Footnotes/Endnotes

[Old Bruce]

52 minutes ago, spinko said:

Who is this software directed to ? 

Wrong question. Any and all answers will have no useful information for me, the potential user.

Instead ask: Can I use this to do my work? In your case the answer is most likely; No.

[PaoloT]

1 hour ago, spinko said:

I would rather pay Adobe for InDesign than try to bypass all the lacking stuff with workarounds.

As far as I may understand, it is not yet forbidden by the law!

Paolo

 

[fmommeja]

Footnotes are the last frontier to reach/overcome InDesign features !
Go for it guys ! 

And if you implement this as cleverly as you did it with other features, I'll leave Adobe for good. 

[PaoloT]

7 hours ago, fmommeja said:

Footnotes are the last frontier to reach/overcome InDesign features !

Well, let's hope they will be better and less buggy than in InDesign!

Paolo

 

[Jim Slade]

12 hours ago, fmommeja said:

Footnotes are the last frontier to reach/overcome InDesign features !
Go for it guys ! 

And if you implement this as cleverly as you did it with other features, I'll leave Adobe for good. 

I add couple more:

1. The ability to split books into multiple files. My books I have exported get a resource error when I try to import them into Publisher. (as urgent as footnotes).

2. Paragraph composition. 

[PaoloT]

Just been at the phone with a publisher I'm editing a project for, and we were discussing about how to manage three streams of notes with InDesign.

Ah, how good it would be to have a layout program that can manage multiple streams of notes…

Paolo

 

[rparmar]

I am not sure if I ever commented on this thread. But years later I still cannot recommend Publisher because it lacks footnotes. I do continue to use the app for some of my own projects. But still...

+1

[Dharmic]

Yikes.

Still not there? Count this as a +1 from another user frustrated to no end by this one missing feature. Come on, guys!! PLEEEEEASE!!

[Pedrober]

I am quoting https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/publisher/ipad/?fbclid=IwAR0moAEsCMQvJcemy4HRPoJf00KX6oI6p7MLEU8cGckP4Hrj44kyI05mts4:

"We’re aiming to launch Affinity Publisher for iPad soon, alongside some other major developments to the rest of the Affinity suite!"

Maybe footnotes?

[Trevor A]

That would be wonderful! - even transformative!  It would make the difference between not being able to use Publisher for certain types of publications, and being able to use it.
 

[kfriis]

1 hour ago, Pedrober said:

I am quoting https://affinity.serif.com/en-us/publisher/ipad/?fbclid=IwAR0moAEsCMQvJcemy4HRPoJf00KX6oI6p7MLEU8cGckP4Hrj44kyI05mts4:

"We’re aiming to launch Affinity Publisher for iPad soon, alongside some other major developments to the rest of the Affinity suite!"

Maybe footnotes?

It doesn't look as if it is a worthwhile addition to my iPad anymore.

I need comprehensive Word file import (with style handling(creation), and as a minimum full footnotes, endnotes and decent ePub export (fixed format) with full support of audio, video and html widget animation. Probably even full support of unencrypted ePub material import too.

What would have sufficed a year or more ago, will not cut it anymore.

Publisher on iPad doesn't really matter. It's just another platform, delivering lacking support for my needs. Why would I pay for that?

Publisher is a dead end for me and my use cases, unless dramatically extended in capabilities. A primarily, if not only "print media/magazine" targeted tool, has the same value for me, as a film based "Super 8" camera for a Tik-Tok creator (in other words - a tool for yesterdays market, quietly vanishing into oblivion    

Regards

[PaoloT]

2 hours ago, kfriis said:

Tik-Tok creator

I fear Serif indeed forgot all that ever growing market of tik-tokers in need of endnotes and an equation editor.

Paolo

 

[sfriedberg]

13 hours ago, kfriis said:

It doesn't look as if it is a worthwhile addition to my iPad anymore.

We thought you gave up on all this back in June, kfriis.

[kfriis]

11 hours ago, PaoloT said:

I fear Serif indeed forgot all that ever growing market of tik-tokers in need of endnotes and an equation editor.

Paolo

 

Ah, yes… it’s guaranteed, that someone would get the wires crossed, and misunderstand my message (on purpose?) 🙏🏻

[kfriis]

1 hour ago, sfriedberg said:

We thought you gave up on all this back in June, kfriis.

I have, and still do. But I continue to follow the topic, just in case.

And decided to comment on the upcoming iPad version mentioned, and Publisher in general (for my use cases).

Regards and a big, holier than thou smile 😇🤪🙏🏻

[spinko]

15 hours ago, kfriis said:

Publisher is a dead end for me and my use cases, unless dramatically extended in capabilities

1+

[Will Wallace]

Publisher is a dead end for me, too -- not only because of the lack of footnote support, but also because of the lack of EPUB export/conversion.

Quite honestly, it's like the developers are working overtime to ensure that people WON'T buy their program.

 

[Pyanepsion]

3 hours ago, Will Wallace said:

Publisher is a dead end for me […] because of the lack of EPUB export/conversion.

There is much difference between producing a medium on paper (CMYK universe, fixed positions, fixed dimensions, layering of objects, enormous file weight, high resolution) and producing a medium on the Internet (RGB universe, variable positions, unknown dimensions, no overlapping of objects, very light file weight, low resolution).

An EPUB book is not created with DTP software extension, but with specialized software (30 to €100). The extensions that exist for QuarkXpress and Indesign are pitiful and give a result that is anything but professional.

[John Kay]

Books are still more popular for reading and are still generally preferred by most readers to reading from a screen. DTP programs today need to cover all the traditional requirements of paper book publishing. This market won't go away. The best program that copes properly with all its requirements, with all its faults and shortcomings is PagePlus X9. It is still working as well as it ever did and I wouldn't be without it. It is a crying shame that Serif have washed their hands of it and have not seen fit to incorporate all of its excellent qualities in Publisher.

John

[PatrickOfLondon]

Likewise. I can understand why Serif / Affinity discontinued Page Plus X9 while they were hoping that Affinity Publisher would replace it in the market, but as AP still has not done so in certain functional areas, why not offer PP X9 as an old and unsupported but still viable alternative for certain types of user. When it became a legacy product it was on sale for about £20. Sell it at the same price as Affinity Publisher if you are fearful of taking too much away from Affinity Publisher sales — but at least offer it, while it still does the things that Affinity Publisher cannot do.

[mixedcolors10]

Hi everyone I just joined I did a trial run of affinity and loved it and I'm considering getting it for some book projects. I wasn't going to make a new post for a question I have since this topic clearly has been discussed through the brain. But I simply wanted to know that if you import(or copy and paste) a document into affinity will it still bring over the number that you have superscripted in word? I understand it won't be formatted the same but if I have to go page by page and format my footnotes I would like to have at least the number that I assigned in my text there for me to work with. Thanks. 

[Will Wallace]

16 hours ago, Pyanepsion said:

There is much difference between producing a medium on paper (CMYK universe, fixed positions, fixed dimensions, layering of objects, enormous file weight, high resolution) and producing a medium on the Internet (RGB universe, variable positions, unknown dimensions, no overlapping of objects, very light file weight, low resolution).

An EPUB book is not created with DTP software extension, but with specialized software (30 to €100). The extensions that exist for QuarkXpress and Indesign are pitiful and give a result that is anything but professional.

Serif PagePlus could export to EPUB -- and it wasn't through an extension.

 

Of course formatting a file for EPUB is different than formatting for print. Nobody said otherwise. But the program Affinity Publisher replaced could export to EPUB, yet after years of requests, Affinity still hasn't added that capability to Publisher.

There's an old saying: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." As far as I'm concerned, Affinity isn't interested in repeat customers, or in recommendations. I can't in good conscience recommend that anyone waste their time and money on Affinity Publisher. YMMV.

[kfriis]

On 10/7/2022 at 7:54 AM, Pyanepsion said:

There is much difference between producing a medium on paper (CMYK universe, fixed positions, fixed dimensions, layering of objects, enormous file weight, high resolution) and producing a medium on the Internet (RGB universe, variable positions, unknown dimensions, no overlapping of objects, very light file weight, low resolution).

An EPUB book is not created with DTP software extension, but with specialized software (30 to €100). The extensions that exist for QuarkXpress and Indesign are pitiful and give a result that is anything but professional.

There really is not much difference between a fixed format pdf and a fixed format ePub (for some reason, ePub detractors mostly relate to fre-flowing novel content or alike), seen from the editing tool perspective.

I use the same tool for pdf and ePub (fixed format), where possible. No difference in work environment, media, content etc).

Only when using “interaktive” elements, video or audio, there are differences.

Mostly this is reduced to me positioning a 16:9 video (for instance) replacing a 16:9 image (with hugely reduced content and usability). Similar for interactive elements. One image with limited to no usability in real life is replaced by a “widget” (in real life inserted as a ‘complete blob’ to be scaled and positioned in the same way as an inserted image, and ready formatted for inclusion as a complete element - akin to videos, but different in composition and content).

PDF output Is a modified/reduced Postscript description representing a fixed format document of required size (similar to physical prints, but portable in digital format).

EPUB output is a slightly reduced/modified html description (in this case) representing a fixed format “web page“ with dynamic elements with predetermined position and size (just as images, but far more powerful in use and content).

In fact, most ePub documents (one unit analogous to a one unit pdf) can be exported directly as a web page too. The same tool can output fully formed pdf documents (with heavily limitations in usable content), fully formed epub documents and fully formed web pages, that can be published as part of corporate or publishing networks.

Same tool. Publisher with the capability to accept and manage “blobs” of inserted media, like audio, video and animation, and delivering the material in standard epub or html output format instead of pdf. The actual editor interface will to a huge extend be similar to identical.  Only minor modifications due to extra format handling is required.

No “rocket science” at all required. Just a broadening of minds and minimal extension of capabilities.

You may not need it.

I do. Have had the main requirement of epub handling since start of 2013.

Regards

 

 

 

 

[pfbt]

I love Publisher for what it does do, but it's been a major disappointment that, to date, it's not lived up to the promise of being a replacement for InDesign. I think we can truthfully say it was a reasonable expectation.

Via Twitter, I reminded Serif that communication is everything. Companies like Apple might be able to get away with saying nothing about what they're developing because we know that at least twice a year they deliver something.

Right now, there seems to be no hint of whether Serif is even working on Publisher. Their lack of communication on topics like footnotes might have been excusable for, say, a year. But more than 4 years down the track, they're saying nothing. Very poor form and does nothing to engender ongoing trust in the company.

I'd  like to see them concentrate less on all the fancy integration between Designer, Photo, & Publisher for a time while they simply get in the functionality that we've been pleading for.

Meanwhile, I will keep using Publisher for documents that don't require footnotes, etc. However, for documents/books requiring footnotes, endnotes, cross-referencing it's Mellel (which is truly fantastic with those features).

[Pyanepsion]

On 10/7/2022 at 2:15 PM, mixedcolors10 said:

if you import(or copy and paste) a document into Affinity will it still bring over the number that you have superscripted in word?

Hello Mixedcolor10 and welcome to the forum.

Affinity Publisher correctly handles superscripts imported from Word (as well as styles). The Footnote feature is not yet integrated. It is necessary to create them by hand in the old way. See examples of footnoted files on several pages further back in this discussion.

@Will Wallace: No EPUB extension in any DTP software is satisfactory! It is much better to buy specialized software. Expect to pay between £35 and £70 for the best pay ware.

@kfriis: The print and screen industries are very different! The Postscript Description File (PDF) is also very different from electronic publication files (EPUB). There is a lot you can do on a paper document, a little less on the Internet, and very little on an e-book.