Jump to content
You must now use your email address to sign in [click for more info] ×

Recommended Posts

The category "Affinity on Desktop Questions (Mac and Windows) is frustratingly broad.  Consequently, I neither search in it nor tend to post on it.  There should be a sub-forum for each combination of OS and Affinity product.

Richard Liu

MacBook Pro 16" 2021 M1 Max | macOS 12.3.1 | BenQ SW271 | Affinity Photo 1.10.5

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This issue has been raised many times. Serif has always maintained that the commonality between the three products necessitates a common forum. Like you and many others, I disagree. However I doubt that there is a need to split the questions by OS.

John

Windows 10, Affinity Photo 1.10.5 Designer 1.10.5 and Publisher 1.10.5 (mainly Photo), now ex-Adobe CC

CPU: AMD A6-3670. RAM: 16 GB DDR3 @ 666MHz, Graphics: 2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 630

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is always the possibility that we might learn something if we browse through this forum.  After all, Studio Link uses all three apps.  Personally, I like it just the way it is.  


24" iMAC Apple M1 chip, 8-core CPU, 8-core GPU, 16 GB unified memory, 1 TB SSD storage, Ventura 13.6.  Photo, Publisher, Designer 1.10.5, and 2.3.
MacBook Pro 13" 2020, Apple M1 chip, 16GB unified memory, 256GB  SSD storage
,  Ventura 13.6.   Publisher, Photo, Designer 1.10.5, and 2.1.1.  
 iPad Pro 12.9 2020 (4th Gen. IOS 16.6.1); Apple pencil.  
Wired and bluetooth mice and keyboards.9_9

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, jmwellborn said:

There is always the possibility that we might learn something if we browse through this forum.  After all, Studio Link uses all three apps.  Personally, I like it just the way it is.  

This is true and one could subscribe to all.  I think the main problem is repeated posting to the wrong forum and need to redirect question. 

Cecil 

iMac Retina 5K, 27”, 2019. 3.6 GHz Intel Core 9, 40 GB Memory DDR4, Radeon Pro 580X 8 GB, macOS,iPad Pro iPadOS

 

Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Cecil said:

 I think the main problem is repeated posting to the wrong forum and need to redirect question. 

Splitting the forum would not help that, in my opinion.

The main difficulty is between distinguishing what should be a question from what should be a bug report from what should be a feature request, I think. Or what should be in the beta forums vs the released version forums.

-- 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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Richard Liu said:

I neither search in it nor tend to post on it.  There should be a sub-forum for each combination of OS and Affinity product.

There are many topics with relevance for all three apps. For instance the UI, panels, most tools, menus, commands, effects and filters and all color issues, not to forget export options. From this perspective a common forum makes sense, both for those who search and the developers, too.

At the moment, this forum has 181 thousand posts:

106930275_affinityforumQDesktop.jpg.a7e7d0d03b2e9a992fb4b59a029faf90.jpg

Divided by 2 (mac / win) and then 3 (AfPh / AfDes / AfPub) this would still give an average of 30,000 posts – for each forum.

Nobody would read 30,000 posts. Therefore, it is best to use the forum search frequently and try the different options to define a search. Even an external search on the Internet (not in this forum) often leads to a relevant result, too. – Of course the result is depending on the quality and precision of details of the search terms.

Imagine: if this forum (which is a sub-forum already) would be split to 3 apps then the number of topics and posts will increase and become multiplied by up to 3. Then x 2 for win/mac. Results in a possible average number of 30,000 x 3 x 2 = 180,000. For each single sub-section. Your request could result in kind of a lose-lose situation.

macOS 10.14.6 | MacBookPro Retina 15" | Eizo 27" | Affinity V1

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • The biggest problem is, when people commonly question, that they initially always never tell for which App and/or on which OS they need help. Those willing to help always have to ask first and wait for those missing and sometimes needed informations. - A better forum structuring might be helpful here, as far as people make use of that then.
  • The forum help system is pretty bad and often not of much help in order to find concrete themes
  • Another one is the forum structure itself, which is also partly confusing for newbies. As an example things like ...
  1. "Affinity on Desktop Questions (Mac and Windows)"
  2. ... and then as a subcategory inside of this burried/hidden in the past "iPad Questions..." (nowadays this has luckily changed)
  • ... and so on ...

 

☛ Affinity Designer 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Photo 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 ◆ OSX El Capitan
☛ Affinity V2.3 apps ◆ MacOS Sonoma 14.2 ◆ iPad OS 17.2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, v_kyr said:
  • Another one is the forum structure itself, which is also partly confusing for newbies. As an example things like ...
  1. "Affinity on Desktop Questions (Mac and Windows)"
  2. ... and then as a subcategory inside of this burried/hidden "iPad Questions..."

The iPad Questions forum used to be buried/hidden as a subforum of the main Questions forum, but it’s now at the same level under Affinity Support & Questions.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Alfred said:

The iPad Questions forum used to be buried/hidden as a subforum of the main Questions forum, but it’s now at the same level under Affinity Support & Questions.

In the past it wasn't. - As in the past (for 5 years), there was for example no Studio Link, which some claim now that thus it's Ok that the forum handles all three apps only in one and the same category.

☛ Affinity Designer 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Photo 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 ◆ OSX El Capitan
☛ Affinity V2.3 apps ◆ MacOS Sonoma 14.2 ◆ iPad OS 17.2

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, v_kyr said:

In the past it wasn't [at the same level]

Agreed.

11 minutes ago, Alfred said:

The iPad Questions forum used to be buried/hidden as a subforum of the main Questions forum

I think it’s (slightly) less confusing now.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

The main difficulty is between distinguishing what should be a question from what should be a bug report from what should be a feature request,

As with this thread :-)

1 hour ago, walt.farrell said:

Splitting the forum would not help that

It would be enough to use Tags.

Affinity Store (MSI/EXE): Affinity Suite (ADe, APh, APu) 2.4.0.2301
Dell OptiPlex 7060, i5-8500 3.00 GHz, 16 GB, Intel UHD Graphics 630, Dell P2417H 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Dell Latitude E5570, i5-6440HQ 2.60 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics 530, 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Intel NUC5PGYH, Pentium N3700 2.40 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics, EIZO EV2456 1920 x 1200, Windows 10 Pro, Version 21H1, Build 19043.2130.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, v_kyr said:

that they initially always never tell for which App and/or on which OS they need help.

 

 

Affinity Store (MSI/EXE): Affinity Suite (ADe, APh, APu) 2.4.0.2301
Dell OptiPlex 7060, i5-8500 3.00 GHz, 16 GB, Intel UHD Graphics 630, Dell P2417H 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Dell Latitude E5570, i5-6440HQ 2.60 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics 530, 1920 x 1080, Windows 11 Pro, Version 23H2, Build 22631.3155.
Intel NUC5PGYH, Pentium N3700 2.40 GHz, 8 GB, Intel HD Graphics, EIZO EV2456 1920 x 1200, Windows 10 Pro, Version 21H1, Build 19043.2130.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The point I'm trying to make is slightly different.  I'm used to looking in the forums for answers to my problems before posting.  The searching facilities are ... extremely modest, so that pretty much defeats my search strategy of beginning very specifically and dropping terms as necessary until I find something pertinent.  So the alternative would be a more general search in more specific forums.

Richard Liu

MacBook Pro 16" 2021 M1 Max | macOS 12.3.1 | BenQ SW271 | Affinity Photo 1.10.5

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, Richard Liu said:

The point I'm trying to make is slightly different.  I'm used to looking in the forums for answers to my problems before posting.  The searching facilities are ... extremely modest, so that pretty much defeats my search strategy of beginning very specifically and dropping terms as necessary until I find something pertinent.  So the alternative would be a more general search in more specific forums.

Have you tried Google search: text wrap site:https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/3-affinity-support/

Place the entire phrase in your browser's address bar. The red text is whatever you search for (I used 'text wrap' as an example).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, Richard Liu said:

Thanks.  That works.  Pity having to jump through hoops just to find out whether one's question has already been answered before posting a new topic.

Perhaps you haven't investigated all the search capabilities of the forums?

For example, if you browse the Affinity on Desktop Questions forum, you can search just that forum, and you can search for the phrase "text wrap":

image.png.a5ab1dbc35ed83e82df5b26b84230724.png

That will give you this list of results:

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/search/&q="text wrap"&type=forums_topic&nodes=5

If you didn't include the " around the phrase, you would be default get a search that uses OR between the words, because of that checked "any of my search term words" but you could instead check "all of my search term words". Or, having searched, you could change the search to an AND or a phrase search using the options above the search results list.

(Note: the search capabilities will differ depending on the size of the browser window you're using. It's easiest to see all of them if you use a reasonably wide browser window on your desktop.)

-- 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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Hilltop said:

Have you tried Google search: text wrap site:https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/forum/3-affinity-support/

You don’t need a full URL when performing a ‘site:’ search. For the above example,

"text wrap" site:forum.affinity.serif.com

will suffice. As @walt.farrell mentioned, you should omit the quotation marks if you want results for either of the words instead of the whole phrase.

Alfred spacer.png
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for Windows • Windows 10 Home/Pro
Affinity Designer/Photo/Publisher 2 for iPad • iPadOS 17.4.1 (iPad 7th gen)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

59 minutes ago, Alfred said:

You don’t need a full URL when performing a ‘site:’ search. For the above example,


"text wrap" site:forum.affinity.serif.com

will suffice. As @walt.farrell mentioned, you should omit the quotation marks if you want results for either of the words instead of the whole phrase.

Sure, but I just did a copy & paste and added the search item. But I did miss Walt's post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, thomaso said:

1797634964_forumssearch.jpg.f2334780e6805811fbe3a629dbe5ff31.jpg

  

 

So the clunky and sub-optimal Search facility on this forum is a feature the website provider itself struggles with!:35_thinking:

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you @Hilltop and @Alfred !

I hadn't thought to search outside the forum to find things inside this forum, but it actually works; and so much better than what we have here.

Yes, it's an extra step, but it ultimately saves the time and frustration of repeatedly trying to second guess what the forum's search engine might respond to each time...

 

Affinity Designer & Photo  :  Win 10

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Roger C said:

So the clunky and sub-optimal Search facility on this forum is a feature the website provider itself struggles with!

I didn't have the impression that the Invision staff posting in that thread were having problems; just the Invision community members. Matt (the staff member) was primarily explaining the search options that the users were not using, or not using properly.

-- 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

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Guidelines | We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.