Stathis Sideris wrote:
I would like to express my opposition to the idea of removing the gradient editor completely. In my opinion, it should be kept and enhanced to allow the easier editing and previewing of complex gradients with emphasis on transparency. This is particularly important when working with multiple overlaid gradients which are useful for photorealism. The on-canvas gradient editing is great, but I think as a GUI it fails to address complex situations and it lacks transparency-related functionality. A while ago, I proposed a design for the gradient dialog, hoping that someone would like it enough to implement it (see attachments for a reminder of my proposed design).
It does have transparency related functionality... when you have a gradient stop selected on-canvas you use the same Opacity spinbutton in the statusbar (the same one that you use for objects/selection). I can agree that in some complex situations an editor could still be beneficial.
If you agree to keep the dialog, I'm volunteering to implement my proposed enhancements. I am going to need some help before I can start doing this though, I'm completely unfamiliar with the inkscape codebase, so I will probably need some hand-holding initially. The benefit is that hopefully the community will have gained another contributor :-)
I think it's hard to turn down a new contributor. I do know that for this to even be considered you would have to not only be willing to do your coding, but also be willing to maintain it. In addition to that, know that people will probably have a number of suggestions or requirements as well.
And Mental just chimed in with some thoughts I had too... with our docking dialogs, the upper portion of the dialog that is the real guts of your idea rocks, but some of the old parts are outdated and will be redundant.
-Josh