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Affinity offers 90-day free trial/50% discount on all software

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Deozaan:
I've just never used those strokes
-wraith808 (May 20, 2020, 07:59 PM)
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I probably wouldn't have either, but the book told me about them so I decided to try them out.  ;D

And actually I just opened it up and see that it's on v1.8.x now (I had problems previously with versions 1.7.x and 1.6.x). It seems a lot better in this version. It still gets a little sluggish as I continue to draw a curve, but if I draw for about 10 seconds it takes maybe only an additional 5-10 seconds to finish rendering, as opposed to the 4 minutes it used to.

wraith808:
Oh yeah... mine was nowhere near that sluggish.  I'm on 1.8.3

rjbull:
Definitely make use of the 90-day trial before you buy, as you may be unhappy with the results.
-Deozaan (May 20, 2020, 05:41 PM)
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All too true.  I've been bitten several times myself, and I'm struggling with Affinity Publisher.  I think there are several reasons:

* I haven't ever done desktop publishing before, and barely understand what the program is trying to do.
* It's a big complicated program, so there's a steep learning curve anyway.
* Too much if it is hair-trigger; too easy to change things inadvertently.
* I suspect its Mac heritage might be causing difficulties for anyone used to Windows. UK magazine 'ComputerActive!' thought Affinity Photo ran better on a Mac than a PC.
* I'm using a laptop.  It's probably better on a big monitor.  Some of the dropdown icons are tiny.
* I suspect I might have run into a bug...
noticed some bugs and issues, including a serious performance issue. Then I posted on their forums to report the bugs or otherwise get support, and. . . nothing.-Deozaan (May 20, 2020, 05:41 PM)
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I've only posted once, and received a couple of helpful replies from experienced users rather than Serif.  I haven't posted about what I think might be a bug yet, until I get a handle on it.

I bought the Affinity Designer Workbook. When it arrived, I opened it up and started reading through it so I could learn how to use the software. A within the first ~15 pages or so, still within the introductory chapter which explains the UI and basic tools, I noticed a few discrepancies between what the book showed me and what the software showed me.-Deozaan (May 20, 2020, 05:41 PM)
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This is annoying, but the book is always going to be behind the software ("Documentation - the worst part of programming").  The books seem to me very expensive.  If they want people to use, and evangelise for, the software, maybe Serif should make the books freely available as a PDF or something.  They would be easier to keep up to date in a purely electronic format.

So far, getting Publisher to do what I wanted has been a nightmare, but bear in mind the issues I mention above.  At the moment, I feel like I never want to go through this again, but I assume it's much better than I give it credit for ("can't be much worse") and the pain is  mostly because of my own ignorance.  Even so, the learning curve is far too steep.

wraith808:
If you have questions on Publisher, start a thread and I'll chime in if I can help.  My designs are rather simplistic, so not sure of my depth of knowledge.  But I can try.

Deozaan:
This is annoying, but the book is always going to be behind the software ("Documentation - the worst part of programming").  The books seem to me very expensive.  If they want people to use, and evangelise for, the software, maybe Serif should make the books freely available as a PDF or something.  They would be easier to keep up to date in a purely electronic format.
-rjbull (May 21, 2020, 05:49 PM)
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Agreed. The book is fairly spendy, plus you have to pay extra for shipping since it's a big hardcover book. I think I asked on Twitter if the book came in digital format so I could avoid the (relatively small) extra cost of shipping. And I also hoped that maybe, as you suggested, it would be more likely to be or kept up to date. They told me they only sold it in dead-tree format. :(

I bought it, on sale, but of course the shipping costs weren't discounted, which brought the total cost back up closer to the non-sale price.

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