Footnotes/Endnotes

[Petar Petrenko]

12 minutes ago, cyberlizard said:

it has been close to three years

Each feature has its complexity. Some of them can be done within seconds, but some of them need much more. Much, much more. Trust me, I've been in these waters.

[MJWHM]

I think the worrying thing is that we have been told that the programmers are the same as those who programmed PagePlus. That is almost faultless in the way that is deals with endnotes and footnotes, as well as in other things. That being so, what, I ask myself, is so very different about Publisher that the same concepts cannot be applied? I incline to the belief that the fundamental logic of the Affinity suite is the problem. You don't need notes in Designer or Photo, and the whole ethos of the suite seems to be that something that works in one program will work in the others, regardless of whether it is needed. I have been cheerfully editing my images for publications in other programs and using the publishing program (PagePlus, of course) to create books, booklets, posters and other material. 
As for the issue of 'when', the situation does not seem to progress. Patrick thinks next year (2022, I imagine) but he is not sure, and that is still vague. Surely there is a work-flow diagram which places this feature in a sequence and has a timescale? 

While PagePlus functions, Affinity is an over-complicated and inadequate alternative for me. There is little to encourage me to struggle with its interface which I find is not intuitive. Maybe others are not in the same position, but that is where I am. 

But this is getting to be a little too close to one of those calls we all make, when the automat reply is 'We are experiencing unusually high call numbers. Please stay on the line; your call is important to us.' 

At least with some of those we know which position we are in the queue.

[Petar Petrenko]

30 minutes ago, MJWHM said:

to struggle with its interface which I find is not intuitive.

I agree 100%.

[Old Bruce]

2 hours ago, cyberlizard said:

As I noted in the early stages Patrick, you, yourself said it was in development but would not be released until the feature was done.  How far along with that process are they? 

Far enough to explicitly and definitely say that there is work still to be done. Roughly 37 inches along.

[PatrickOfLondon]

2 hours ago, MJWHM said:

While PagePlus functions, Affinity is an over-complicated and inadequate alternative for me. There is little to encourage me to struggle with its interface which I find is not intuitive. Maybe others are not in the same position, but that is where I am. 

Exactly the same place as me. Having tried to get to grips with Affinity Publisher, I have returned to and remained with PagePlus for the very reasons you eloquently describe.

[Pedrober]

After having used PagePlus (for years) and Affinity Publisher (a year ago), I think the opposite: I feel more at ease in APub. The feature I miss the most is footnotes. In fact, all my work for publishing will be done in APub when this feature is supported. For the time being, it's impossible, because footnotes are essential for me.

[MJWHM]

15 minutes ago, Pedrober said:

After having used PagePlus (for years) and Affinity Publisher (a year ago), I think the opposite: I feel more at ease in APub. The feature I miss the most is footnotes. In fact, all my work for publishing will be done in APub when this feature is supported. For the time being, it's impossible, because footnotes are essential for me.

Thanks for this alternative view to mine. How hard did you find it to feel confident with AP, please? What are the advatages that you have identified?

[Pedrober]

I perfectly understand what is "intuitive" for me could not be so "intuitive" for others. It's a very subjective matter, but I am very comfortable in APub after having used PagePlus, ID and QXP. Anyhow, the desktop publishing software I like the most was my old beloved Ventura Publisher. Obviously, I'm old too.

[PaoloT]

I wouldn't be dissatisfied if Serif implemented the most basic footnotes feature in the next version. Something similar to a wordprocessor: a footnotes block at the end of a text frame in each page. Nothing too sophisticate, and with many cons, but enough to let at least satisfy the most common of needs.

More advanced implementations will follow when they are ready.

Obviously, I don't know if even this basic feature is easy to implement in a layout program.

Paolo

 

[Ramon56]

2 hours ago, PaoloT said:

I wouldn't be dissatisfied if Serif implemented the most basic footnotes feature in the next version. Something similar to a wordprocessor: a footnotes block at the end of a text frame in each page. Nothing too sophisticate, and with many cons, but enough to let at least satisfy the most common of needs.

More advanced implementations will follow when they are ready.

Fully agree. Even the basic implementation would be a great step forward. Advanced features such as automatic numbering, multi-page footnotes, etc, could wait for a second release.

[Trevor A]

Whoa!

I can't see that footnotes without automatic numbering would be of any use at all to me.  It is a recipe for chaos in a book, where extra footnotes may need to be added, or existing footnotes deleted, at a fairly advanced stage in the editing process, or for a revision of a book or article.

Trevor

[Last Chance]

9 hours ago, Ramon56 said:

Fully agree. Even the basic implementation would be a great step forward. Advanced features such as automatic numbering, multi-page footnotes, etc, could wait for a second release.

As I have mentioned before, adding endnotes is the least problematic of them all as they are collated towards the end of the chapter, section or book. The only need is to adjust the page count and numbering to accommodate the additional page(s) that the endnotes would take. But, like Trevor A's comment, adding the feature without auto-numbering makes the exercise a little pointless.

[Ralph]

2 hours ago, Trevor A said:

I can't see that footnotes without automatic numbering would be of any use at all to me.

And therein lies the rub! We all have different priorities. I would ask for a level that was consistent with the subset of the features that exist in all other DTP packages. That is, if AppA has features 1,2,3,5 and AppB has 2,4,5,6, then Afpub should aspire to 2 & 5 for starters.

Or perhaps the features that were first launched in PagePlus, since apparently it is the same development team that created PagePlus Footnotes which is working on Affinity Footnotes. 

All this has been said many times before in this thread and it has to be an accolade to Publisher that so many people persevere in their efforts to get something implemented.

[Pedrober]

I think split footnotes is a basic feature in footnotes support.

[John Kay]

I am now getting to grips with Publisher and I appreciate the extra fine adjustment that it provides although the help file still needs a lot of work.

I think that the requests for foot/end notes are well justified, a request still not satisfied  after three years is unlike the tradition the Serif used to uphold, I know, I've been with them from the start of PagePlus. Many of my books need this as a matter off course, I've tried using pinned text boxes but the result is not pretty and of course is not self-adjusting.

Let's have these please , and the sooner the better.

[Trevor A]

And so say all of us!

[cyberlizard]

it's Christmas!  2022 is almost upon us and we are no further forward than we were in 2018.

come on affinity.

slowly but surely becoming more and more pessimistic about the entire matter.

[Trevor A]

But 2022 is going to be the year!  Perhaps we're nearly there!

Merry Christmas everyone!

[PaoloT]

On 12/24/2021 at 2:25 PM, cyberlizard said:

it's Christmas!  2022 is almost upon us and we are no further forward than we were in 2018.

…and that's really not bad, for a program that was introduced in 2019!

Paolo

 

[cyberlizard]

15 hours ago, PaoloT said:

…and that's really not bad, for a program that was introduced in 2019!

Paolo

 

initial beta was released in 2018....  

 

https://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/creative-software/affinity-publisher-free-beta-of-new-indesign-rival-now-available/

[HpR]

2022 !

🙈

[Alfred]

4 minutes ago, HpR said:

🙈

“See No Evil!”

[spinko]

On 11/28/2021 at 11:13 AM, Ralph said:

....

Or perhaps the features that were first launched in PagePlus, since apparently it is the same development team that created PagePlus Footnotes which is working on Affinity Footnotes. 

.....

Exactly what I was thinking.

[HenrikM]

I am working on a book on photography. The lack of footnotes and endnotes in Affinity Publisher is getting to be a severe obstacle. I keep hoping for that being added in the next version.

[Trevor A]

Photography is one of two distinct areas of expertise that I have.  I have been asked to write a book on photography but abandoned using Affinity Publisher the first time I needed to use a footnote!