On Mon, 3 Jan 2005, Alexandre Prokoudine wrote:
Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2005 13:07:25 +0300 From: Alexandre Prokoudine <alexandre.prokoudine@...400...> To: Inkscape ML inkscape-devel@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: [Inkscape-devel] Save as.../Export etc.
Hi,
Bryce told me that some dialogs need redesigning and "Export to bitmap" is one of them. After some serious thinking I came to conclusion that redesigning "Export to bitmap" is not enough.
Depends on how you define redesign but I think it is a prime candidate for a complete overhaul.
Users clearly find the current Export Palette relatively useful when they wish to export the current SVG (or parts of it) as many seperate files, that it is currently implemented as Palette and allows you to increment the file name and tweak lots of settings I think helps confirm that this is what is really being used for.
If a developer like yourself is enthusiasitc about a serious overhaul I think it would be worthwhile to step back and to try and idenify the larget problem, which you have made a good start on. I think the usage descriptions indicates that a batch export tool of Raster graphics is what is what users want (i cannot think of a better comparison than Adobe Photoshops "Save for Web" which doesn't really adequetely describe what I'm getting at or Image Ready with its slice tools which would be useful but actaully quite different). It would be more straighforward to keep any such tool seperate from the simple task of a once-off or occasional export you describe in your first use case which could more easily be taken care of with a standard file chooser, and the complicated batch saving dealt with elsewhere.
I think that being able to export each layer as a seperate file or alternatively each top level group or something like that would be the way to automate the whole process. Inkscape already internally has a methode for doing something like this where it 'exports' each SVG icon from a collection of many icons all in single file.
- Move current "Export to bitmap" dialog to a new dialog "PNG export
settings" which will appear, if a user chooses PNG as export format. Adding export settings to other file formats will be easier then.
Guys at Novell have good points in their DesignWiki (http://primates.ximian.com/~glesage/wiki/doku.php?id=gimp:png_export). I really like their idea, so I suggest:
Interesting but I've always preferred having a single option button on the File Chooser that takes you to the Import/Export section of the preferences dialog (which is how Paint Shop Pro did it, if I recall correctly).
- Add "Fast export" (or "Save for Web") menu item to save a PNG to
the same directory, where the sketch is, or to a "fast export" directory specified in Inkscape's preferences. It will make decision on saving region from the selection context:
- export the whole page, if nothing is selected;
- export current selection, whatever is selected.
I guess we can agree on the general idea that something like this is needed but I'm sure that if you reduce the functionality or make it any less easy to export parts of the image as seperate files that users will get annoyed.
Honestly, I don't remember myself ever saving a "special" region -- only current selection or the whole page. If I want something to be absent in exported bitmap, I either don't select or move it away out of the page.
imagine a situation when a designer needs to export "slices" from his design.
I really hope that this proposal makes some sense to you :)
There is definately scope for looking at what the user really wants to get done and overhauling the current setup to make that easier, rather than fiddling around with current bitmap export trying to get it to be good in two quite different ways.
Sincerely
Alan Horkan
Inkscape, Draw Freely http://inkscape.org Abiword is Awesome http://abisource.com