On Sat, 1 Jan 2005, Jon Phillips wrote:
Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2005 11:21:29 -0800 From: Jon Phillips <jon@...235...> To: jwar@...629... Cc: horkana@...44..., Peter.Moulder@...38..., inkscape-devel@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: [Inkscape-devel] Re: Inkscape interface
Joshua wrote:
Good day, Jon, Alan and Peter.
Please do try and use the mailing lists, everyone is welcome to make suggestions, no need to be shy.
Attached to this e-mail is just a simple little mock up of an idea for an alternate Inkscape interface.
Links to web pages are usually preferable (but maybe that is just me) in case anyone else is interested I've put the mockup here: http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~horkana/Inkscape-mockup-inteface.png
Since most users like the current interface, there would, of course, be no need to change it.
The developers have made it clear that they are willing to try out new ideas and be flexible if shown a better way of doing things. Change is inevitable (progress is not).
But when I read that, amazingly, future versions of Inkscape will incorporate SVG animation, (!) I thought the interface might need a little adjustment to incorporate future features (like the animation feature, filters, anything else that could be used to display the power of SVG).
I expect animations would need a great big palette to show timelines and suchlike rather than simply a toolbar, it might even be wise to seperate out such functionality into a seperate application possibly by building on InkView.
I really like how Jasc Paint Shop Pro has an Effects browser, combined with a search tool (like in the gimp pdb browser) it would be an excellent way to show off all the available features/effects.
I could be way off with this, but it's just an idea.
No harm in making suggestions.
Great, I've forwarded ths onto the Inkscape mailing list. I think the draggable toolbars that can be repositioned is a good idea.
Good idea. Definately a good idea.
Unfortunately not a good idea for Inkscape.
Most of this needs to be dealt with at the GTK level by providing improvements to the toolbar and menu docking system. The relevant bug report against GTK is a real pain to find (I'd post it if I could remember it) but there are already requests for the kind of functionality that would be needed to allow you to put a toolbar in the same line with the menbar.
Sorry to be so pessimistic, good idea though.
- Alan H.