Make Help topic pages more flexible

[PAULRFONTENOT]

While you are writing code for new retail versions, please consider:

1.  Make the help topic pages sizable to offer screen wide views. (As it stands now, you can resize only vertically; it should resize vertically and             horizontally.

2.  Make each panel within the topic page sizable relative to the whole page

      (As it stands now, when you zoom in on a help topic page, the sidebar zooms wider at the expense of the topic text panel; it should at least                work the other way around where the text panel zooms at the expense of the sidebar panel.

3.  (Each panel within the page should be able to be sized independently of the whole page.)

4. or,  Make the entire page zoomable just like the canvas in the drawing persona.

I will assume that the development teams for all applications are collaborating to make all Affinity applications behave the same so I will not repost this under the other application forums unless you advise otherwise.

[Pšenda]

In Windows Help is sizeable.

[PAULRFONTENOT]

I have the beta version of both Affinity Designer, Photo and Publisher on Mac OS and I cannot figure out how to make the help topic page screen width, or how to zoom in on a specific text on the page, or how to resize panels independently.

I have spent some time at this, so I am assuming that it can't be done in Mac OS     (or, I am dumb as a post! )

Someone, please rescue me from my ignorance. 

That is why I submitted the feature request so that the development teams could possibly include these features in the next retail versions and operating systems of all Affinity applications.

It seems logical to me that the development teams might want to have everything behave the same way across all applications and operating systems, if only to decrease the variables when troubleshooting bugs.

[walt.farrell]

36 minutes ago, PAULRFONTENOT said:

It seems logical to me that the development teams might want to have everything behave the same way across all applications and operating systems, if only to decrease the variables when troubleshooting bugs.

In general that's true.

However, sometimes it's not possible. For example, MacOS provides Separated Mode, and Windows does not. So the Affinity applications on MacOS can run that way, but those on Windows can't.

The Affinity Help on MacOS has some capabilities that it doesn't have on Windows, so it is possible that Affinity is making use of differing system capabilities or services in its Help implementation just as it does for some of the application UI functions.

But the Serif staff would need to comment on that before we would know for sure 

(Note, by the way, that the Serif staff generally do not comment on feature requests. But rest assured they will read this topic and take note of your request for future planning purposes even if they don't comment here.)

[PAULRFONTENOT]

Silly and ignorant me; I misunderstood what I was reading and read into something on this site that lead me to believe there was another Affinity program out there called "Range"  

Sorry if I wasted anyone's time or inconvenience with my "faux pas".

[Pšenda]

Alternatively, use the Help on web (https://affinity.help), and customize your web browser as you like.

[walt.farrell]

6 hours ago, Pšenda said:

Alternatively, use the Help on web (https://affinity.help), and customize your web browser as you like.

Yes, that's a good choice, at least for those aspects of the Affinity Applications that are common to both Windows and MacOS. In some areas the programs act differently, though, and unfortunately Serif does not make both the Windows and the Mac help available online.

[Pšenda]

22 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

at least for those aspects of the Affinity Applications that are common to both Windows and MacOS

Serif declares, that "functionally" are equal / identical applications.

[walt.farrell]

23 hours ago, Pšenda said:

Serif declares, that "functionally" are equal / identical applications.

For the most part, yes. But that means that they offer the same functions. Fine details of using those functions can differ, and that may result in differences in the documentation (Help) across the OSes.

I don't know if this one is such a case, but it serves as an example that the Help could treat differently: