Affinity Publisher - Sneak Preview

[Alfred]

4 hours ago, VIPStephan said:

I see what you did there.

 

Too subtle for me!

 

[Stephen_H]

On 18/12/2017 at 2:34 PM, MattP said:

I just want to bring this post back to the top and dwell on it for a little while... You know I can't help but say a little too much most of the time, but I've been told in no uncertain terms that I'm not allowed to confirm or deny the function of these buttons... So I was trying to think what I could say about the subject, so: They're not there by accident. They're not placeholders. They're awesome. Nobody else offers this, nor could they.

 

So my question to you is: What do you think they do? 

 

I'd like to think they are for a round-trip work flow. Select an image, click the Photo icon and boom, I'm editing the pic in Photo. Save and I'm straight back into Publisher.

Much better than building image editing feature into Publisher.

 

Or maybe... We're going to get "Affinity Studio" where those 3 app icons are actually personas. We never leave the single app, but all tools, panels and menus change to those of the relevant app. It might be a bit RAM heavy, but you're always being presented with the appropriate tools for the task at hand.

 

I hope this gets added to the other apps as well.

[Petar Petrenko]

8 minutes ago, Stephen_H said:

 

I'd like to think they are for a round-trip work flow. Select an image, click the Photo icon and boom, I'm editing the pic in Photo. Save and I'm straight back into Publisher.

Much better than building image editing feature into Publisher.

 

Or maybe... We're going to get "Affinity Studio" where those 3 app icons are actually personas. We never leave the single app, but all tools, panels and menus change to those of the relevant app. It might be a bit RAM heavy, but you're always being presented with the appropriate tools for the task at hand.

 

I hope this gets added to the other apps as well.

 

That's what I want. All three on one place. But, it is so obvious. MattP said that nobody else offers this and they even could do it.

Maybe they will do just what we love + something else that we can't think of.

[Stephen_H]

27 minutes ago, Petar Petrenko said:

 

That's what I want. All three on one place. But, it is so obvious. MattP said that nobody else offers this and they even could do it.

Maybe they will do just what we love + something else that we can't think of.

 

This will also fit into their philosophy to allow all of their apps to read the same file.

 

(I suspect it's this philosophy that's holding up Publisher's release – every feature they add to Publisher, has to be supported by 2 other applications so the document doesn't get damaged when saved by another app. Just imagine the headaches that multi-page spreads with master pages are causing in the other 2 applications. They can barely get art boards with bleed to work nicely, and don't get me started on 'tabs'. They might be rewriting Designer and Photo to support Publisher so when they release Publisher, they will have to re-release Designer and Photo as well. Perhaps, Publisher will just cost $130 and will come bundled with Designer and Photo that are integrated like plugins???)

 

[Stephen_H]

There's so much secrecy and uncertainty around Publisher, that perhaps Affinity needs a forum just for rumors?

(Apple has entire websites for them)

[Oval]

1 hour ago, Alfred said:

Too subtle for me!

Email is enamel that transports information over longer distances very slowly.

[Petar Petrenko]

6 minutes ago, Stephen_H said:

 

This will also fit into their philosophy to allow all of their apps to read the same file.

 

(I suspect it's this philosophy that's holding up Publisher's release – every feature they add to Publisher, has to be supported by 2 other applications so the document doesn't get damaged when saved by another app. Just imagine the headaches that multi-page spreads with master pages are causing in the other 2 applications. They can barely get art boards with bleed to work nicely, and don't get me started on 'tabs'. They might be rewriting Designer and Photo to support Publisher so when they release Publisher, they will have to re-release Designer and Photo as well. Perhaps, Publisher will just cost $130 and will come bundled with Designer and Photo that are integrated like plugins???)

 

 

This is why I insist all three apps to be joined into one. But they do not want to hear about that. Imagine that a designer has to borrow tools for work from others designers. The app will be smaller, faster and easier to maintain.

[Stephen_H]

3 minutes ago, Petar Petrenko said:

 

This is why I insist all three apps to be joined into one. But they do not want to hear about that. Imagine that a designer has to borrow tools for work from others designers. The app will be smaller, faster and easier to maintain.

 

Especially if updates to a common feature can happen once.

e.g.: If there's an update to support a new font type. If all three are sharing the same plugin/resource/code/library, then it's just a single update, not 3 separate updates.

[Mithferion]

10 minutes ago, Stephen_H said:

 

This will also fit into their philosophy to allow all of their apps to read the same file.

 

(I suspect it's this philosophy that's holding up Publisher's release – every feature they add to Publisher, has to be supported by 2 other applications so the document doesn't get damaged when saved by another app. Just imagine the headaches that multi-page spreads with master pages are causing in the other 2 applications. They can barely get art boards with bleed to work nicely, and don't get me started on 'tabs'. They might be rewriting Designer and Photo to support Publisher so when they release Publisher, they will have to re-release Designer and Photo as well. Perhaps, Publisher will just cost $130 and will come bundled with Designer and Photo that are integrated like plugins???)

 

If I remember correctly, the Affinity core is the same on each App, so it’s easier for any of the 3 apps to read what was made in any of the other. So, for example, right now you can work with Artboards in Photo (you just can’t create them there). That way, I don’t see that they are trying to support features in Designer and Photo: it’s already there.

Also, the price for Publisher will be the same as the other.

Best regards!

[MEB]

Hi Peter, Stephen,

It's not like what you are thinking. Things will become more clear as soon as the Beta is out. Please bear with us.

[Petar Petrenko]

3 minutes ago, Mithferion said:

If I remember correctly, the Affinity core is the same on each App, so it’s easier for any of the 3 apps to read what was made in any of the other. So, for example, right now you can work with Artboards in Photo (you just can’t create them there). That way, I don’t see that they are trying to support features in Designer and Photo: it’s already there.

Also, the price for Publisher will be the same as the other.

Best regards!

 

It is even easier one app to read what is done in one app.

[Petar Petrenko]

4 minutes ago, MEB said:

Hi Peter, Stephen,

It's not like what you are thinking. Things will become more clear as soon as the Beta is out. Please bear with us.

 

Thanks MEB. This is/was a conversation between two users with same thoughts. Just for relax. Please, do not take us too seriously.

[Mithferion]

I agree.

Best regards.

[Petar Petrenko]

4 minutes ago, Mithferion said:

I agree.

Best regards.

 

You agree on which post?

[Mithferion]

That the single App makes reading the file format easy peasy.

I’m slow writing on my smartphone...

[Stephen_H]

1 hour ago, Petar Petrenko said:

 

Thanks MEB. This is/was a conversation between two users with same thoughts. Just for relax. Please, do not take us too seriously.

 

Just speculating. Maybe there's more need for that rumors section after all?

[Petar Petrenko]

6 minutes ago, Stephen_H said:

 

Just speculating. Maybe there's more need for that rumors section after all?

 

Yeah. Maybe someone will find the correct answer, but still we won't know.

[Hokusai]

2 hours ago, Stephen_H said:

There's so much secrecy and uncertainty around Publisher, that perhaps Affinity needs a forum just for rumors?

(Apple has entire websites for them)

Stephen,

 

Your statement reads like Apple runs websites for rumors about their own products. I know that isn't what you meant but that is how I read it

 

In my opinion the developers have been more generous with info about Publisher than Adobe ever has been. How often does Adobe post things about upcoming software features or new applications?

 

Hokusai

[Oval]

2 hours ago, MEB said:

Hi Peter,

Which Peter?

[Petar Petrenko]

Peter Pan?

[VIPStephan]

4 hours ago, Petar Petrenko said:

The app will be smaller, faster and easier to maintain.

How will a software combined from three separate programs be smaller and faster? I, personally, don’t need advanced image development and manipulation tools, and neither do I need print publishing tools, so what good would a bloated Swiss army knife software be for someone like me?

[Petar Petrenko]

7 minutes ago, VIPStephan said:

How will a software combined from three separate programs be smaller and faster? I, personally, don’t need advanced image development and manipulation tools, and neither do I need print publishing tools, so what good would a bloated Swiss army knife software be for someone like me?

 

Very simple. If three apps are arround 250 MB each, so 3 x 250 = 750 MB

One app will be far bellow 750 MB because they (will) share a lot of code.

[MikeW]

6 minutes ago, VIPStephan said:

How will a software combined from three separate programs be smaller and faster? I, personally, don’t need advanced image development and manipulation tools, and neither do I need print publishing tools, so what good would a bloated Swiss army knife software be for someone like me?

 

If APub did combine the code for all three present applications, and if you had either or both of the others installed, APub alone would be less than the sum of all three combined. So in that sense, Petar is correct.

 

I'm against this approach and don't think Serif will make this "mistake." It is sorta what they did with the Plus line in that PagePlus carried so many of the features that would otherwise need done in PhotoPlus and to a lesser extent, DrawPlus that why would one ever buy PhotoPlus for casual photo editing?

 

Petar's reply just came in ahead of mine...

[Rick G]

5 hours ago, Stephen_H said:

There's so much secrecy and uncertainty around Publisher, that perhaps Affinity needs a forum just for rumors?

(Apple has entire websites for them)

 

[SrPx]

 

Quote

So my question to you is: What do you think they do? 

 

They open a door to one specific parallel universe of the multiverse. Whoever pushes them, causes a fatal time-space paradox.

 

I...don't think anymore it's a good idea, the All-In-One thing (neither in PC hardware). If anything, in a bunch of applications they are even going now for a customization of the UI as per functions. meaning: An animator Ui, an illustrator UI... etc. Or in 3D, an UI for people focusing on 3D printing, versus people focusing on VFX, etc.  I'm not sold in that concept either. I'd rather prefer to keep an UI versatile and powerful, but in a limited set of professional fields. That is, it makes sense to me to keep Blender with all available for modeling, 3D animation, texturing... It's a general 3D package, in the typical tasks, you need those things too often. If they'd joined efforts with Inkscape and The Gimp, and decided to cram all that into a single UI...IMO, worst decision ever, then... (even tho, heard from devrs interviews, Ton's, I believe, Blender is already too crammed in its UI. Probably I understood it "needs" to do this specialization as it does so MANY things that it has to specialize the UI. So, a reality check tells you that concentrating many fields in one UI...maybe not great idea. ) 

 

I do much more believe in UIs focused for a type of work, even keeping available some areas that are just connected to it. But not merging directly entire different solutions. A pro in Photography, and most image editing professionals need the UI as Photo has it, more or less. Same with AD.  I'm not that much into publishing, but I'd be to suspect that you need to get it working very well with the specific tasks in hand. Adding possibilities only bloats the UI surely unnecessarily for the task in hand... And pros know which are the usual tasks, pretty well...