Text Frames and bits

[NickW]

I don't know about anyone else, but I found using text frames fiddly.

You can't resize all text frames at the same time

Double-clicking on a page icon is tedious when you want to select a page

Search and replace lacks refinement - in Word you can search for paragraph marks

There is no bookmarking,

no hyperlinking between text selections

There should be a way to select all text frames of a particular identifier

Export has no decent options to .docx/.doc/.odt/.rtf etc...

It just feels like the tool is only half there. The tools that I would have expected from using Serif Publisher or Word or Framemaker or Quark Express are just not there and the whole process is made harder.

Definitely the menus are way too small and difficult to locate

As it stands, this is a product that I would not buy even at some loony price.

[paulgeorge]

I've been using InDesign since version 1, I'm over the cost of a subscription model. As a replacement I think that this is a promising start.

I can't imagine why, in a prepress environment, you would want to prepare a project in Publisher and then export it to a word processing environment.

I have found most things intuitive. The one thing that I'd really like to see is the ability to span columns with a heading without creating a separate text frame.

I didn't like the dark interface, but that is easily changed in preferences. As are the display size of text in menus. Lot of useful stuff in preferences, NickW. You should check it out.

I was really pleased to see the availability of the Pantone books. I was also pleased to see the extensive export options, especially the PDF options.

So yes, it's a beta, but a pretty good start, in my opinion. I'll continue to check out the updates,

I have been using Affinity Designer and Photo on my iPad and am happy with the experience.

My only other observation at this point is that the guy in the video tutes really needs to get a microphone a LOT closer to his face.

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, paulgeorge said:

My only other observation at this point is that the guy in the video tutes really needs to get a microphone a LOT closer to his face.

Funny you should mention that. In some post somewhere in the iPad app forums I posted a comment about the variable intelligibility of the iPad tutorials because of mic placement & the choice of a lavalier mic pinned to clothing. I suggested they invest in a high quality pro 'earset' mic, in particular one of the Countryman "E" series mics like the E6 or the E2 that are industry standards for live events.

They are not cheap but the chart on the E2 web page explains why they produce so much better, more professional sounding results.

[paulgeorge]

Yeah. It's not that hard. As you say, a lavalier, or even a shotgun mike just out of frame above his head. And recording in a room with brick walls also doesn't help. Assuming it is really a brick wall and not just a backdrop of course.

[R C-R]

15 minutes ago, paulgeorge said:

Yeah. It's not that hard. As you say, a lavalier, or even a shotgun mike just out of frame above his head. And recording in a room with brick walls also doesn't help. Assuming it is really a brick wall and not just a backdrop of course.

Actually, I am saying the only tried & true way to get consistent, high quality sound is with a mic attached to the head of the speaker & positioned reasonably near the mouth. Otherwise, as the head moves the sound will change because the relationship between the mouth & mic changes. The effect will be worse with a highly directional off-body mic like a shotgun or super-cardioid lavalier because any movement out of the 'sweet spot' also radically alters the frequency response of the sound the mic picks up.

Close proximity to the mouth is also the only practical way to minimize "room boom" because as the mic gets farther from the mouth, the closer in audio level room sounds & speech sounds become at the mic.

(For most of my professional life I made my living as a live event sound mixing engineer, so I have a lot of practical experience with this sort of thing. There is no substitute for proximity, no practical "fix it in the mix" solutions that work half as well.)

[paulgeorge]

Well I don't pretend to be an expert in audio. What I do know that as a tv commercial director is that I needed the best possible audio people working with me, so I'm not going to argue with anything you've just said.

What time is it in Texas anyway??

[Alfred]

5 minutes ago, paulgeorge said:

What time is it in Texas anyway??

https://time.is/Texas 

[R C-R]

11 minutes ago, paulgeorge said:

What time is it in Texas anyway??

Beer o'clock. 

[paulgeorge]

Well that's good. For us Australians it's always beer o'clock. Goes well with Corn Flakes...