On Fri, 2004-07-23 at 23:46, Jon Phillips wrote:
JC (JonCruz) and I on the chat channel discussed some possibilities like the ability to make layers have different constraints, such as one layer could be an SVG-Tiny layer, another could be SVG-Tiny, but the profile for some other device, and another could be for full SVG. This way, we could support the multiple platforms support of SVG-Tiny and also deal novely with implementation of a tech. that is going to scale up in terms of popularity and corporate sponsorship -- SVG used on the phone!
I think this is something that we should look into. If Macromedia is thinking that SVG Tiny is important enough to invest resources in, it probably isn't a flash in the pan. I think it is definitely a good idea for the cell phone folks.
Anyway, I'm not sure if a separate layer is the best way to go though. I don't know if artists will be disappointed with this. Remember, then to support the different formats, someone will have to redraw everything to fit all the different profiles of SVG they want to support. Which, in turn, requires them to know what these elements are, and to notice them in the document. Both are non trivial.
So, I think that we're going to have to be smarter (which unfortunately means more work for us).
I think one of the key issues will be disabling features. While today, we don't have many features that go beyond some of the profiles, in the future we are likely too. I think we'll need to have some way to identify those features, and that is something we should do sooner rather than later.
So, what I was thinking, is putting a 'mask' on the verbs that would say where this verb is supported. So something like:
{SP_VERB_FILE_QUIT, "FileQuit", N_("_Quit"), N_("Quit Inkscape"), GTK_STOCK_QUIT, INKSCAPE_BASIC_FEATURE}, {SP_VERB_EDIT_TILE, "EditTile", N_("_Tile"), N_("Convert selection to a rectangle with tiled pattern fill"), NULL, INKSCAPE_SVG_FULL | INKSCAPE_SVG_BASIC},
So, then at some point, we could put in code to de-activate features which are unavailable in the selected profile. Ofcourse, we'd have to move more things like gradients to being verbs, but I think that was kinda the plan anyways.
Thoughts? Piggy back ideas?
--Ted