This is a list of long standing UX issues from RedHat/Gnome/Fedora devs:
* Preferences dialog is the wrong size or doesn't have a minium size & doesn't set to the center of the parent window. * The zoom correction should only effect documents set to physical units. ! Different document modes are needed for different workflows. * Inkscape should be maximised by default
* Shadow/border on document is not settable as the global setting. * The shadow shouldn't be the default. * Default colour for the border should be half gray half transparent * Restarting inkscape to load a new font is not good. * Lots of fonts installed causes inkscape to be slow. * Color outside the page should be a slight shade different * The resize page shouldn't be hidden by default. * Maximise should be the default for inkscape. * "Selection" option means "Whole Selection" in align * The align and distribute relative to should set some defaults depending on the selection. If one item is selected then the default should be to Page and if there are multiples selected then it should be to "Whole Selection" as it is now. * BUG: Where three text items are selected, the align to text-baseline sometimes depending on the item selected, aligns to the wrong item when Last Selected is used. First selected is also effeted. * Gimp's small theme allows more widgets to be displayed on the screen. Maybe some themes for inkscape would be useful. * Never make an object that is transparent and thus not selectable. * Multiple pages
None important issues
* Zoom correction should be specific to a screen.
On 2014-04-04 13:15 +0100, Martin Owens wrote:
This is a list of long standing UX issues from RedHat/Gnome/Fedora devs:
- Preferences dialog is the wrong size or doesn't have a minium size
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/448728 https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/357631
& doesn't set to the center of the parent window.
AFAIU detached (dockable) dialogs store the current pointer position when they are closed, and re-use it as center position of the dialog the next time it is opened.
i.e. if you close by clicking on the 'x' (top right) or the close button of the WM, that position is reused as center for the dialog next time, and thus the dialog will reopen further to the top and to the right (or to the left) the next time (until it reaches an edge of the screen).
To center it, keep the pointer position in the center of the screen, close the dialog with the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+W, the dialog needs to have the focus), and reopen it (e.g. with the keyboard shortcut).
- The zoom correction should only effect documents set to physical units. ! Different document modes are needed for different workflows.
Please file a bug report.
- Inkscape should be maximised by default
Trunk has a new preference setting for default new window size (Small | Large | Maximized), and currently defaults to 'Large' size. https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/830663
Follow-up (regression) https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1190828
Comment: If a majority wants 'Maximized' instead of 'Large' as the new default window size for new documents in 0.91, then Inkscape needs a command line switch which allows to override that setting.
- Shadow/border on document is not settable as the global setting.
No related wishlist reports in the bug tracker ...
Comment: Whether or not one wants to have the page border visualized on-canvas depends on the file and its content, and should not be turned into a global setting (IMvHO).
- The shadow shouldn't be the default.
No related wishlist reports in the bug tracker ...
Comment: To be considered - if the shadow is off by default, many new users won't understand that the visualization of the page border is not a drawing object which can be selected and deleted (this based on the number of user support questions on how to delete that "obscure" rectangle object that is present in every new document).
- Default colour for the border should be half gray half transparent
No similar wishlist reports in the bug tracker ...
- Restarting inkscape to load a new font is not good.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/168960
- Lots of fonts installed causes inkscape to be slow.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/488247
- Color outside the page should be a slight shade different
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/998244
Alternative proposal: https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1174229
- The resize page shouldn't be hidden by default.
The actions have verbs defined - maybe alternatively inkscape should define default shortcut keys (in share/keys/default.xml), and add the two commands in a sub-menu (e.g. of the menu 'Edit') for quicker access.
- Maximise should be the default for inkscape.
See above (option exists in trunk).
Comment: disagree.
- "Selection" option means "Whole Selection" in align
http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~inkscape.dev/inkscape/trunk/revision/13257
- The align and distribute relative to should set some defaults
depending on the selection. If one item is selected then the default should be to Page and if there are multiples selected then it should be to "Whole Selection" as it is now.
This conflicts with storing the selected 'relative to' option across sessions.
To be considered if introducing a 'guess what the user wants to do'-type of mechanism: trunk now has verbs and keyboard shortcuts for individual align commands, but no way to set the 'Relative to:' without opening the dialog. Currently the last used setting is in effect (saved across sessions). If above proposal gets implemented it would be impossible to align multiple object relative to the page with the keyboard shortcuts, without being forced to reopen the dialog to override Inkscape's guess about the user's planned actions.
- BUG: Where three text items are selected, the align to
text-baseline sometimes depending on the item selected, aligns to the wrong item when Last Selected is used. First selected is also effeted.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/167228
- Gimp's small theme allows more widgets to be displayed on the
screen. Maybe some themes for inkscape would be useful.
Related: https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/963576 https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/414372 https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/322806 https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/220652 https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/180302
- Never make an object that is transparent and thus not selectable.
The 'last used style' sometimes picks up '0' opacity (or alpha) unexpectedly (IIRC from gradient stops?), which confuses a lot of (new) users. OTOH there exist use cases to create fully transparent objects - 'never' to me seems a bad solution for an issue which probably could be fixed otherwise (related to how the 'last used style' is picked up).
- Multiple pages
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/170369
None important issues
- Zoom correction should be specific to a screen.
Please file a bug report.
On Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 10:53 AM, su_v <suv-sf@...58...> wrote:
Comment: If a majority wants 'Maximized' instead of 'Large' as the new default window size for new documents in 0.91,
I would vote for setting maximized as the default, provided it works well enough on all platforms.
then Inkscape needs a command line switch which allows to override that setting.
Why? command line is mostly for no-UI, so no-window, functionality.
- Color outside the page should be a slight shade different
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/998244
Alternative proposal: https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1174229
It's not really alternative, they can both be implemented, though I think the first one has a higher priority.
- Never make an object that is transparent and thus not selectable.
The 'last used style' sometimes picks up '0' opacity (or alpha) unexpectedly (IIRC from gradient stops?), which confuses a lot of (new) users. OTOH there exist use cases to create fully transparent objects - 'never' to me seems a bad solution for an issue which probably could be fixed otherwise (related to how the 'last used style' is picked up).
There are plenty of ways to select these - Tab, Outline mode for starters. So I agree, we may think about ways to make shooting oneself in the foot more difficult, but disallowing creation of transparent objects is NOT the way to go.
On 2014-04-16 03:52 +0100, Dmitry Kirsanov wrote:
On Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 10:53 AM, su_v <suv-sf@...58...> wrote:
Comment: If a majority wants 'Maximized' instead of 'Large' as the new default window size for new documents in 0.91,
I would vote for setting maximized as the default, provided it works well enough on all platforms.
Doesn't work well with GTK+/Quartz: https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1302627
There was no related feedback from Windows users after rev 13263 (which switched to 'Maximized' as default setting) - likely not an issue there.
On Wed, 2014-04-16 at 07:06 +0200, su_v wrote:
There was no related feedback from Windows users after rev 13263 (which switched to 'Maximized' as default setting) - likely not an issue there.
Sounds like the Quartz build will need a separate or adjusted settings file to cope with the gtk bugs.
Is this something the build system can do?
Martin,
On 2014-04-16 13:50 +0100, Martin Owens wrote:
On Wed, 2014-04-16 at 07:06 +0200, su_v wrote:
There was no related feedback from Windows users after rev 13263 (which switched to 'Maximized' as default setting) - likely not an issue there.
Sounds like the Quartz build will need a separate or adjusted settings file to cope with the gtk bugs.
Is this something the build system can do?
The default window size if not otherwise specified is 'Large' (value 1): http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~inkscape.dev/inkscape/trunk/view/head:/src/sp-namedview.cpp#L791
A simple solution would be to check the backend and only override internal default in the prefs skeleton if not using GTK+/Quartz:
=== modified file 'src/preferences-skeleton.h' --- src/preferences-skeleton.h 2014-04-04 13:23:06 +0000 +++ src/preferences-skeleton.h 2014-04-16 12:03:35 +0000 @@ -293,7 +293,9 @@ #ifdef WIN32 // FIXME: Temporary Win32 special code to enable transient dialogs " <group id="dialogsontopwin32" value="0"/>\n" #endif +#if !defined(GDK_WINDOWING_QUARTZ) // see lp:1302627 " <group id="defaultwindowsize" value="2" />\n" +#endif " <group id="arenatilescachesize" value="8192"/>\n" " <group id="preservetransform" value="0"/>\n" " <group id="clonecompensation" value="1"/>\n"
On Wed, 2014-04-16 at 14:10 +0200, su_v wrote:
The default window size if not otherwise specified is 'Large' (value 1): http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~inkscape.dev/inkscape/trunk/view/head:/src/sp-namedview.cpp#L791
A simple solution would be to check the backend and only override internal default in the prefs skeleton if not using GTK+/Quartz:
That makes a lot more sense than what I was thinking. I've committed your patch with a bit of extra comment.
Hopefully at some point Mac users will be able to have maximised windows too.
Martin,
On Tue, Apr 15, 2014, at 06:52 PM, Dmitry Kirsanov wrote:
On Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 10:53 AM, su_v <suv-sf@...58...> wrote:
then Inkscape needs a command line switch which allows to override that setting.
Why? command line is mostly for no-UI, so no-window, functionality.
Actually there are a decent number of users out there (myself included) who normally 'live' in a terminal and launch UI programs from the command-line. Even on Windows that has been my go-to mode since MS's UI doesn't usually give me the full control I want.
On Fri, Apr 04, 2014 at 03:53:54PM +0200, su_v wrote:
On 2014-04-04 13:15 +0100, Martin Owens wrote:
This is a list of long standing UX issues from RedHat/Gnome/Fedora devs:
Thanks su_v for looking up existing bug reports for all these issues, and Martin please do follow up by filing bug reports for the other items.
It looks like several of the raised issues regarded the page shadow and default maximization state are things you'd notice as a new user, but probably the last thing you'd mention as an experienced user. So a lot of this list kind of sounds like bikeshed painting... Certainly nice feedback to have, and all stuff we should consider, but maybe not things that necessarily need to be the highest priority.
That said, thanks muchly Martin for capturing the feedback. And please do help make sure we follow up on at least considering all the suggestions.
Bryce
- Preferences dialog is the wrong size or doesn't have a minium size
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/448728 https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/357631
& doesn't set to the center of the parent window.
AFAIU detached (dockable) dialogs store the current pointer position when they are closed, and re-use it as center position of the dialog the next time it is opened.
i.e. if you close by clicking on the 'x' (top right) or the close button of the WM, that position is reused as center for the dialog next time, and thus the dialog will reopen further to the top and to the right (or to the left) the next time (until it reaches an edge of the screen).
To center it, keep the pointer position in the center of the screen, close the dialog with the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+W, the dialog needs to have the focus), and reopen it (e.g. with the keyboard shortcut).
- The zoom correction should only effect documents set to physical units. ! Different document modes are needed for different workflows.
Please file a bug report.
- Inkscape should be maximised by default
Trunk has a new preference setting for default new window size (Small | Large | Maximized), and currently defaults to 'Large' size. https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/830663
Follow-up (regression) https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1190828
Comment: If a majority wants 'Maximized' instead of 'Large' as the new default window size for new documents in 0.91, then Inkscape needs a command line switch which allows to override that setting.
- Shadow/border on document is not settable as the global setting.
No related wishlist reports in the bug tracker ...
Comment: Whether or not one wants to have the page border visualized on-canvas depends on the file and its content, and should not be turned into a global setting (IMvHO).
- The shadow shouldn't be the default.
No related wishlist reports in the bug tracker ...
Comment: To be considered - if the shadow is off by default, many new users won't understand that the visualization of the page border is not a drawing object which can be selected and deleted (this based on the number of user support questions on how to delete that "obscure" rectangle object that is present in every new document).
- Default colour for the border should be half gray half transparent
No similar wishlist reports in the bug tracker ...
- Restarting inkscape to load a new font is not good.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/168960
- Lots of fonts installed causes inkscape to be slow.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/488247
- Color outside the page should be a slight shade different
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/998244
Alternative proposal: https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1174229
- The resize page shouldn't be hidden by default.
The actions have verbs defined - maybe alternatively inkscape should define default shortcut keys (in share/keys/default.xml), and add the two commands in a sub-menu (e.g. of the menu 'Edit') for quicker access.
- Maximise should be the default for inkscape.
See above (option exists in trunk).
Comment: disagree.
- "Selection" option means "Whole Selection" in align
http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~inkscape.dev/inkscape/trunk/revision/13257
- The align and distribute relative to should set some defaults
depending on the selection. If one item is selected then the default should be to Page and if there are multiples selected then it should be to "Whole Selection" as it is now.
This conflicts with storing the selected 'relative to' option across sessions.
To be considered if introducing a 'guess what the user wants to do'-type of mechanism: trunk now has verbs and keyboard shortcuts for individual align commands, but no way to set the 'Relative to:' without opening the dialog. Currently the last used setting is in effect (saved across sessions). If above proposal gets implemented it would be impossible to align multiple object relative to the page with the keyboard shortcuts, without being forced to reopen the dialog to override Inkscape's guess about the user's planned actions.
- BUG: Where three text items are selected, the align to
text-baseline sometimes depending on the item selected, aligns to the wrong item when Last Selected is used. First selected is also effeted.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/167228
- Gimp's small theme allows more widgets to be displayed on the
screen. Maybe some themes for inkscape would be useful.
Related: https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/963576 https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/414372 https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/322806 https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/220652 https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/180302
- Never make an object that is transparent and thus not selectable.
The 'last used style' sometimes picks up '0' opacity (or alpha) unexpectedly (IIRC from gradient stops?), which confuses a lot of (new) users. OTOH there exist use cases to create fully transparent objects - 'never' to me seems a bad solution for an issue which probably could be fixed otherwise (related to how the 'last used style' is picked up).
- Multiple pages
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/170369
None important issues
- Zoom correction should be specific to a screen.
Please file a bug report.
Inkscape-devel mailing list Inkscape-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/inkscape-devel
On 2014-04-16 03:52 +0100, Dmitry Kirsanov wrote:
On Fri, Apr 4, 2014 at 10:53 AM, su_v wrote:
Comment: If a majority wants 'Maximized' instead of 'Large' as the new default window size for new documents in 0.91,
I would vote for setting maximized as the default, provided it works well enough on all platforms.
then Inkscape needs a command line switch which allows to override that setting.
Why? command line is mostly for no-UI, so no-window, functionality.
Using verbs on the command line, extension development, interacting with Inkscape via DBus scripting API, debugging, bug triage - any kind of sitation where one might want to launch inkscape from the command line with default (new) prefs (or just with different window settings), and keep the terminal window (or the text editor) in view, instead of having the maximized window of the default new Inkscape document hide everything else.
Regards, V
P.S. my current workaround (for bug triage) is a shell script wrapper which optionally performs these steps (among others): 1) back up the existing preferences file 2) create new default prefs file from the built-in skeleton (launch & quit inkscape in shell mode) 3) edit the value of the related group (defaultwindowsize) in new prefs file (initially with a sed script, now with xmlstarlet) 4) launch inkscape itself.
participants (5)
-
Bryce Harrington -
Dmitry Kirsanov -
Jon A. Cruz -
Martin Owens -
su_v