that later, on a different thread) to make a complete and clean switch but, so far, I'm impressed with Affinity.

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Is it just me or the text rendering is really bad on the light UI?

For both the retail & beta Affinity Designer versions, on the User Interface preference slider that adjusts the Artboard Background Gray Level there is a breakpoint where the artboard's name in the workspace switches from anti-aliased black text to anti-aliased white text so it remains visible. (A nice touch!)

 

From what I can tell, it looks like it is no worse using the light UI in the beta with the artboard background level set very dark than in the retail version with the same artboard background level -- it is just that the anti-aliasing in the white text is more noticeable, at least to me.

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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Valid points, JGD …  :)

 

I have the impression that the user interface is currently still under heavy development, and that is no wonder, since there are more and more options added in each iteration of the application suite. Which is wonderful, of course. But from following the development of the application suite in the last year, I cannot help but get the impression that there is no decided enough strategy for the development of the user interface in parallel with the development of the technical framework. Let me expand on a single observation I already noted elsewhere today.

 

When you compare the trigger buttons on the symbols panel (Create, Detach) and the trigger buttons on the context toolbar of the text tools (Character, Paragraph), you will note that they are styled differently, though they perform the same type of function. Each of them triggers an action. And their context is also very similar. All of them are located on horizontal toolbars. However, when you are looking more closely, you will note that they are styled differently. The first ones seem to be standard medium-size macOS buttons ornamented with an icon, while the latter ones are custom-made. The first ones will receive the standard blue highlight when pressed, while the latter ones will receive a faint grey highlight. That will inevitably give the impression that there is no consistent enough strategy for the development of the UI, when new functions are introduced. 

 

Again, I hope these remarks are not misunderstood. I am in love with Designer and Photo, and I don’t mean to discourage the development team by voicing these observations. But I also believe these are valid points, even more so, when we think of the future. Suppose there will be more and more functions added. Then it is important to keep a consistent design strategy for the user interface, for otherwise the handling of the application will get impaired by too many different element styles.

 

Hope that makes sense …  :)

post-1198-0-34683800-1495487275_thumb.png

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  • Staff

Any news on when the Prototyping feature is going to be enabled for testing ?

It's not going to be turned on for 1.6 after all... we actually sat and used the finished thing and weren't 'wowed' by it so we have come up with a different plan - it'll be better for everyone but it won't happen in the timeframe of 1.6, I'm sorry to say :( 

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Personally, my favorite new feature so far is that the transform panel can now use the rotation center set in the workspace. I also like how it is implemented, with the anchor points in the panel changing to a smaller size when the rotation center is shown in the workspace & clicking on an anchor point hides the rotation center & enlarges the anchor point so users know the anchor point is now the rotation focus. Very slick, much better than having yet another checkbox or such to toggle between the two modes.

 

There is one new feature mentioned that so far I have not been able to get to work (or don't understand how it should): Supposedly, double-clicking on the bottom center handle of a text frame should fit the frame to the text, but when I do that, it doesn't. I have tried doing this with the Move tool, but that doesn't do anything. With a text tool, it just puts me in text entry mode.

 

Same thing with double-clicking to reset shape and rotate/shear handles -- I have double-clicked in various places on or near the handles but nothing happens.

 

Anybody know the secret to getting this to work?

 

EDIT: I am an idiot! Somehow I did not notice that I had switched back to the retail version to test the new double-click features. No great surprise that they do not work there.  :wacko:

Edited by R C-R

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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please also take a look at monochrome mode 

 

looks pretty weird

 

post-10405-0-59906400-1495543757.png

 

 

I wouldn't say it looks pretty at all. It just looks weird! :P

 

no way to tell this is a selection brush

post-10405-0-47460800-1495543764.png

 

The whole thing needs to be darker, but especially the dashed circle.

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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Hi, I'm a developer currently working on the light UI. A few people have mentioned that the selected tool highlight isn't dark enough on the light UI. Does this look better?

 

It looks a lot better to me. How did you get that?

All 3 1.10.8, & all 3 V2.4.1 Mac apps; 2020 iMac 27"; 3.8GHz i7, Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB RAM; macOS 10.15.7
Affinity Photo 
1.10.8; Affinity Designer 1.108; & all 3 V2 apps for iPad; 6th Generation iPad 32 GB; Apple Pencil; iPadOS 15.7

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(Steve's in charge of writing the light UI - so he just changed the code a bit in response to the comments here) :)

 

Did someone forget to give him a 'Staff' badge? :unsure:

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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(Steve's in charge of writing the light UI - so he just changed the code a bit in response to the comments here) :)

 

Hopefully better than his new try:

 29275813pe.jpg

(please check it before it gets a beta)

 

Could have been solved and discussed before. Much earlier.

 

And what about this 29275816ob.jpg old UI problem?

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And what about this 29275816ob.jpg old problem?

 

Here is one way to tackle it.

post-8358-0-21890000-1495549529_thumb.png

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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Aren't the search box super weird, as they are tiny and have a left-justified magnifying glass icon on a blank field instead of the HIG-mandated centred (until you select it, that is) magnifying glass icon+“Search” string?

 

To be fair, I’m just looking at Firefox and the search field there also has left-aligned placeholder text. In my opinion it’s not imperative that the UI/chrome looks exactly like native applications but Apple does have some UI guidelines that AD currently doesn’t quite follow (I’m thinking more about colors, gradients, and contrasts here rather than text alignment) – or at least it feels like Affinity is trying to follow these guidelines but isn’t quite getting it right yet (like the mentioned chevrons in the system preferences).

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