Affinity Publisher is not a copy of InDesign - no massive fail!

[Poto]

People always tend to compare new things with existing things.

I very much hope that SERIF can think independently about how creative software should be. 
Adobe's software is not always so good, there are even some obvious but officially ignored issues, such as humanization in operation, historical burdens are so heavy that the software is very bloated.

I am happy to see SERIF come out with a creative software route that is independent of her own thinking, providing the world with more humane and more modern creative software.

[garrettm30]

6 hours ago, Domikenens said:

I hope the guys (and gal!) from InDesignSecrets will jump on the Affinity bandwagon

I have found help from time to time on that website, so your comment inspired me to go search on their website to see if Affinity Publisher has come up. I came across an interesting video that was an overview of the first and second releases of InDesign. The key missing features from InDesign 1 that were mentioned in the video were tables, text on a path, and transparency. Publisher does all of those, and rather well generally.

I hope you won't mind my posting this link to the article on a site about a competing product, because 1) It can help us to appreciate how well Publisher has done in its first version by comparison, and 2) even if we might "love to hate" on Adobe, I think it still helpful to appreciate the contribution they have provided to the DTP world over the years.
 

https://indesignsecrets.com/video-indesign-early-days-versions-1-2.php

Note that the first comment on that article is a positive pitch for Publisher.

[duckrabbit]

51 minutes ago, garrettm30 said:

(…), and 2) even if we might "love to hate" on Adobe, I think it still helpful to appreciate the contribution they have provided to the DTP world over the years.

Indeed! I for one still remember fondly when InDesign made dropshadows easy, and how the InDesign community quickly became a haven of friendly people who found workarounds & solutions for every possible trick you'd want to achieve.

A good app doesn't deliver a good community necessarily.

And just as …

Quote

"Weed will get you through times of no money, better than money will get you through times of no weed" 

 

 --(Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers)

On this side of the industry…

Quote

"a helpful community will get you through times of missing features, better than features will get you through times of no helpful community"

[SrPx]

8 hours ago, duckrabbit said:

they are able to look at digital/online or motion/animation/video workflows.

That's too well covered by Davinci Resolve + Fusion + a bunch of 2D animation software at a great pricing, IMHO... I doubt it'd make sense that huge competition. If for online/digital you mean prototyping for the web & apps, same issue : Sketch + Figma + Invision reign (empire)... All those are great in pricing (generous free versions, too), cross platform, or having so many competitors that all platforms are covered with a great quality/price ratio solution. IMO, graphic design and and photography had a great gap to cover instead (other than the cloud thing and CD and its pricing), if we take price in consideration, so IMO was a genius move from Serif. Dunno which are their actual real plans. Only they know (but they have replied many times that they have no plans on producing video editing/animation software).

[CarlM]

20 hours ago, Poto Lucky said:

People always tend to compare new things with existing things.

I very much hope that SERIF can think independently about how creative software should be. 
Adobe's software is not always so good, there are even some obvious but officially ignored issues, such as humanization in operation, historical burdens are so heavy that the software is very bloated.

I am happy to see SERIF come out with a creative software route that is independent of her own thinking, providing the world with more humane and more modern creative software.

It's telling that Serif opted to write the code for their three flagship products from scratch and re-launch them as Affinity. It demonstrates an understanding that now and again you have to take the plunge and start all over again rather than keep patching and increasing bloat in a product to produce something that is future proof.

It never fails to amaze me how many posters predict the demise of Affinity publisher because two months after it's launch it not only doesn't do everything that ID and Quark do after 20+ years of development but also doesn't do things that 20 other apps that aren't DTP are capable of.

Edited August 23, 2019 by CarlM
spelling error

[Petar Petrenko]

2 minutes ago, CarlM said:

It never fails to amaze me how many posters predict the demise of Affinity publisher because two months after it's launch it not only doesn't do everything that ID and Quark do after 20+ years of development but also doesn't do things that 20 other apps that aren't DTP are capable of.

For example?

[Palatino]

8 hours ago, Petar Petrenko said:

For example?

1. Perfect SVG export in compliance with all specifications.
2. One-click vectorization.

[Petar Petrenko]

1 hour ago, Palatino said:

1. Perfect SVG export in compliance with all specifications.
2. One-click vectorization.

Vectorization is much more appropriate tool for Designer than Publisher.

[CarlM]

On 8/23/2019 at 8:47 AM, Petar Petrenko said:

For example?

Work your way through the requests forum. In the past couple of weeks there are at least half a dozen requests for or complaints that Publisher doesn't do something that some inappropriate non-DTP related app does and which wouldn't apply in a DTP in the first instance.

[Petar Petrenko]

1 hour ago, CarlM said:

Work your way through the requests forum. In the past couple of weeks there are at least half a dozen requests for or complaints that Publisher doesn't do something that some inappropriate non-DTP related app does and which wouldn't apply in a DTP in the first instance.

I don't know what's happening with you people? Do you have in mind that Publisher was born few months ago? You expect it to behave as it has a PhD diploma? You compare Affinity apps with software that is already on the market for more than 15 years.

And yes, I am searching through the forum since it is opened. Do you see how many posts do I have and when I joined the forum? Of course I am aware of all missing features of all 3 Affinity apps, but I am patient. I am waiting for them to come. I've already dropped Photoshop and Illustrator and now waiting for features I need to be added to Publisher and to drop InDesign and Quark, too.

[CarlM]

On 8/25/2019 at 11:03 AM, Petar Petrenko said:

I don't know what's happening with you people? Do you have in mind that Publisher was born few months ago? You expect it to behave as it has a PhD diploma? You compare Affinity apps with software that is already on the market for more than 15 years.

And yes, I am searching through the forum since it is opened. Do you see how many posts do I have and when I joined the forum? Of course I am aware of all missing features of all 3 Affinity apps, but I am patient. I am waiting for them to come. I've already dropped Photoshop and Illustrator and now waiting for features I need to be added to Publisher and to drop InDesign and Quark, too.

I think you may have misunderstood me. I was being critical of those users who expect a fully formed product on day one and also want features that bear no relation to a Desk top Publishing application. what I was saying was that just because you can do something in a totally unrelated program it doesn't mean it is a reason to have it in Publisher. It's like expecting your local bus to also have wings and fly you to another country as well as drive you down the road to go shopping.