December 2007 - Inkscape Devel

Call for Freeze Exceptions
by Bryce Harrington 30 Dec '07

30 Dec '07

Hi all, Tomorrow we're going to be progressing to the next phase of the release, but beforehand I want to check if anyone is doing feature development work and wish for a freeze exception. This isn't necessary for bug fixing work - if you're just doing bugs, please keep on trucking. Also, this is not for *new* features - if you are starting on any new ideas (even if they're just enhancements to existing features), PLEASE do this work on a branch, or locally; do not commit them to SVN head. So, if you're working on a feature, can you please tell me at this time? Also please report: * Current status * Anticipated date of completion * Issues that must be solved before release I'll assemble these exception requests into a list, so as people watch the SVN traffic and see changes that are not merely bug fixes, they can use the list to see if the changes are acceptable. If you're not on the list, your changes will risk being backed out. I don't anticipate rejecting any exception requests, although if the anticipated date is too far out, or the list of issues is lengthy, we may need to pow wow on how we can put additional focus on getting the thing ready in time. Bryce

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NEW: cross-platform print dialog
by Kees Cook 30 Dec '07

30 Dec '07

Using the Cairo renderer that was written for PDF and PS export, I've hooked up the GTK print dialog system. This provides Inkscape with a cross-platform printing dialog (finally). In the past, we have had two methods of printing: vector and bitmap (for things that don't render correctly in PS). In the new print dialog, the "Rendering" tab exists to control this. In "Cairo" mode, it uses the Cairo renderer, and in "bitmap" mode it uses the PNG export code to populate a Cairo surface. The bulk of the new code is in: src/ui/widgets/rendering-options.* src/ui/dialog/print.* src/print.cpp There is some strange behavior in bitmap mode (offset from origin) that I haven't narrowed down yet. -- Kees Cook @outflux.net

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Oversized dUI elements on Ubuntu
by Michael Grosberg 30 Dec '07

30 Dec '07

Since I've been working on Ubuntu lately I noticed that all the icons have excessive sizes on this system. It seems the toolbars, which AFAIK were desiged to used 16X16 icons, actually use 24X24 icons instead (obviously this is taken from the Ubuntu GTK theme). Also, docked dialogs are extremely wide. I'm using a 1280X1024 resolution desktop, and the dialogs still take up almost a third of the width of the screen. they are on the largish side on Windows as well, but not as large as on Ubuntu. This is a problem, usability-wise. It leaves very little space for actual work, and unless you work on almost full screen, you usually won't even see all the icons on the toolbar because the last ones on the right are clipped. Is it possible to somehow make inkscape ignore the current global gtk theme and use its own icon and widget sizes?

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Absence notification
by Maximilian Albert 29 Dec '07

29 Dec '07

Hi all, just wanted to leave a note that I'll be away for a week and won't have internet access so anything requiring my interaction will have to wait until I'm back. There are still a couple of things to do - most notably, updating the Release Notes (sorry that I haven't got around to it yet) and making the toolbar for the 3D box tool functional (currently only the shortcuts work), apart from a few other odds and ends. I'll do this as soon as I'm back. Best wishes and a Happy New Year to all in advance! Max

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Path Effects shortcut mixed with Division (Shift+Ctrl+7)
by unknown＠example.com 28 Dec '07

28 Dec '07

>From bug #178738: "Opening it from the menu Path > Path Effects works fine but when I hit Shift+Ctrl+7 the only thing I get is a note in statusbar: Select at least 2 paths to perform a boolean operation. If I have 2 paths selected and they overlap I get Division (Ctrl+/) if I hit Shift+Ctrl+7 I guess this is a regional keyboard problem, cos my / is above number 7" To fix this probably we should come up with another key than the 7/ampersand for the LPE's. I do not know all keyboard layouts that apparently exist. :-( Regards, Johan

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Re: [Inkscape-devel] Tango icon theme take 3
by joel＠...1709... 28 Dec '07

28 Dec '07

Hmm....this is proving quite difficult! How are we going to get a conensus? It seems like the group is pretty evenly divided between those who (like me) love the new icons, and those who hate them. Really I agree with the points Bryce made yesterday. He talked about consistency across the free desktop, and consistentcy with host desktops. But if you look at this screenshot I made yesterday: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/11076114/C%3A%5CDocuments%20and%20Settings%5C…, I'd go one step further: We need tango, because it makes inkscape consistent with itself. Notice that now the standard GTK Icons - New, Open, Save, Cut, Copy, Paste are all tango style. I love the consistancy across the top row now. Also, strangely, I actually like the tango theme. I don't understand why so few do. People keep talking about pastel shades in the new theme: http://www.inkscape.org/images/tango_theme.png, but if you look at the old theme - the Rectangle, Elipse, Polygon, Paint Bucket, and Gradient tools each of them looks more pastelly (to my eye) than the new set (I think now perhaps that Rectangle, Elipse, Polygon are a little too vibrant) I wonder how we'll resolve this difference of opinion. Joel ---------------------------------------- From: Dan H <dunno@...1090...> Sent: 28 December 2007 10:11 To: inkscape-devel(a)lists.sourceforge.net Subject: Re: [Inkscape-devel] Tango icon theme take 3 Hello there, I'm going to start with a statement that will give raise to misunderstandings, so please read on before getting too worked-up about it. Here goes: I don't like the Tango icons at all. Uff, I said it. But don't get me wrong: I think it is essential for such a great application as Inkscape to look "modern" and to blend in with the look we see on current desktop computers. To this end I think Michael has done a great job. When I say that I don't like the Tango icons it's probably more to the point to say that I don't like the way desktop aesthetics are headed in general. I abhor the whole "pastelization" tendency and I'm happier with more "stark-looking" icons. Remember Atari TOS? Those were the days. Now for some constructive criticism. Neither have I closely followed the icon discussion so far, nor have I contributed anything to it, so please feel free to flame me for jumping in so late. But I've got one or two points to make. My reference is this image: http://www.inkscape.org/images/tango_theme.png , so I may be completely out of touch with current development. 1. The Circle, Box and Polygon tools look very different on account of their different colors, although they are quite similar in functionality (they all create a "flat", optionally filled shape). Also they don't convey the impression of something "drawn", but they look more like finished, plastic objects. In v. 0.45 the black outline suggested more of a "filled, drawn object" look. A red circle with a set-apart red outline just isn't something one would or could draw with the primitive circle tool. I don't know what the 3D cube is for (my version doesn't have that), but I'd group it apart from the "flat object" category of tools. 2. The double outline in the spiral, pen and pencil line doesn't really make any sense. I know that it probably was added so the icon works on a black background, but I don't know to what extent this requirement should be pampered. 1+2. In combination, I miss the "black outline" and "colored fill" consistency across all drawing tools that the old icons had. 3. The angled pen positions on the old icons looked more dynamic and natural. But then, of course, it doesn't really matter. Icon aesthetics are primarily to get newbies hooked. Once one gets used to a tool, one wouldn't switch to one with better-looking icons unless it offered a substantially better functionality (and in in the case of Inkscape, which one could?). I must admit that it was the intriguing aesthetics of sodipodi that got me onto the SVG train in the first place, and I still remember them as the best-looking set of all. Now if only Inkscape offered workaround-free colored arrowheads and a less extravagant pattern generator tool I'd happily embrace the Tango icons. --D.

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Development packages for OS X (About screen contest)
by jiho 28 Dec '07

28 Dec '07

Hi everyone, Thanks to the help of several people, there are now recent development builds of Inkscape for PowerPC (G4-G5), as well as prebuilt python modules for all machines (ppc and intel) and all python versions currently available on OS X (2.3 - 2.5). These new builds are available on modevia as usual: http://inkscape.modevia.com/macosx-snap/?C=M;O=D Python packages are integrated into the application so drag Inkscape and drop it somewhere on your machine (e.g. in Applications) and everything should "just work". There are two PPC packages (dec24 and 16774) which should work on Tiger and Leopard and one i386 (Intel) package (16834) which, unfortunately, is Leopard-only. These should be still in time for the about screen contest and will provide good testing for the release. Cheers to all those involved in PPC compiling. JiHO --- http://jo.irisson.free.fr/

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Inkscape with ImageMagick effects
by jiho 28 Dec '07

28 Dec '07

Hi all, Sorry if this s a FAQ. Quick question: is there a dedicated configure switch to get ImageMagick based effects in Inkscape? I just get: ImageMagick Magick++: no At the end of configure while I have ImageMagick with the ++ extension. If there's no manual switch what is checked exactly? Thanks in advance. JiHO --- http://jo.irisson.free.fr/

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How to convert Inkscape items to "ordinary" shapes?
by Maximilian Albert 28 Dec '07

28 Dec '07

Hi, what do I need to do when I want to convert an Inkscape-specific SPItem (like star, spiral, etc.) to an ordinary shape? Is it enough to set "sodipodi:type" to NULL? But what if there are any pointers left that refer to the "old" SPObject and expect it to be of the given type? How is that handled within Inkscape? I've encountered functions like ConvertToShape and ConvertToForme but am not quite sure what precisely they do, and furthermore my use case is converting 3D boxes to ordinary groups (while at the same time converting their sides to ordinary paths) so that I guess neither of these exactly fits my needs. Thanks for any hints, Max

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Default Units
by Tony Vigil 28 Dec '07

28 Dec '07

When you set the default units in the Document Properties dialog box, shouldn't the units in the tool controls bar reflect the same default. Currently, the default units in the tool control bar is pixels - and it doesn't reflect a different default unit set in the Document Properties dialog box.

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