Publish Online - repeated issues and lack of certainty with platform

[Nigey-LTA]

Don't know if this is the right place, but Publish Online service is variable. Continued messing with the interface and uncertainty about what Adobe's going to do next means that I now will have to purchase Ajar In5 and also rent some server space to host my html docs, because of the problems I've had with Publish Online interface (continual messing by adobe) and also comments from some of Adobe Community forum members that say it's foolhardy to rely on Adobe to continue supporting Publish Online because it's 'free' and that they're more bothered about shareholders than what us guys need.
Unfortunately, this means that rather than having Illustrator and Photoshop under my subscription also, I will drop these to save money, which I can then spend on Ajar In5 plugin and server space. A great pity because I would have preferred the simplicity of using just adobe's online doc service - even if there was a charge - don't really want any more complexity because I'm running a business, time's money!

As someone who's run magazines and used Indesign for many years, then ceased print/magazine production, and now using Indesign for web apps, I'd say that the software generally is superb, but Adobe need to focus on what their clients request, not what Adobe thinks we might need.  I really would have loved to just used Publish Online because it's so simple and fast to create documents that way, but there you go.  Adobe really need to tell us whether Publish Online is here to stay, or whether they may discontinue in future.

[Derek Cross]

Some might say that if you can't afford around $50 a month for a subscription to key publishing software which includes InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Premiere Pro and more, you might be in the wrong business (with apologies).

Regarding your question about the future of Adobe’s Publish Online (which you’ve already asked in another thread you posted earlier about the subject), a number of very experienced InDesign professionals have already advised you, in their opinions, against building a business using this facility.

[Nigey-LTA]

Thanks for that Derek,

Am building a business from scratch with few clients at moment, so being very careful about spend. I've got Affinity Designer and Photo already which do what I need, so makes sense to cease these for moment and spend on server and In5.

However, the reality is that earlier when I started using Publish Online it delivered files incredibly quickly and was for me the dream solution, because I want to spend the least amount of time with packaging up HTML and fonts, etc, and putting onto server, all extra time cost. However, understand and appreciate what the pros have told me, but great pity, because Publish Online solution was my dream solution until now, was just so easy and effective.

[Derek Cross]

AFAIK Publish Online hasn't changed (for better or worse), so why not use it to build up your small business and when the business is hopefully larger and more financially secure perhaps you can move your clients on to a more controllable platform.

But be aware, you should really be using a responsive solution nowadays - have a look at Webflow.