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A long list of suggestions and small glitches


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I'm used to the magic of InDesign, but working with Affinity Publisher is my hopeful replacement of this good, but overpriced software.  Thanks so much for the BETA testing opportunity.  Here's a wishlist and some glitches I've encountered:

 HYPERLINKS: Add the option to include hyperlinks on any text (including when it's saved to curves. (For example, I want to hyperlink /myname on my resume to www.linkedin.com/myname, but can’t, and don’t want to waste the visual space adding the entire link when an icon will do)

 BULLET STYLES: Setting up bullet styles could be easier. In general, I want a small indent on the text after my bullets, and the continuing text on the next line, and thereafter to be indented the same as the first line (pretty standard). Currently, this requires putting in a bullet, changing the Tabstop value, then scrolling up to the Spacing menu and putting in a left indent, which for some reason automatically changes the first line indent, which I then have to change back to zero.  I think it would be better if A) changing the left indent doesn’t automatically change the first line indent - really no menu change should automatically change another menu item, IMO. B) The bullet automatically has a more standard indenting default, which people can adjust if they like.  I think it’s unlikely that a first line only indent on a bulleted list is anyone’s preference.

 INSERT IMAGES IN TEXT BOX: I’d like to be able to insert an image inside a text box (ie. Where the bottom of the image is aligned with the line of the bottom of the type on a line as the default, but this could be changed, and/or insert an image in a table and have text flow around it. Right now, I can’t figure out if there’s a way to do this.

 SCREEN SPACE / INTERFACE IMPROVEMENTS: The Pages and Assets menu - on a small laptop screen, this is taking a lot of space that could be better used for viewing your design. I’d like to be able to shrink the menu to half the width, or close it completely.  There’s a lot of wasted space if you switch to medium or small size page icons, so not sure why it has been given so much real estate! 

COLUMNS: When creating columns in a text box (ie. Not in a table), I would like the option to adjust the space between columns  - I see you can move them - adjusting the columns themselves, but I would like to set a different spacing to apply to a whole text box.

LINES: I can’t figure out an easy way to draw or insert a straight line as a design element.  The option seems to be to use the pencil, but requires a very steady hand - would be ideal to set a start and end point and have it default to a straight horizontal, and/or snap to some logical angles when you rotate it.

 PLACING .AI FILES: For some reason when I’m placing .ai graphics, Affinity is adding a lot of extra empty space around the edges, which means the graph/ic is so large that I cannot find the corners to shrink, and/or clip it.  I’m working with a really old version of Illustrator, so could be why? This is definitely causing some headaches.

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12 hours ago, Maram said:

LINES: I can’t figure out an easy way to draw or insert a straight line as a design element.  The option seems to be to use the pencil, but requires a very steady hand - would be ideal to set a start and end point and have it default to a straight horizontal, and/or snap to some logical angles when you rotate it.

Hello @Maram,

welcome to the forum.

You can draw straight lines with the Pencil Tool by holding down the SHIFT key. Simply click once where the line starts and click again at the end point. Holding SHIFT constrains to angles of 45 degrees.

I hope that helps :)
d.

Affinity Designer 1 & 2   |   Affinity Photo 1 & 2   |   Affinity Publisher 1 & 2
Affinity Designer 2 for iPad   |   Affinity Photo 2 for iPad   |   Affinity Publisher 2 for iPad

Windows 11 64-bit - Core i7 - 16GB - Intel HD Graphics 4600 & NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
iPad pro 9.7" + Apple Pencil

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16 hours ago, Maram said:

When creating columns in a text box (ie. Not in a table), I would like the option to adjust the space between columns

Does not the Gutter field in the Columns part of Text Frame panel do what you want?

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16 hours ago, Maram said:

SCREEN SPACE / INTERFACE IMPROVEMENTS: The Pages and Assets menu - on a small laptop screen, this is taking a lot of space that could be better used for viewing your design. I’d like to be able to shrink the menu to half the width, or close it completely.  There’s a lot of wasted space if you switch to medium or small size page icons, so not sure why it has been given so much real estate!

There's a shortcut that would let you hide the studio panels temporarily. Or you could move the Pages and Assets panels into the right studio, freeing up the left side.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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17 hours ago, Maram said:

 SCREEN SPACE / INTERFACE IMPROVEMENTS: The Pages and Assets menu - on a small laptop screen, this is taking a lot of space that could be better used for viewing your design. I’d like to be able to shrink the menu to half the width, or close it completely.  There’s a lot of wasted space if you switch to medium or small size page icons, so not sure why it has been given so much real estate! 

I agree with you. Shortcuts to collapse left or right only panels would be very usefull.

I tend to keep the lest used panels on the left (pages & master pages, frames, tables…) and the other on the right (near the mouse) and it would be better to hide or to have minimized panels.

A choice for smaller icones too (toolbar), and icones in the context toolbar instead of text (but with tooltips for name), and the ability to have 2 rows instead of having some options hidden we have to show with the arrows… when we only whant to check properties is annoying.

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2 hours ago, Arun Sarkar said:

Hello :)

I think it will be Pen Tool 

My bad :$ I got carried away, sorry for the wrong tool. Of course it is the Pen Tool.

d.

Affinity Designer 1 & 2   |   Affinity Photo 1 & 2   |   Affinity Publisher 1 & 2
Affinity Designer 2 for iPad   |   Affinity Photo 2 for iPad   |   Affinity Publisher 2 for iPad

Windows 11 64-bit - Core i7 - 16GB - Intel HD Graphics 4600 & NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M
iPad pro 9.7" + Apple Pencil

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