Readers’ Tips
Handy hints and tips from your fellow readers
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TIP OF THE FORTNIGHT
Set Affinity’s panels to make image editing easier
How could I resist your offer to switch from GIMP to Affinity (Issue 726, page 35, www.snipca. com/57259)? The former is a bloated mess; the latter sounded great – and so it has proven. It has to be the best new free program for years.
But I think you’ve not fully stressed how easy it is to add panels to Affinity. Some of these appear as boxes you can easily move around the screen, while others appear in the right-hand menu.
When you launch Affinity click the small down arrow at the top right ( 1 in our screenshot) then ‘Panels’. Turn on the slider next to each action you think you’ll carry out often. In my example I’ve turned on Brushes 2 which appears on the right 3 , and Export Layers 4 which appears as a moveable box 5 .
Des Fowler
Des wins a copy of our 2025 Back Issue CD
Buy it from us at
www.snipca.com/57526
SOFTWARE
Add albums to iPod without iTunes
In your answer to David Duncan’s question (‘How can I play music on my old iPod?’, Issue 725, page 68) you suggested downloading an older version of iTunes (10.6.3) from www.snipca. com/56921. I still use a sixth-generation iPod but for various reasons I don’t want to sync it with iTunes. This year I discovered the free CopyTrans Manager program (www.snipca.com/57480, pictured left), and it has allowed me to add additional albums to my iPod without the need for iTunes.