Node alignment, object distribution, and History suggestions

[#SVG]

So I've been using Affinity Designer for a few days (Just the trial version to test it out) and I am LOVING it. I intend to transition from Inkscape to this soon. It's really smooth to use and just feels less like a mechanical process, and more like art.

So, Affinity has been an amazing program so far, but I have a few suggestions to make it better, or features to add.

First of all, there should be node alignment options (I am attaching a file to demonstrate what I mean. Inkscape has this, but Affinity doesn't, unfortunately.) I just realized I can manually input x and y coordinates for nodes, which may work, but it would be a real pain, especially when there are multiple nodes to align. Plus, then you have to do math.

Also, the alignment interface for objects. I love how it's designed for full control, but it doesn't seem intuitive. I don't know how to describe it, but again, I like how it was implemented in Inkscape, with only one panel with all the options instead of two panels with half the options. (It might be personal preference, but it's not a big deal). The thing that I miss however is distribute options for objects (It would be handy for nodes too) but I'll attach a file down below showing how it was implemented in Inkscape.

Another thing I would like is for an inset object feature to be added. It's not a big deal, but it would be nice in a variety of circumstances.

One more usability issue is the object history. I understand that the history is linear, and so when you make changes after going back it can't magically find your alternate history, but clicking on the document should NOT be considered an action! Let me explain, often I will do a design change, and then want to compare it to my previous design to see if it was an improvement, so I use undo and redo to go back and forth to view. The issue is, however, is that a selection will appear over objects that redo their actions, so to see my graphic properly, I click on the document to clear the selection... and whoops! My design reset itself to the old design! This was because it for whatever reason the program thought that clicking on the document was an action and so rewrote all future history steps with the "Click on document" action (Or whatever it is called) Now I have to redo it again! I understand that yes, doing that isn't the best way (I should make clones instead) but I use it a lot for small changes. Just to clarify, if you move an object or move a node, it should count as an action, but clicking on the document or selecting something shouldn't, because it doesn't make any impact on the actual graphics unless you do move something!

Also, snapping doesn't seem to work on inset nodes, only on nodes that stick out more.

These are all things that make Affinity Designer a little less fluid and exact to use, and are some features I miss from Inkscape. Please note, these are just features from Inkscape that I loved that are not available on Affinity Designer. I just want Affinity Designer to be the best program it could possibly be. I am a huge fan of Designer as a Illustrator level alternative for a extremely reasonable price!

[Uncle Mez]

Nice functionality. 

Don't know what @MikeW and @MEB would say but to me, it's a nice one. 

[Fatih19]

As someone who used inkscape before, i do miss the node alignment feature. You can still move the node individually but it will get hectic when there is a lot of nodes. They should add this in 1.7 with all of the new snapping feature.

[MEB]

Hi #SVG,

Welcome to Affinity Forums

Thank you for your feedback. Ben (one of the developers) is working on some improvements to the node/snapping/grids features which may interest you. Please take a look at this thread (in particular the clips he has posted) and leave some feedback there as he's currently working on these/related features now.

Regarding the History issue, take a look at the Snapshots feature. It lets you save snapshots of the current state of your work and return to them later if needed. See this help topic for more info: Using snapshots.