February 2007 - Inkscape Devel

Google Summer of Code 2007
by Tobias Jakobs 20 Feb '07

20 Feb '07

Hi, Google is doing it again. Here is the link: http://google-code-updates.blogspot.com/2007/02/speaking-of-summer.html Regards, Tobias

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"Implementing UI Changes"
by Bryce Harrington 20 Feb '07

20 Feb '07

There is definite "method to the madness" for making UI changes, but afaik there hasn't been a definitive location for outlining the general guidelines on UI changes. Perhaps the best place would be in the Inkscape Developer's Manual, so I've started a section here: http://wiki.inkscape.org:8080/wiki/index.php/DeveloperManual#Implementing_U… Please review and add. I don't think we need exhausting details, just explain what the general motivations/principles are that Inkscape UI developers should strive to follow. Bryce

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SCaLE Roundup
by Ted Gould 20 Feb '07

20 Feb '07

Hey all, I thought I'd write up a quick summary of SCaLE, hopefully everyone else who was there can add to (and correct) what I've put here. -- The Booth -- I was a bit concerned that this year we'd just run into the same people as last year. That was definitely not the case. On the most basic level, I'd say that 50% of the people we talked to hadn't heard of Inkscape. We definitely got the word out there. But, I think there were some other notable conversations. - Both of the companies doing network monitoring are interested in doing network maps using SVG. I thought that was pretty cool. They were talking about SVG even before we talked to them. - We got visits from two people from studios in LA. I don't really believe that either will turn into anything, but it was interesting, and probably good to get buzz into that community. Interestingly, one asked if Inkscape was in RHEL 4, and I didn't know. I talked to the Redhat guys, and they built the package right there. There is now Inkscape for RHEL 4 :) - We met the editor of Linux Gazette, and his wife. Apparently she was needing vector illustration to make the move off of Windows. She was trilled to find a way to move to Linux. - We talked with a guy who works at RPI and wants to remove the Adobe CS from their curriculum and replacing it with Open Source tools. Apparently they don't really teach the tools, as much as they use them to teach about work flow. So each student has to buy the full suite for a minor amount of functionality overall. He's working to change that. - Linux.com stopped by. Their overview was pretty flattering, and now is on the Inkscape site. He asked if I'd do an interview, and I didn't realize it was going to be video. You can now watch me stumble over my words trying to say something insightful. - I did an interview with the booth next to us (everyone else was scared). They hired a 'booth babe' to make a video asking stupid questions of conference attendees. It was cute. But I have to harass John Tabor for giving me misinformation about the whole thing :) -- The BOF -- We had the bird of a feather which went very well. We were a bit shocked that they didn't leave the projector in the room, so Josh wasn't able to show all the artwork he collected from folks to show off Inkscape. John showed a little bit of mapping stuff as we had a good group of people huddling around his laptop. There were several people who just wanted to know more about Inkscape, but there were some experienced users also. In particular, there was a guy from Ticketmaster that uses Inkscape to prototype websites. Overall, it was a good crowd and discussion, and we could have definitely gone longer than the hour we were allotted. -- The Talk -- I gave a talk about Inkscape Extensions, with the goal of inspiring new developers to jump on board. I was really worried that it was going to go long, but I was actually about 10 minutes short. They said that it was going to be recorded, but it was not. Josh has some video, but the audio isn't good. Hopefully some post processing will help. For those who want to flip through the slides, they are here: http://gould.cx/ted/presentations/scale5x/ Overall, I think we did pretty good. It's always fun to get together with Inkscapers and hang out. Even promoting Inkscape some. Thanks go to everyone who helped out: Jon, John, Josh, Erin and Hillery. --Ted

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I'm back... and whitespace
by Jon A. Cruz 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

Whew. After a not-too-fun delay, I'm finally back. I got a dev environment going based on Darwinports too, so I'm finally on GTK+ 2.10.7 instead of the 2.6 that Fink had stalled at. And for my first large commit, I fixed some DOS line-ends that had come around when I wasn't looking. I just wanted to point that out in case someone had been working in one of those files and gets some conflicts.

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Cairo PDF
by Aaron Spike 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

I just looked through the last two months of the Cairo Mailing list. I found it encouraging that even though we don't have any Inkscape advocates working explicitly on perfecting Cairo's PDF output, they continue to move along and make advances. When we get around to fixing the gradient rasterization issue, I think it will feel really nice to a continuous (no matter how gradual) stream of PDF enhancements for free. Just a little extra encouragement, if anyone has the desire to look into this. As far as I know Miklós' patches are still waiting for some polish work: http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/cairo/2007-January/009075.html http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/cairo/2007-January/009080.html Aaron Spike

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The Script Window
by Aurélio A. Heckert 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

Hi, I do not find anything about the "script window" of the Inkscape. I only know that i need to comple with "--with-python" and/or "--with-perl". How can i use this? An script hire can access the inkscape features? An internal API like: Inkscape::pathsUnion( $id1, $id2 ); Inkscape::pathsIntersection( $id1, $id2 ); Something like that? Thank you, Aurium -- -===================================================- . . Aurélio A. Heckert [ GNU/Linux ] / \ http://www.aurium.cjb.net ((__-^^-,-^^-__)) `-_---" "---_-´ Web Colaborativa: `--|o` ´o|--´ http://www.TWiki.org \ ' / Projeto Software Livre - Bahia: ): :( http://psl-ba.softwarelivre.org (o_o) Coop. de Tecnologias Livres: "-" http://www.colibre.com.br ------------------------------------------------- GNU/Linux User #312507 http://counter.li.org - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ( ( ( http://www.midiaindependente.org ) ) ) -===================================================- "Se conhecimento é poder, que país governado por industriais dará a verdadeira educação? Cuidado com o feedback da miséria!" Tet Ramon "Eu temo pela minha espécie quando penso que Deus é justo." Thomas Jefferson

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Re: [Inkscape-devel] Google Summer of Code 2007
by Joshua Facemyer / Impressus Art 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

>> I think it would be majorly cooler to have right click "edit in gimp" >> and use Verse for realtime updates in inkscape. But since that hasn't >> caught on, I think we should push for integrating gegl rather than >> imagemagick. gegl might be able to offer us things like rendering for >> svg filters and such too. >> > > I'd say edit in Gimp and suck in changes live (Verse or just file > system) would be very good. Not trying to make Inkscape "do" bitmap > manipulation is good, but so is making the workflow better. > If I can add my 2 bits as a graphic designer, I think this functionality would make Inkscape not only a Killer App (TM), but also part of a Killer Suite (TM). I know there has always been talk of putting together a suite from Inkscape, Gimp and Scribus, but this might be a great start. I agree that it would make the workflow better, and you wouldn't have to worry about trying to implement that which is already implemented in a much broader way in the Gimp - thus, there would be more bitmap-editing functionality. One really cool thing about it, I think, would be the ability to edit embedded bitmaps without having to be concerned with separate files. That would save so much time and effort!

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NEW: style swatches and labels
by bulia byak 19 Feb '07

19 Feb '07

* The somewhat cryptic "F:" and "S:" labels in the selected style indicator (at the left end of the statusbar) and in tool's style swatches are now spelled out as Fill: and Stroke:. We believe this makes the interface, even if less space-efficient, a bit more friendly for newbies. [[Note that I'm still not completely sold on this idea, but decided to try it out. Please voice your opinions.]] * The style swatches at the right end of object-creating tools' control bars now open the Preferences page of the corresponding tool when clicked. Also, now these swatches display a tooltip explaining its purpose (e.g. "Style of new rectangles", "Style of new calligraphic strokes", etc.) -- bulia byak Inkscape. Draw Freely. http://www.inkscape.org

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NEW: grouping a single object
by bulia byak 18 Feb '07

18 Feb '07

In previous versions, Inkscape didn't allow you to group a single object. Yet in some cases, this operation is useful (for example, to blur the clipped edged of an object). So now this limitation is removed. Let me know if you find any problem with this. The only "problem" I'm aware of is that now, if you press and hold Ctrl+G, you will end up with a very deeply grouped object :) -- bulia byak Inkscape. Draw Freely. http://www.inkscape.org

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Re: [Inkscape-devel] NEW: style swatches and labels
by Vladimir Savic 18 Feb '07

18 Feb '07

On Friday 16 February 2007 17:08:42 Emanuele Aina wrote: > Vladimir Savic suggerì: > >> You can just middle-click the swatch to remove fill/stroke. > > > > Hmmm.... I've been using this great app since .40 version, but have never > > thought it is possible acheiving it this way?! Great for this feature > > exists, but I really think it would be much more obvious doing color > > discarding like I've described. Just my thoughts. Corel does it in > > similar fashion, but somehow different, Illustrator isn't worth > > mentioning at this particular topic. As of Freehand, I have no clue > > what's their way of dealing with it. > > Oh, I' didn't know of the middle-click behavior too. :) > > Maybe we can add a pseudo-color which removes the fill/stroke if dragged > on the style indicator? > > Corel used to do so and used a blank swatch with a black X drawn inside. Please read further discussion on this topic. There are interesting new facts mentioned. Vlada

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