Affinity Publisher - Sneak Preview

[VIPStephan]

2 hours ago, oO5Dynasty said:

Can i have a break down of what this app does. I never used an app like this before so some insight on it would be great. Seems to me like you can make website with it.

Well, you can also make websites with MS Paint if you like. Yes, you can probably create websites with Affinity Publisher (as well as Adobe InDesign from which it is inspired) but – unless I’m totally mistaken – it’s not its primary purpose. A website is basically a user interface with which people are interacting, so the best program to design websites would be a UI designing tool. Affinity Publisher is a desktop publishing tool primarily aimed at creating print layouts (books, brochures, etc.), not a tool to create user interfaces. But I’m speculating a little because I don’t know which features Serif has planned for Publisher. Perhaps they are indeed including UI designing tools (e. g. interaction states etc.)? That would be awesome.

[SrPx]

I'll paste you here and now my favorite super automatic generator wyciwyg of websites....Having worked decades on web design, from concept, graphic design, (the one and only frontend guy for a company creating and maintaining the web portals) to the last bit of code :

 

https://notepad-plus-plus.org

 

YEAH.  After many shocks to the wall, the only healthy and sane thing is to build your sketches with whatever (am old school, preferred plain pen/pencil and paper, also easier in a face to face group meeting), of how you want your compositions and wiring for the whole site. Then use whatever you prefer to do actual graphic designs -yet being mock-ups- to show a better feel of it to customers or the boss, etc. And once is all agreed, you start thinking of doing the final graphics and design, then choping the graphics and then write the code, by hand in a notepad-like editor, of course better if supports highlighting per language syntax, auto indent, bookmarks, collapsible blocks, intellisense/completion, etc, etc.

 

(An UX expert might shout in rage at this, but hey, I intentionally left the boat when the UX thing started. I already was used to make A/B testings, study the flow, structure and capability of conversion of each element.  But it now has evolved to a professional profile in its own. To the point that I am meeting some UX specialists who don't actually do any graphic other than the wireframes... life changes... Also was in charge of the whole SEO thing... And then I opted for a much happier (less constantly changing) job, just doing illustration, pixel art and 3D... )

 

We are very very far from the times when one would just generate all the thing in a wysywyg software and nobody else (neither tool, code, framework or app) would have to chime in and take part of it, or integrate with it. Of course, imo still valid for some fast-food landing pages, some very basic personal sites, etc.

 

[Max Basok]

On 1/7/2018 at 11:48 AM, bor said:

If You know any good alternative to AE, please let me know.

how about Apple Motion?

[andy-in-mke]

On 12/14/2017 at 10:03 AM, TonyB said:

Affinity Publisher sneak peek! Just to prove we're not making the whole thing up, check out this early build of our DTP app. Still lots of perfecting to do; expect the beta next summer. Enjoy.

 

We will try and answer any questions here.

 

 

 

 

Thanks! My morale is officially boosted! (seriously)  :-)

[coffmanjosh]

This may have been answered, or may not be able to be until release, but will Affinity Publisher be able to open Microsoft Publisher files? Like how Designer opens .ai files or Photo opens .psd files?

[jmwellborn]

On 1/7/2018 at 5:00 AM, Petar Petrenko said:

Yes, people are used to Adobe, but no one is used to "blackmailing". So, maybe not all of them, but a great percentage are searching for appropriate alternatives, for sure.

Right you are!!  It is extortion by Adobe to make someone pay a monthly fee to access one's own previously published books for an update or two.  Affinity Photo is a truly beautiful application, with very elegant documentation and tutorial videos.  Publisher will surely be the same. And it will be a snap to learn, I am sure.  I have used publishing software since Pagemaker 3 (around 1988) and most recently was stuck with InDesign CS6.  Which no longer works with MAC Sierra, never mind High Sierra.  The sample video for Publisher looks superb.  Cannot wait!!

[DrZigZag]

On 12/14/2017 at 11:03 AM, TonyB said:

Affinity Publisher sneak peek! Just to prove we're not making the whole thing up, check out this early build of our DTP app. Still lots of perfecting to do; expect the beta next summer. Enjoy.

 

We will try and answer any questions here.

 

 

 

How soon you do you think we will be able to beta test this product. I used Affinity designer & Affinity photo on a daily basis to generate client projects. I would love to add Affinity publisher to my  working set of tools.

 

[MEB]

Hi DrZigZag,

Welcome to Affinity Forums

The public Beta should be available next summer.

[Tia Lapis]

Maybe it's my english, but isn't next summer in 2019?

[MEB]

For UK (and other countries in Northern Hemisphere) it's between June and September, so no it's not in 2019.

[Tia Lapis]

I was perhaps a little unclear, as far as my english reaches this summer is the summer in the current year and next summer the one in the next year. So you meant summer 18? That's a relief...

[MEB]

Ah sorry, Yes, i meant this summer (2018).

[Tia Lapis]

No reason to be sorry  English isn't my native tongue so I may be false - Would like a native speaker clearing this up.

[Alfred]

9 minutes ago, Tia Lapis said:

Would like a native speaker clearing this up.

 

It depends what you mean by "native"! Here in Scotland, "next summer" is generally interpreted the way you originally thought (i.e. the summer of next year, or 2019) because we can say "this summer" if we mean the summer of this year. In England, and quite possibly also in Wales and/or Northern Ireland, "next summer" means the very next summer (which would currently be the one that comes later this year).

 

[walt.farrell]

43 minutes ago, Alfred said:

 

It depends what you mean by "native"! Here in Scotland, "next summer" is generally interpreted the way you originally thought (i.e. the summer of next year, or 2019) because we can say "this summer" if we mean the summer of this year. In England, and quite possibly also in Wales and/or Northern Ireland, "next summer" means the very next summer (which would currently be the one that comes later this year).

 

English is such a marvelous, unambiguous language

[Michael Sheaver]

2 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

English is such a marvelous, unambiguous language

 

Ain't that the truth? And it's such a beautifully phonetic one, to boot! 

 

My favorite one is how the Brits pronounce "aluminum": al-lu-min-ee-um. The first time I heard that, it was on a Youtube video, and I was like, "What is that?" LOL

[GGofRB]

Summer 2018.... at least its the northern hemisphere summer cos its already summer here in Australian and I'm ready to start using this fantastic sounding new program now! Cannot wait  I've been using Adobe and others since 1988 (many moons ago) for books, brochures, logos, everything! Since about a year ago I've been using Affinity's Photo and Designer, and while its a bit annoying that I keep trying my shortcuts (old dog, new tricks and all that), its working out quite well (so grateful!) - but I still have trouble doing books. Finally worked out how to use the artboards and use them as pages, so that will have to do for now. Six months will fly I'm sure   Don't wish time away too fast though everyone, because it goes fast enough already!

[Butler To Cats]

2 hours ago, Michael Sheaver said:

Ain't that the truth? And it's such a beautifully phonetic one, to boot! 

 

I blame the Normans for most of the spelling mess, those interfering French vikings.

 

1 hour ago, Michael Sheaver said:

My favorite one is how the Brits pronounce "aluminum": al-lu-min-ee-um. The first time I heard that, it was on a Youtube video, and I was like, "What is that?" LOL

 

"Aluminum" is one of those odd mutations added to the US dialect by Webster, under the guise of simplification (although I can sympathise with his resentment of the mess the Normans added).

I think xkcd, as usual, aptly comments on the result of Webster's work.

 

In the US English dialect, Webster's change means that the weirdly USAmerican "aluminum" is now inconsistent with all those other metals that include an "ee", such as sodium, uranium, magnesium, titanium, plutonium, gallium, thallium, chromium, iridium, osmium, palladium, rhodium, selenium, vanadium, zirconium, hafnium, ruthenium, indium, cadmium, ... (I could continue for some time). Meanwhile, the rest of the world follows a more consistent path.

 

On the other hand "aluminum" follows the pattern of ... well, there's platinum (apparently thanks to Spanish), and molybdenum (thanks to a Swede), tantalum (another Swede), and lanthanum (believe it or not, yet another Swede), and I think that's all. So, much rejoicing? (Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretti nasti)

 

Regarding the probable beta release timing:

For Australian English, "next Thursday" is usually Thursday of the following week, even if it is only Tuesday of this week. Older Australians might use "Thursday next" for clarity.

However, when it is still winter then "next summer" is ambiguous.

 

I like the look of the text flow, the drop caps, the multiple columns.

Looking forward to the beta!

[jimbojetset2]

I totally agree Alfred I was born in Wales but with two English parents and we all say 'this summer' for the summer of the year we are in, even if that period has passed. For example; "wasn't this summer wet and miserable, just like last year", you might say in December when reminiscing on another typical British summer. 'Next summer' is the summer of the next year i.e 2019 even if you say "let's go on holiday next summer" in January 2018, you still mean June - August of 2019.

But that's all semantic pedantic. Who gives a monkey's uncle?

We are finally getting the coveted middle finger to Creative Cloud** that we have all so patiently waited for. Thank the gods! We were all starting to lose faith. Serif, with this sneak peak you have restored your Affinity crown and we will worship you once again.

 

**Dear God of design briefs, I know some people on this forum are saying the first versions wont be as good as Indesign, but please let APB 1.0 be good enough for most client work. I am still sucking up a creative cloud subscription through gritted teeth. 

[Tia Lapis]

20 hours ago, Alfred said:

 

It depends what you mean by "native"! Here in Scotland, "next summer" is generally interpreted the way you originally thought (i.e. the summer of next year, or 2019) because we can say "this summer" if we mean the summer of this year. In England, and quite possibly also in Wales and/or Northern Ireland, "next summer" means the very next summer (which would currently be the one that comes later this year).

 

 

I see, so this is rather location dependent and I thought it was a lacking grasp of english

[carl123]

If I say "I am getting the next train to Nottingham" I mean the next train not the one after the next one.

Likewise next summer means the next one not the one after the next.  (How can that even make sense?)

If it's a Monday and I say let's all meet at the Pub next Saturday, I would not expect to be sitting there on my own with everyone else turning up a week later.

If I am next in the queue at the doctors I expect to see him/her next, not to have someone else jump in front of me saying... "next, means after me".

Englanders are renowned for their queuing etiquette but if you start messing with what "Next" means then there will be riots on the streets.

[VIPStephan]

To be fair, this issue with “this” and “next” in conjunction with days is the same in German. But then again, English is a Germanic language, so parallels might not be too surprising.

[Petar Petrenko]

14 minutes ago, VIPStephan said:

To be fair, this issue with “this” and “next” in conjunction with days is the same in German. But then again, English is a Germanic language, so parallels might not be too surprising.

 

Do you know that, in the period when America was formed, there was voting on which language would be official and the German lost in only one vote?

[VIPStephan]

1 hour ago, Petar Petrenko said:

 

Do you know that, in the period when America was formed, there was voting on which language would be official and the German lost in only one vote?

Yes, “I know”.

[Rick G]

2 hours ago, Petar Petrenko said:

 

Do you know that, in the period when America was formed, there was voting on which language would be official and the German lost in only one vote?

 

1 hour ago, VIPStephan said:

Yes, “I know”.

You should read that article. That is a LEGEND.. Germans weren't in the US in force until the late 1800s the Hessian troops notwithstanding. The article alludes to a vote that never happened in 1784 when English speakers were well entrenched in the former colonies. The use of English as the de facto national language was never in doubt

https://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/german.asp