Affinity Publisher - Sneak Preview

[SrPx]

23 minutes ago, michaelokraj said:

obviously … you have. please let me have the last word

 

nah.

[skiphunt]

Well, I finally deleted/unintalled my entire CS5.5 install. Have gone all-in with Affinity Photo, Designer, and Photo for iPad. Needed some file management and researched for half a way... until I discovered the Adobe Bridge component (that I like) is actually free. 
 

So, that leaves InDesign. I don't need it immediately, but will soon. I was going to have to install some legacy stuff onto High Sierra just to run half of my Adobe stuff, and decided to pull the plug on it. 

 

If Affinity Designer isn't even in beta yet... that means we could be looking at at least 6 months to a year before roll out? Is there an iPad version of Publisher that's also being developed? 

I suppose I can just pay the Creative Cloud monthly fee if I really have to have InDesign right away, but has anyone discovered any good InDesign alternatives that will open InDesign files.. just to get by until Publisher drops? Will Publisher also have a web layout/design/html feature set as well? 

[MikeW]

Nothing else will open native InDesign files that I am aware of. There are options regarding IDML files, though. 

 

One is Viva Designer, another is QuarkXPress. I cannot recall if Scribus can.

[Alfred]

21 minutes ago, MikeW said:

One is Viva Designer, another is QuarkXPress.

 

Can QXP open *.indd files all by itself, or does it need the help of a Markzware (or similar) plugin?

[MikeW]

No, QXP & VivaD can only use IDML files. Sorry I wasn't clear.

 

Nothing other than InDesign can open ID's native format. And at that, the version of ID has to be the same or newer version than that which created the .indd files. Which is one reason IDML exists, for older versions to be able to open files produced in a newer version. (It is also needed to remove oddness in ID files.)

 

In QXP version 2017. IDML opening was introduced as a beta feature in the last update. In version 2018 coming out soon it has been improved and will be/is a standard feature. But to be sure, Q's IDML import still has a ways to go before it supports everything one can do in ID. Quark is committed to expanding and improving this feature.

 

Viva Designer also only can process IDML from ID. Like Q, it also cannot currently handle all ID's features. However, it has not progressed much since the feature was available. My bet would be that Quark will handle a vast majority of features during the 2018 cycle.

[Alfred]

1 minute ago, MikeW said:

No, QXP & VivaD can only use IDML files. Sorry I wasn't clear.

 

Thanks, Mike. I did wonder about that!

 

[skiphunt]

8 minutes ago, MikeW said:

No, QXP & VivaD can only use IDML files. Sorry I wasn't clear.

 

Nothing other than InDesign can open ID's native format. And at that, the version of ID has to be the same or newer version than that which created the .indd files. Which is one reason IDML exists, for older versions to be able to open files produced in a newer version. (It is also needed to remove oddness in ID files.)

 

In QXP version 2017. IDML opening was introduced as a beta feature in the last update. In version 2018 coming out soon it has been improved and will be/is a standard feature. But to be sure, Q's IDML import still has a ways to go before it supports everything one can do in ID. Quark is committed to expanding and improving this feature.

 

Viva Designer also only can process IDML from ID. Like Q, it also cannot currently handle all ID's features. However, it has not progressed much since the feature was available. My bet would be that Quark will handle a vast majority of features during the 2018 cycle.

 

 

Thanks! Do you know if Publisher is supposed to be able to open native InDesign files? Most of anything I'd ever need to open was made in InDesign from the CS5.5 suite. 

 

Has there been any word on how to get on the Publisher beta when it's ready? 

 

Also, I haven't used Quark in a VERY long time. Honestly, I didn't even know it still existed. Had assumed that InDesign had killed it. Worth looking into again?

 

Edit: never mind... at $849 for QXP, I'll just rent InDesign when I need it, and wait for Publisher

[MikeW]

Quark has a competitive upgrade for ID (and other software) users. No one I know pays full retail. 

 

I don't know if APub will open IDML files at the beginning or not. But that will be the format it may do eventually. 

 

Really, if I were in your shoes, I would either reinstall your ID version and the older java version required. Then package your work in subfolders and include IDML in the package along with the art required. 

 

Else I would rent for a month and do the same thing.

[Oval]

53 minutes ago, skiphunt said:

Do you know if Publisher is supposed to be able to open native InDesign files?

It will not be able. 

 

“InDesign IDML files are something we would like to support. […] we will support them in the future.”

[skiphunt]

22 minutes ago, MikeW said:

Quark has a competitive upgrade for ID (and other software) users. No one I know pays full retail. 

 

I don't know if APub will open IDML files at the beginning or not. But that will be the format it may do eventually. 

 

Really, if I were in your shoes, I would either reinstall your ID version and the older java version required. Then package your work in subfolders and include IDML in the package along with the art required. 

 

Else I would rent for a month and do the same thing.

 

Yeah, I was hoping someone would chime in and say, "Just be patient! Publisher is closer than you think!"  

After a clean install of High Sierra and trying to get rid of as much legacy stuff as I could, I really don't want to install old Java just to run InDesign... but maybe it's not so difficult to uninstall when I'm done. 

I'm not going the Quark route for sure. There's a reason I abandoned it for InDesign a long time ago. 

 

Likely just take your advice and reinstall just InDesign w/legacy java... and maybe rent InDesign if necessary. 

 

Thanks for the the info and suggestions.

[skiphunt]

2 minutes ago, Oval said:

It will not be able. 

 

You know this absolutely?!

[Fatih19]

Just now, skiphunt said:

 

You know this absolutely?!

Affinity Publisher probably can't open InDesign files in the first beta version. But, knowing that Affinity Software can open and export to ai and psd,i think it will able to at some point.

[Oval]

4 minutes ago, Fatih19 said:

knowing that Affinity Software can open and export to ai and psd

 

Affinity Software can not export to ai and not the whole psd format and can not open native ai (only the PDF part).

[Oval]

1 hour ago, skiphunt said:

You know this absolutely?!

                                              We already have bets.

The native format is secret and no other app can read it (yes, there is a different solution that does a good job). But again: “IDML […] will not make it into the initial release”

 

So if not IDML, why the native format?!

[Tourmaline]

10 hours ago, skiphunt said:

 

 

Thanks! Do you know if Publisher is supposed to be able to open native InDesign files? Most of anything I'd ever need to open was made in InDesign from the CS5.5 suite. 

 

Has there been any word on how to get on the Publisher beta when it's ready? 

 

Also, I haven't used Quark in a VERY long time. Honestly, I didn't even know it still existed. Had assumed that InDesign had killed it. Worth looking into again?

 

Edit: never mind... at $849 for QXP, I'll just rent InDesign when I need it, and wait for Publisher

 

No not in the initial release. But one workaround is to export to pdf and edit the page in Designer.

[Tourmaline]

10 hours ago, Fatih19 said:

Affinity Publisher probably can't open InDesign files in the first beta version. But, knowing that Affinity Software can open and export to ai and psd,i think it will able to at some point.

Reverse engineering...

[Tourmaline]

On 19-3-2018 at 7:26 PM, v_kyr said:

The first eight bytes of a TIFF file contain a signature containing the bytes order and the magic number 42, as well as an offset to the first image file directory (IFD).

Such an IFD provides information about an image in the TIFF file and consists of a list of tags, individual pieces of information. Such a marker may describe, for example, the width of the image in pixels or the name of the software used to create the TIFF file. Each tag has its own tag number (eg, 256 for image width) and a type (eg, 16-bit integers, 32-bit floating-point numbers, strings, and more). Some of these tags must be present (eg the image width), others are optional (eg the name of the software). A number of applications use proprietary tags. The structure of the data stored or referenced in such a tag is then usually not documented. A number for your own, proprietary tags can be requested from Adobe.

At the end of the IFD there is an offset value that references the next IFD in the file, or 0 if the current IFD was the last one. In this way, any number of images can be stored in the file, as long as the total amount of data does not exceed four gigabytes.

Yup, psd also has the same limitation of 4GB. Wink. Another hint of it's origins...

They(Adobe) created the .psb file format for large files. Larger then 4GB...

[GrosseFreiheit]

I for myself cannot wait to move on to Publisher and I hope it will keep up the standards of Designer and Photo.

The import capabilities will have nothing to do with this. (ID didn't import Quark files properly 10 years ago)

I really hope it will be this summer.

Till then:

 

 

[Kristof]

Can it export HTML files?

[Moscool]

On 01/04/2018 at 11:28 PM, MikeW said:

Nothing else will open native InDesign files that I am aware of. There are options regarding IDML files, though. 

 

One is Viva Designer, another is QuarkXPress. I cannot recall if Scribus can.

 

Yes InDesign usually cannot open its own files...  New file format for each .5 version  With IDML it's hard to understand why they keep doing it...

[MikeW]

3 minutes ago, Moscool said:

 

Yes InDesign usually cannot open its own files...  New file format for each .5 version  With IDML it's hard to understand why they keep doing it...

 

If for no other reason, exporting to IDML from ID will clean out minor to larger document corruption. Stuff that isn't removed using Save As. But as you mentioned, ID CS5 cannot open ID CS5.5 files or any later version's files...so using IDML can enable people using earlier versions to open later version files.

 

But it is true in most software. File formats do change and that always limits earlier version compatibility--if not exclude it altogether (Adobe has just been more aggressive about it). Having a vehicle for that purpose is a good thing.

[skiphunt]

I don't really need InDesign at the moment... and I believe that pretty much every file I've ever created in it... was exported as a PDF for print. So, as long as Publisher will let me open and edit those somewhat, I'd be perfectly fine with that. Just wish it would come sooner than later, so that I can start learning it. Is there a beta on this yet?

[MikeW]

Skip, did you read the first post? Beta is expected this summer. So not yet. 

[skiphunt]

3 minutes ago, MikeW said:

Skip, did you read the first post? Beta is expected this summer. So not yet. 

 

 

Yes, but that was back in December and there were some mutterings on the iPad threads about it. Thought I'd check to see if anything had changed. Sorry (notsorry) if that bothered you. 

[MikeW]

Doesn't bother me in the slightest. I suspect there will be fanfare when it is finally ready for beta. Might be hard to miss when it happens...