3 page spread

[BennyD]

🤦‍♂️

[JoDalry]

My renewal time for Adobe CC is due next month and yet again I find myself having to shell out again simply because Affinity Publisher does not offer multi-page layouts beyond two pages. This is such an integral part of my work and many many other judging by the previous comments. I've been through all three packages (Publisher, Designer and Photo) and they offer absolutely everything I need that would allow me to jump ship from Adobe to Affinity but the lack of multi-page layouts prevents this. I've heard about workarounds by setting page sizes to encapsulate the size of a required multi-page layout but when it comes to exporting and distributing pdfs via the web, clients demand they are able to view and print pages separately which the above workaround would prevent. No offence intended but the omission of this feature is simply short-sighted especially when its clear from forum comments that it so desired by designers. I do hope you will include this feature in a near future upgrade.

Edited October 25, 2021 by JoDalry

[Jose Alvarez]

Every time I see there's a new version of Publisher, I install it and I run to see if "spreads of more than 2 pages" is between the new features.

And, every time, I end up disappointed.

I swear, I can`t understand why this feature isn't implemented yet, when Serif PagePlus X9, the grandfather of this Publisher, have got it...

[Petar Petrenko]

1 minute ago, Jose Alvarez said:

Every time I see there's a new version of Publisher, I install it and I run to see if "spreads of more than 2 pages" is between the new features.

And, every time, I end up disappointed.

I swear, I can`t understand why this feature isn't implemented yet, when Serif PagePlus X9, the grandfather of this Publisher, have got it...

AFAIK, Affinity is not going to add any new feature until version 2.0.

[Alfred]

3 minutes ago, NNN said:

AFAIK, Affinity is not going to add any new feature until version 2.0.

I think we need to replace K (= know) with CG (= can guess) but it does seem highly unlikely that a major feature such as multi-page spreads will be added in a point release.

[fde101]

8 minutes ago, Alfred said:

I think we need to replace K (= know) with CG (= can guess) but it does seem highly unlikely that a major feature such as multi-page spreads will be added in a point release.

Entire applications (ex. Publisher) have been added in point releases (there was no Publisher 1.0) so I'm not sure that this holds.

Even ignoring that, major features have been added (artboards and the appearance panel in Designer, astrophotography stacks and live projection in Photo, just to name a few) in "point releases" already.

[walt.farrell]

20 minutes ago, NNN said:

AFAIK, Affinity is not going to add any new feature until version 2.0.

New features could come in 1.11, 1.12, etc. They are unlikely in 1.10.3, 1.10.4, etc.

[garrettm30]

1 hour ago, fde101 said:

Even ignoring that, major features have been added (artboards and the appearance panel in Designer, astrophotography stacks and live projection in Photo, just to name a few) in "point releases" already.

Thanks for that perspective. To add some examples that are specific to Publisher: IDML import, packaging, preflight, and data merge are some examples of major features that were added (not merely refined) in point updates since the initial Publisher release (1.7).

[Rob Luxford]

I have had to ask myself if the work flows I have had in the past could be questioned to accommodate what Affinity does and doesn't do. 

I have been somewhat astounded at what it can do and have turfed out large sections of workflow because the new way was far better.

I will say it took a lot of learning but there is no way I would have considered doing 20 metre by 16 metre drawings populated with 1:10 scale wall elevations loaded with 1:10 scale signs for a city block sized building in Illustrator. Sign art, nested inside elevation art, nested on the plan all at matching scale. It's bonkers. 

So maybe there is another way to do what you need done rather than thinking just in terms of pages. Not trying to preach, just saying it can be useful to ask what if we didn't hold to that convention. What is possible then? 

[fde101]

3 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

New features could come in 1.11, 1.12, etc. They are unlikely in 1.10.3, 1.10.4, etc.

True, an error in my use of terminology: normally the first number is the major release, the second is the minor release, and the third is the point release.

In that sense the features were added in minor releases, not point releases.

The actual correction would be the assumption that we have no more minor releases prior to 2.0, in which features might be added: we don't know that yet.

[PaoloT]

On 10/25/2021 at 9:41 PM, JoDalry said:

I've heard about workarounds by setting page sizes to encapsulate the size of a required multi-page layout but when it comes to exporting and distributing pdfs via the web, clients demand they are able to view and print pages separately which the above workaround would prevent.

Sounds like two different output targets and formats, to me. Even with multi-page layout implemented, you will still have to create a copy of your work for single-page layout to be distributed as PDFs on the web.

How do you do it, in InDesign? I would have thought this is something for the Liquid Layout feature (that is also available in AfPublisher, even if under a different name and workflow).

Paolo

 

[Jose Alvarez]

11 minutes ago, PaoloT said:

Sounds like two different output targets and formats, to me. Even with multi-page layout implemented, you will still have to create a copy of your work for single-page layout to be distributed as PDFs on the web.

How do you do it, in InDesign? I would have thought this is something for the Liquid Layout feature (that is also available in AfPublisher, even if under a different name and workflow).

Paolo

 

Nope! In InDesign you can export the doc as spread or as individual pages. You don't need to create multi and single page versions of the same doc.

 

 

2 hours ago, Rob Luxford said:

I have had to ask myself if the work flows I have had in the past could be questioned to accommodate what Affinity does and doesn't do. 

I have been somewhat astounded at what it can do and have turfed out large sections of workflow because the new way was far better.

I will say it took a lot of learning but there is no way I would have considered doing 20 metre by 16 metre drawings populated with 1:10 scale wall elevations loaded with 1:10 scale signs for a city block sized building in Illustrator. Sign art, nested inside elevation art, nested on the plan all at matching scale. It's bonkers. 

So maybe there is another way to do what you need done rather than thinking just in terms of pages. Not trying to preach, just saying it can be useful to ask what if we didn't hold to that convention. What is possible then? 

We all know that there's another way to do it without spreads of more than 2 pages. But like we have say, it's a practice very prone to errors, and more difficult to make changes in the width of pages. I see it almost every day at work, working on client's book covers designed in Illustrator, for example.

So yes, i'm sorry to say, but this feature is a MUST in every pro publising software, and Publisher haven't. Yet.

[spinko]

maybe multi pages are in the pipeline !

See the attached screenshot.

Currently, nothing happens when dropping the page into the spread. What should happen is for this action to add a page and make a 3-page spread.

[Khepr]

On 10/27/2021 at 6:58 PM, Jose Alvarez said:

Nope! In InDesign you can export the doc as spread or as individual pages. You don't need to create multi and single page versions of the same doc.

 

 

We all know that there's another way to do it without spreads of more than 2 pages. But like we have say, it's a practice very prone to errors, and more difficult to make changes in the width of pages. I see it almost every day at work, working on client's book covers designed in Illustrator, for example.

So yes, i'm sorry to say, but this feature is a MUST in every pro publising software, and Publisher haven't. Yet.

This is probably the single biggest issue why I am not using Publisher since I do a lot of book jackets and the standard in which printers want their materials is that every part of the jacket is one page in a multi page spread (basically to be able to adjust the sizes on the fly if there are changes in materials etc.. without ordering new layout for some millimeter changes.) So please, multi page spreads.

[fde101]

On 11/17/2021 at 6:05 AM, spinko said:

Currently, nothing happens when dropping the page into the spread

Wrong!

Put something on the pages and try again...  you can't see the effect because your pages are blank.

[Jose Alvarez]

24 minutes ago, fde101 said:

Put something on the pages and try again...  you can't see the effect because your pages are blank.

True, you MOVE the page you're dropping between the pages of the spread.

[Clayton King]

That's nothing more than rearranging pages and not what the OP is about (3-page-spreads).

[Clayton King]

 

On 2/4/2022 at 7:11 AM, Khepr said:

This is probably the single biggest issue why I am not using Publisher since I do a lot of book jackets and the standard in which printers want their materials is that every part of the jacket is one page in a multi page spread (basically to be able to adjust the sizes on the fly if there are changes in materials etc.. without ordering new layout for some millimeter changes.) So please, multi page spreads.

It took some doing, but I managed to create book covers in Designer using artboards. Exporting to PDF was a bit tedious, but it worked.

[Rembem]

The first time I want to use Publisher and I run into this. How can this thread be alive since 2018 and multi-page spreads not implemented yet?

Please Affinity, what is the problem? Back to InDesign...

[spinko]

so true ! it's 2022 now and this very useful feature is still not implemented... back to Adobe with regret.

[fde101]

Are you kidding?  It is 2022 already and NONE of the Affinity products have implemented a telepathic remote control for the speed of the fans inside of microwave ovens...  SERIOUSLY?

 

For you it is multi-page spreads.  For some it is right-to-left language support, or footnotes and endnotes, or cross-references, or the ability to make editable PDFs or various eBook formats, vector mesh warp, support for variable/color fonts, or more highly compressed raster export formats for use on web sites...

 

First off, these are feature REQUESTS - we are asking for them - that does not mean that Serif is under any obligation to implement any of them, ever.

 

Serif has been gradually implementing things that people are asking for, but they do need to prioritize and they may not always even agree with some of what people are asking for.  Some features simply take time to implement and they can't do it all at once.  There were comments in other threads already that they have tried to bring more developers on board to help speed some of these things up but that they have a hard time finding qualified people where they are located.

[Przemja]

This would be a great addition - multiple page spreads would make my life a lot easier for cover designs and three-fold documents.

This is exaclty why I have to keep an old version InDesign... 

 

[Rob Luxford]

14 hours ago, Przemja said:

This is exactly why I have to keep an old version InDesign... 

Smart idea. 

I have a spare old Macbook Pro which will never be updated beyond OSX10. Has inDesign 5 on it. It’s there in case there is something that I absolutely must have that Affinity doesn’t. Good for converting old files too. 

Maybe have both is a solution for some. 

[Dazmondo77]

21 hours ago, Przemja said:

This is exaclty why I have to keep an old version InDesign... 

Same here - I did start a couple of jobs, a capacity brochure and a book cover in Publisher a while ago, all setup on a single page, but as usual, a last minute paper/card stock change turns this into a nightmare - so I always do these sort of jobs in InDesign cs5 to save grief, as with multipage spreads these types of job can be sorted in seconds -- real shame   

[Rob Luxford]

I have pretty much entirely converted to Affinity suite. It is interesting when working with others still using Adobe how deficiencies and limitations in Adobe are revealed. The seemingly infinite zoom and scale of Affinity (I'm working on architectural drawings at 1:10 scale so some are 20 x 30 metres) cant be opened properly in Adobe. 

So swings and roundabouts.