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Do anyone have any tip i could use to build a let's say month calendar template where it would be easy to edit next year?

Let's say i have one month ready and the next year all i have to do is to use the tab key or delete key to move all one forward or one back, but i would like to do it by weeks. Example attached.

 

Thanks in advance

mes.png

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Hmm, many questions come to mind. If I understand you, you are interested in a separate file for each month, not a 12-month file, and your goal is to find an easy way to turn Janeiro 2017 into Janeiro 2018. Etc for February, etc for March, etc. And you want to have a separate color for Sunday dates. And I don't know whether you want to use AD or AP or the future APub.

 

My approach would be to create each month using a macro that can access the universal DATE function. This would get you past the Leap Year problem. And with this method you don't need to modify a month for next year - your macro just builds each new month for you.

 

I don't know how to get a date function with Affinity so I would use a spreadsheet then paste the results into AD or AP or the future APub. The spreadsheet columns could be set up with the Sunday colors and, hopefully, it will keep the colors when you paste. You can use Excel or try the free Open Source Libre Office (includes Calc as their spreadsheet) and avoid Microsoft.

https://www.libreoffice.org/

 

Or just find free calendars online using google and paste them into AD or AP or the future APub. This doesn't help with your specific question but it is an alternative. And, hopefully, maybe some AD/AP experts will post with better solutions.

♥  WIN 10 AD & AP  ♥  Lenovo Legion Y520 15.6" Laptop

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18 minutes ago, jer said:

Hmm, many questions come to mind. If I understand you, you are interested in a separate file for each month, not a 12-month file, and your goal is to find an easy way to turn Janeiro 2017 into Janeiro 2018. Etc for February, etc for March, etc. And you want to have a separate color for Sunday dates. And I don't know whether you want to use AD or AP or the future APub.

 

My approach would be to create each month using a macro that can access the universal DATE function. This would get you past the Leap Year problem. And with this method you don't need to modify a month for next year - your macro just builds each new month for you.

 

I don't know how to get a date function with Affinity so I would use a spreadsheet then paste the results into AD or AP or the future APub. The spreadsheet columns could be set up with the Sunday colors and, hopefully, it will keep the colors when you paste. You can use Excel or try the free Open Source Libre Office (includes Calc as their spreadsheet) and avoid Microsoft.

https://www.libreoffice.org/

 

Or just find free calendars online using google and paste them into AD or AP or the future APub. This doesn't help with your specific question but it is an alternative. And, hopefully, maybe some AD/AP experts will post with better solutions.

Thanks @jer but i think i've a little closer for what i want, i'm using the frame text tool and the TAB stops, but i've realized that i need to give one tab before the number 1, not a big deal but it's strange. I can't start at the left of the frame... I'll share the file. I will use AD for now, and with this file i can do all months, then when needed i will convert it to curves and style it.

month.afdesign

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Tabs won't help with leap years without manual intervention. That may be fine for your needs.

 

I do calendars of a few different sorts for companies each year. I use Excel, a few different calendar templates I have tweaked for style, output as a pdf and use a merge in a layout application to generate to first version. Each successive year it just means I need to update the pdf and it is done. The first time takes minutes after the calendar is formatted and a couple seconds thereafter. 

 

Just seems that is one good usage of a spreadsheet. 

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3 minutes ago, SigsCreations said:

for calendar templates, I've always found it easiest to just make 7 all with 31 days. The 1 starts on a different day of the week. Then you just change out the name of the month and delete any extra days at the bottom for the months with less than 31 days.

Well, then give it a try to my file. You will like it ;) You just need to do a tab to move 1 forward or delete the space if you want to move it back.

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Note: This is not intended as a practical solution, only as a design exercise that someone might find interesting.

 

Before there were personal computers, there were crude "perpetual calendars" that consisted of a sliding plate with day numbers printed on it in a frame with a cutout sized to reveal seven of the plate's number columns. To change months, the plate was moved left or right to adjust the starting day of the month. There were no provisions for months shorter than 31 days; you had to remember which months had 30, 29, or 28 days.

 

To simulate that kind of device, I used a rectangle for the cutout in the frame, a text frame layer clipped to it for the sliding plate, & the lock children option so the frame text would slide properly. I also made four versions for 31, 30, 29, & 28 day months, & added a rectangle to lighten Sunday days:

calendar.png.938573fe87999a5d8a5dfb3abbf19e84.png

This works OK as long as the day frame text uses a monospaced font like Courier, Monaco, or Menlo; otherwise the character spacing must be adjusted for each day number for the columns to line up. Tabs might work for that but I did not try that.

 

I think this could be simplified further to one artboard with all four frame text layers as children of the frame rectangle, or with guide lines so the text frame could be snapped to align columns more easily, but the attached calendar.afdesign file is as far as I got.

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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8 hours ago, R C-R said:

Note: This is not intended as a practical solution, only as a design exercise that someone might find interesting.

 

Before there were personal computers, there were crude "perpetual calendars" that consisted of a sliding plate with day numbers printed on it in a frame with a cutout sized to reveal seven of the plate's number columns. To change months, the plate was moved left or right to adjust the starting day of the month. There were no provisions for months shorter than 31 days; you had to remember which months had 30, 29, or 28 days.

 

To simulate that kind of device, I used a rectangle for the cutout in the frame, a text frame layer clipped to it for the sliding plate, & the lock children option so the frame text would slide properly. I also made four versions for 31, 30, 29, & 28 day months, & added a rectangle to lighten Sunday days:

calendar.png.938573fe87999a5d8a5dfb3abbf19e84.png

This works OK as long as the day frame text uses a monospaced font like Courier, Monaco, or Menlo; otherwise the character spacing must be adjusted for each day number for the columns to line up. Tabs might work for that but I did not try that.

 

I think this could be simplified further to one artboard with all four frame text layers as children of the frame rectangle, or with guide lines so the text frame could be snapped to align columns more easily, but the attached calendar.afdesign file is as far as I got.

Nice idea. With this file you have almost the same result, you just need to give it a tab to move the day 1 upfront or delete to move it back. I've created 2 text styles, 1 Weekdays and 1 Numbers. Here you can change the font to your liking and they will be all well centered because it's configured in the tabs space. Have a look.

month.afdesign

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Creating the Numbers text style with the tab stops built into it is a nice touch, but it is too bad there is no way (that I know of) to create a style with tab stops set relative to the frame width (like at 10%,  20%, & so on) that change their linear position (in mm, inches, or whatever) when the frame width changes. Of course, one can always use the extra handle below & to the right of the frame to scale the text along with the frame, & the tabs will scale along with the rest of the text, but the style would be more "portable" if relative tab stops were supported.

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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7 minutes ago, R C-R said:

Creating the Numbers text style with the tab stops built into it is a nice touch, but it is too bad there is no way (that I know of) to create a style with tab stops set relative to the frame width (like at 10%,  20%, & so on) that change their linear position (in mm, inches, or whatever) when the frame width changes. Of course, one can always use the extra handle below & to the right of the frame to scale the text along with the frame, & the tabs will scale along with the rest of the text, but the style would be more "portable" if relative tab stops were supported.

Thanks. My idea is to style it to my needs and then convert it to curves. That way i can have more control over size and maybe colors.

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