Common problem: Advertizing/buying Affinity

[Jörn Reppenhagen]

Personal experience:

I heard from Affinity quite some months ago - YouTube videos, YouTube advertizing.

But I didn't buy. Instead, I bought Luminar and On1 in addition to LR and PS I already owned.

Because I just couldn't find out quickly if Affinity is also for PC.
Website was not clear about that. At least not the parts which I saw first.

Some months later, I saw more advertizing, also watched some hands-on videos made by James "the voice" Ritson. Again wished to try and buy Affinity.
So I returned to the website.
But again didn't find a quick way of making sure it's for PC - got scared off when I read of iTunes (or similar), clearly pointing to the Apple ecosystem. Didn't look any further.

Some weeks later, I again returned for having a look. And it seemed like there's a PC version at last. Fine.
But this time, I was pointed to a Microsoft store, offering Affinity for Windows 10, only.
I was using Windows 7 at that point of time, so pointing to that store was pointless to me, which is the point.

Finally, I found a link shoving me into the right direction.
And finally, I bought Affinity. And I am very happy with it. You created a real fine piece of software.

But buying took a lot of persistence and a dose of luck.

So Serif guys: It's real hard to find out Affinity is also for PC, it's real hard buying it. - Because you need some time and luck for finding the information you're after. Especially if one's purchase decisions usually are early morning in-bed actions using a smartphone - with no greater intentions of digging deep into the guts of a website using that tiny screen.
I guess there's thousands of potential buyers experiencing similar problems like me as they don't find clear information at first glance - or getting scared away by that Microsoft Windows 10 bondage.

So make it prominent Affinity is also for PC, show a "BUY HERE, STUPID!" link at first glance, sell more, be happy.

Edited March 9, 2019 by Jörn Reppenhagen
Masking embarrassing typos.

[Pšenda]

Excuse me, but it is joke?

On the official site "https://affinity.serif.com" can not overlook the fact, that there are also desktop versions, both for MacOS and Windows (without specifying the version).

[John Rostron]

The official site given above is more like a joke. I agree with @Jörn Reppenhagenthat the information that I was looking for is hard to find.  It looked like an advert for the iPad versions until you wait, when information on the Desktop versions eventually appears. There is a hamburger menu but it is grey on grey and not easy to spot.

I did not have this difficulty when i originally bought AD and AP some years ago.

John

[Jörn Reppenhagen]

Also had a look again.

It's a bit different now, I also guess there's quite different versions shown according to browser, platform and locale.
For instance, I did not get the screen posted by Pšenda.
NOW I was able to spot a link allowing to buy directly after scrolling a bit down, looks like a direct purchase without the previous Microsoft nuisance. This had been different not long ago.

Feels far better!

[Pšenda]

16 hours ago, John Rostron said:

There is a hamburger menu

The Hamburger Menu is a common way of controlling the last five years. I'm not saying that it's a good way, but its use certainly can not surprise anyone - it's a standard.

 

16 hours ago, John Rostron said:

it is grey on grey and not easy to spot.

This is unfortunately also a lack of UI design in Affinity applications (see also numerous comments and suggestions).

 

16 hours ago, John Rostron said:

I did not have this difficulty when i originally bought AD and AP some years ago.

Yes, but there were no iPad versions at the time. At the time I bought Affinity, they were new the Windows version, so they were properly promoted.

 

Excuse me, but I think nothing of this can be a reason not to be able to find out which versions of applications are available.

[John Rostron]

I have long experience in various user interfaces, old and new. I did not really have too much troubly finding the Windows version of AP, but I do wonder about a relatively inexperienced user. 

59 minutes ago, Pšenda said:

The Hamburger Menu is a common way of controlling the last five years

True, but I have to admit that I have only discovered it relatively recently. Put this down to my advancing years.

John

[Jörn Reppenhagen]

Yesterday, there was a fierce storm.
Conclusion: There's fierce storms every single day, all year long.

Found the mistake?

At the points of time I looked for a PC version, there was no such indications in the "Hamburger menu", PC related links led to a Microsoft store restricting the use of Affinity to Windows 10. It's been all Apple and a tiny piece of PC.
And it's points of time because I looked for a usable PC version multiple times, using smartphones and tablets. And I love hamburgers.
Maybe I should also note I am no novice, am a former programmer since good old ZX-81 times, am still not allowed to enter the USA due to successful hacking activities way back in the Reagan era, worked as a web developer and IT tutor for years, am now creating contents including masses of web contents for global players, thus spend about 12 hours daily and up on the net.

So I impudently dare to claim not finding a suitable PC version hasn't necessarily been a problem of competence but a problem of contents.

As I also reflect on the initial lines of this post, I need to happily admit there had been changes, it's far easier to find a PC download, now.
That's a great relief as I would love to witness Affinity conquering the PC world.
By storm.

[John Rostron]

3 hours ago, Jörn Reppenhagen said:

That's a great relief as I would love to witness Affinity conquering the PC world

I'm sure that most (all?) On this site would agree!

John

[casterle]

Jörn, absolutely I agree. It takes some digging to find that Affinity products are for the PC as well.

I just went to affinity.serif.com and found the screenshots I've posted below. The only ecosystem mentioned is Apple. Of course you can find out that Windows is supported if you dig, but when I checked out Affinity a few months ago I too moved on because, from the site's landing page, it appeared that this was a Mac-only product. This is easy to believe for PC users 'cause Mac (seems to) get all the graphics love.

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