May 2006 - Inkscape Devel - Inkscape Mailman

New Preferences dialog is sweet.
by Alan Horkan 05 May '06

05 May '06

New Preferences dialog is sweet. It has been a while since I tried out Inkscape and I've filed a few requests already today but I'm thoroughly impressed by the new Preferences dialog (notwithstanding my old complaints about having the Inkscape branding directly in the lable and it taking up a valuable shortcut). The layout is clean, the bits which change dynamically are clearly delinated and predicatable and the lables are clear and understandable. This style of dialog has the advantage of room to expand but that requires developers have the discipline to consolidate and rework things so less preferences are needed and the list doesn't get too big. In the broad sense there is really very little wrong with it and I was only able to find a few very minor issues. The first is the use of abbreviations. Abbreviations should be avoided. Misc should be the full word Miscellaneous but ideally someone can figure out a suitable category for these options. The Scrolling section uses the lables pixels and the Steps section uses the lable abbreviation px. Mouse is a nice simple lable but unfortunately there is a good chance users will be using other pointer types such as a pen and tablet device. Much as I hate to reference the user interface of the GNU Image Manipulation Program uses the more generic and techincally correctly category "Input Devices". Maybe the technically incorrect lable is the best option and I should leave well enough alone for this one. Somewhat confusingly the Scrolling category includes options for the mouse wheel scrolling but it also looks like a difficult one to decide. Tools, Shapes, Rectangle (and others) includes a colour widget with abbreviated labels "F" and "S" rather than Fill and Stroke. I wonder if a standard gtk colour widget could be used but there is probably a benefit to using the inkscape colour widgets consistently. Let me know if you think any of the issues I have raised require reports. Overall the Preferences dialog is an excellent piece of work, congratulations. Sincerely Alan Horkan Inkscape http://inkscape.org Abiword http://www.abisource.com Open Clip Art http://OpenClipArt.org Alan's Diary http://advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/

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Updating the po files in svn
by Lucas Vieites 04 May '06

04 May '06

Hi, I see that the decision to start thinking about a 0.44 release is taking shape and in order to save us translators a big hurry in the final days it would be nice to have all the waiting patches related to translation in svn. I am speaking for myself, but I think other translators will agree. My last patch is from 23/04/2006 (#1475120) and from the last svn update I see that there's quite a few changes. I'm afraid that if I do a local intltool-update I could screw up some things (I know 'cause it has happened before ;-) So, pretty please, -- Lucas Vieites Fariña <lucas@...212...> Web: <http://www.asixinformatica.com/users/lucas/> Blog: <http://www.asixinformatica.com/blog/>

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I was wrong to have mentioned SoC at all (was Re: [Inkscape-devel] [SoC] Native OSX GUI ?)
by Ben Fowler 04 May '06

04 May '06

On 04/05/06, Ben Fowler <ben.the.mole@...400...> wrote: > On 04/05/06, Timothée Anglade <timothee.anglade@...1261...> wrote: > > [ big snip ] > > ... Now, I have no insight into how the SoC projects are > assessed, but if one scale is to weight against ideas which ought to > have their implementation under the aegis or auspices of some other > organisation then you might find that adding a Cocoa port to Inkscape > is affected by that. Certainly I would wonder why Google should > be involved if nobody has stepped up to make a start. You ought to ignore that. I had no real idea what I was talking about. See http://www.internet2.edu/~shalunov/writing/soc2005.html which gives good info about what is expected from applicants, and our page http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/SOC_Selection_Criteria . Sorry, Ben

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New win32 gtk2.8 bundle
by Bob Jamison 04 May '06

04 May '06

Hi, all. It has been about a month since we last updated the gtk2.8 win32 library bundle. The last refresh was for adding littlecms, if you recall. The changed libs are minor releases for cairo, glib, and gtk. I think the filechooser bugfix noted in the release notes, by itself, qualifies for an update. The bundle can be found here: http://inkscape.modevia.com/win32libs/gtk28-060502.7z As a reality check, I did a clean build of Inkscape which appears to work fine: http://inkscape.modevia.com/win32/Inkscape0605021530.zip bob

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SVN is broken
by Joshua A. Andler 03 May '06

03 May '06

I verified the following with current svn builds both on Win32 & Linux. 1) Using the Rectangle, Pencil, Bezier, & Selector tools cause crashes 2) In Document Properties, if you change the units for canvas size, the conversion doesn't happen and it zeroes out the values. -Josh

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Inkscape as SVG convertor
by Mike M. Volokhov 03 May '06

03 May '06

Hello, I'm fairly new to Inkscape, but after some usage I've found it as powerful enough vector editor, with which I can cover most of my needs. Thank you for doing good work, folks! One of feature I need is an export to PS/EPS format. Resulting files looks very clean, but how about "quality" of produced PostScript? Any known nitpicks here? And yet another question. Inkscape can be used as standalone SVG converter, but I believe many of supported code doesn't really needed for this only feature. Could you consider, please, splitting out the SVG processing and graphical editing capabilities (or whatever else), if it possible, of course? It would be really nice to have such elegant and powerful SVG renderer, and IMO this can be a good project for upcoming SoC'2006. Thank you. -- Mishka P.S. Or could someone point me to standalone SVG->EPS converter?

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Inkscape 0.44 Status
by Bryce Harrington 02 May '06

02 May '06

Hi All, This weekend I checked in with several of the developers to see how they're progressing on features. Below is the updated status. Of the 24 tasks, 4 have been resolved so far (3 are done, 1 is going to be held until the next release.) I know folks will hammer out more in the next couple weeks, but we'd probably be in a more comfortable position right now if we had 12 resolved (either done or held). Could you review this list and see if I've missed some that are done, or if there are items that can be safely held for the next release? Thanks, Bryce Current Feature Work ICC Preview =========== Jon Cruz is working on this. Plans to have feature to a finished point for the release. * Update Release Notes CMYK support ============ Jon Cruz is working on this. Plans to have feature to a finished point for the release. * Update Release Notes ArtLibre named icon and cursor loading ====================================== Jon Cruz is working on this. Plans to have feature to a finished point for the release. * Update Release Notes Palette editing and per-file color sets ======================================= Jon Cruz is working on this. Plans to have feature to a finished point for the release. * Update Release Notes Tablet Bugs =========== MentalGuy is working on this. Says for the release he wants to get these resolved. Something drops tablet motion events on the floor while the button is held down. This occurs for some tools, but not with others. The bugs are quite annoying but weird. They don't affect all tablet users. 4/29 - Still underway Brush size adjustment on zoom toggle for calligraphic pen ========================================================= MentalGuy is working on this and plans to have it to a finished point for the release. Layer dialog ============ This is an important feature for the release, and on MentalGuy's todo list. However, work has been stuck getting Inkscape::LayerManager to compile due to a subtle detail with sigc::mem_fun(), and it's uncertain if there is sufficient time to unstick it and finish the feature prior to the release. Additional people's help may be needed here. [Beyond the memory issue, are there other aspects to the layer dialog that others could help with, such as UI work or coding helper features or whatever? --bh] * Update Release Notes 4/29 - Still under way Fit Canvas to Selection - DONE ======================= This is a feature ACSpike has been working on, and plans to complete for the release. The patch is here: http://www.ekips.org/comp/inkscape/inx/current.diff ODG Format Support ================== Ishmal is working on this currently. Help is needed from someone who knows inkscape gradients, such as mental or bulia. He needs to know how to read gradient info from an SPGradient object. DOM Support =========== Ishmal has been working on this. The newest code is all imported and builds. [Is there anything else needing to be done prior to release?] SIOX Support ============ Ishmal has this over half done. The code is all imported and building, and the selection mechanism is now done. Getting Inkscape and SIOX intercommunication working, but this can be built as a filter to potrace, which simplifies things. The transformation issues reported previously have been sorted out, using a "confidence matrix". Extensions ========== Ted is focusing on cleaning up extension parameters and felt he'd have this wrapped up by the end of the month. The plan is to have longer text (tool tips) available, and a few more widgets. More spacing in the autogui will be added to make it look nicer. * Ted reports there is an unverified bug in the ordering of the effects in the menu, to be investigated. The Extension Editor is further off, and not being planned for this release. 5/1 - Ted reports the feature is not yet working, but feels it shouldn't be a problem to get it fixed in the next couple weeks. Snapping ======== Ralf is coming up to speed on this issue. Hopefully Carl can also shed light on things. On 4/26 Carl said he hopes to have a look at it over the coming week. * Need to fix the freeze when dragging multiple selected objects: http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1429049&group_id=9… * Update Release Notes Rendering Performance Speedup - DONE ============================= Andrius has a very interesting rendering speedup patch. The feature is complete and accepted for the release. There is one known issue to address with scrolling, but Andrius feels this can be fixed. 4/30 - Andrius reports this is now done, and no other issues are known. Screenshots =========== Scislac has taken this task on, and plans to have it done for the release. Two screenshots are done currently, and one more is in the works. There will be a call for more screenshots on the Deviant Art site. Tutorials ========= Calligraphy is mostly done, and a few of the other updates to the other tutorials have been drafted but that stuff definitely needs more work. Should be possible to have them done by the end of April. Man page should be current. Bulia will update keys.xml shortly. Note: The sooner these can be finalized, the sooner translators can get going on them. Calligraphic interface tweak ============================ Bulia is working on this change requested by MentalGuy, and feels they are minor and should have no trouble completing for the release. Windows font handling bugfixes - DONE ============================== Richard (cyreve) has completed these bug fixes and updated the release notes. * Update ReleaseNotes Python Extensions on Windows ============================ !!! No owner has been identified for this task !!! Bulia reports that extensions that rely on PyXML still do not work on Windows. Due to the number of python extensions, this would be a major missing feature for Windows users. Text/Fonts UI ============= deadchip (aka Milosz Derezynski <internalerror at gmail dot com>) has written a font lister Gtkmm class, to enable re-use of the font list. He is planning to write a font picker dialog, and rewrite the current font picker to use the font _listing_ class. This enables using normal Gtk components (ListStore, etc.) for accessing the font info. He plans to have this work done by May 1st, or May 15th at the latest. Windows "dialogs on top" Patch for GTK ====================================== !!! No owner has been identified for this task !!! This is not exactly an Inkscape-specific problem, since the code changes wouldn't be to Inkscape, but it would be nice to have it finally fixed. This 0.44 release effort may be a good vehicle to tie it to, but we won't hold up the release if it doesn't get done. Scislac had contacted the author previously. * Send a reminder email to the author to find status on this Undo/Redo Dialog - HOLD ================ Gustav Broberg (broberg at kth dot se) is planning to try to get the changes Mental suggested prior to the Feature Freeze. We have a patch for this. Also needed is undo annotations. 4/30 - Gustav reports that due to more changes required than expected, this feature will be postponed until the next release. New File Chooser in Export ========================== We have a patch for this, but there were some thoughts of embedding it in the export dialog directly. In the spirit of "patch first, discuss later", the best approach may be to stick in the current patch for 0.44, see what folks think, and do the embedding later. Additional Release Tasks ======================== The following tasks will need to be done for the release, but are not required to be done prior to the Feature Freeze: * Identify the list of must-fix bugs. To keep the freeze phase from dragging out, we will need to be very choosy in what we allow to be must-fix bugs. * Set up a ReleaseChecklist wiki page or similar to keep track of The List. * Designate 2 release maintainers. * Keep and update the above list and encourage people to achieve completion of the items. * Notify translators to complete translation work * Wiki updates + Update Roadmap + Review/Update FAQ + Update InkscapeFeatures * PR / marketing efforts + Plan efforts + Draft press release + Finalize press release + Send out press release [rejon] * Packaging

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Re: [Inkscape-devel] path effect grammar
by unknown＠example.com 02 May '06

02 May '06

On Tue, 2 May 2006, MenTaLguY wrote: >> Well, atleast for parameters, the names aren't valid if the extension >> isn't specified as the names could repeat for various different >> extensions. I don't really want to repeat the extension ID within each >> parameter name... > > Ah, wait. This is for the extension description file, isn't it? > > If so, never mind. Well, no, it would be in the <defs> section of the SVG. I'm thinking something like this: <svg:defs> <inkscape:patheffect id="patheffect1" extension="org.inkscape.a"> <inkscape:extension-param name="foo" val="5" /> <inkscape:extension-param name="bar" val="10" /> </inkscape:patheffect> </svg:defs> The problem I see is that the "name" in the parameter really only has meaning when associated with the extension "org.inkscape.a". So if that would change to some sort of reference, then the parameters really don't have meaning. --Ted

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Re: [Inkscape-devel] path effect grammar
by unknown＠example.com 02 May '06

02 May '06

On Tue, 2 May 2006, MenTaLguY wrote: > On Mon, 01 May 2006 21:56:07 -0700, Ted Gould <ted@...11...> wrote: >> <inkscape:extension-params extension="org.inkscape.a" /> >> >> says this is very Inkscape specific, don't touch, as much as: >> >> <inkscape:extension-params >> extension="x-inkscape-extension:org.inkscape.a" /> > > The idea behind using URIs is that that it would permit us, later, > to have things like e.g. extension="#blah" (perhaps refering to an > extension "pipeline" defined in the document). Well, atleast for parameters, the names aren't valid if the extension isn't specified as the names could repeat for various different extensions. I don't really want to repeat the extension ID within each parameter name... I'm not against doing this, I just want to understand it, if you still think it is important gzip will take care of the repetition in the text :) --Ted

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Call for Screenshots
by Joshua A. Andler 02 May '06

02 May '06

Better late than never. ;) We have posted the information regarding the call for screenshots over at deviantART (dA). Please read the journal post on the right side of the page. The URL is http://inkscapers.deviantart.com/ It is not required for you to join dA to submit a screenshot. If you aren't a dA member, please feel free to reply to this message on the user-list with a URL for your screenshot. For those who are unfamiliar with dA, it is the largest art community on the web. They have over 21 million pieces of art of all varieties from artists around the globe. The art types are anything from poetry, fractals, vector, 3d, photography, etc (there are many categories with many more sub-categories). You can find out more by visiting the site at http://www.deviantart.com and their summary of what dA is at http://help.deviantart.com/117/ If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at scislacATgmailDOTcom or through dA. -Josh

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