January 2007 - Inkscape Users

Baffling UI
by Olivier Lefevre 11 Feb '07

11 Feb '07

I've been trying to use Inkscape but its UI seems designed to foil attempts. Specifically when I select the rectangle drawing tool and create a shape by dragging I get one width a dashed contour that vanishes as soon as I click anywhere on the pane. There does not seem to be any way to make it stick and thus to actually get a rectangle. How dumb is that? If you need assistance just to draw a rectangle, never mind more advanced operation, something's really wrong with the UI. Likewise the need to use a CTRL modifier for the arrow keys to work runs counter to th expectations developed in users by every other software I can think of and is inconvenient to boot. -- O.L.

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PDF -> pstoedit -> SVG -> Inkscape scaling problem
by Phil Rhoades 09 Feb '07

09 Feb '07

People, I quite frequently need to convert PDFs into something convenient to edit and SVG + Inkscape is the obvious choice. I use pstoedit with either the plot-svg output or the shareware svg output but in either case the output of converting a US letter file seems to be scaled down to 80% when opened in Inkscape. Of course the page can be dragged up to the correct size again but it would be better not to have to do this. >From the pstoedit developer: "I did some investigations and it looks like this scaling issue is caused by different interpretations of the numbers in the SVG file. Somewhere I read that Inkscape has an internal factor of 0.8 "Inkscape pixels" per "Point". I have not found out yet, what pstoedit could generate so inkscape interpretes the numbers as Points (except maybe adding a pt to every coordinate - but that would blow up the SVG file a lot). Is there anyone who can shed some light on this? Thanks, Phil. -- Philip Rhoades Pricom Pty Limited (ACN 003 252 275 ABN 91 003 252 275) GPO Box 3411 Sydney NSW 2001 Australia Fax: +61:(0)2-8221-9599 E-mail: phil@...2067...

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About Screen in 0.45pre1
by Axiom X11 05 Feb '07

05 Feb '07

I am running the prerelease from yesterday, and it looks pretty good. One minor thing is the about screen is not quite right. The text "Inkscape 0.45" does not appear in the same font (since I probably don't have the same font as the designer). Turning it into a shape would fix this. Also the glow under the second ball back cuts off where it should fade nicely. (See attachment) Good luck on release. -axiom

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Installation help
by John R. Culleton 01 Feb '07

01 Feb '07

On a Slackware Linux 11 system when I do ./configure I get the following errors: checking for INKSCAPE... configure: error: Package requirements (gdkmm-2.4 glibmm-2.4 gtkmm-2.4 gtk+-2.0 >= 2.8.0 libxml-2.0 >= 2.6.11 libxslt >= 1.0.15 cairo sigc++-2.0 >= 2.0.11 gthread-2.0 >= 2.0 libpng >= 1.2) were not met: No package 'gdkmm-2.4' found No package 'glibmm-2.4' found No package 'gtkmm-2.4' found No package 'sigc++-2.0' found Is there a bundle for Inkscape users that has these packages? Or must I chase them down individually? -- John Culleton Able Indexing and Typesetting Precision typesetting (tm) at reasonable cost. Satisfaction guaranteed. http://wexfordpress.com

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what direction for UI
by Daniel Culver 31 Jan '07

31 Jan '07

I hope that I am not out of place adding my thoughts on the UI. I started using CAD/CAM almost thirty years ago, when my father was an early developer of training programs. I am an accomplished draftsman, but, I can go for long periods without using a program (I still use hand drawing a lot), and find I need to reacquaint myself with the UI. JiHO, I think has a very good idea, with the ability to select from user profiles. Bulia's ideas about templates are also very excellent, I wish I was able to work on that one, but I can't. This may be out of place, but, my 'best of wish' would be specific to Mac; I would love to see a multiple user profiles (prewritten and customised) along with a start-up script available from a dashboard widget. Daniel Culver danielculver@...107...

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Re: [Inkscape-user] Layers dropdown
by Bryce Harrington 31 Jan '07

31 Jan '07

On Tue, Jan 30, 2007 at 06:06:49PM +0100, Thorsten Wilms wrote: > > this started because the status bar messages were unclear and abbreviated. > > > You'd think people are only beginners once but unfortunately many people > > stay there, I for example dont use Blender often enough to retain what > > little I have learnt and I'm effectively a beginner everytime. If you > > have worked in technical support you find many more users are like this > > when it comes to their computer. without really trying inkscape has been > > successful in attracting artistic users who want inkscape for their > > various kidns of crafts work it will help if things can be kept simple > > with one right way to do things and not too many assumptions made about > > inkscape users being experts at technical drawing and wanting many > > different possibilities to achieve the same end results, as it is the > > results that matter. You know, it occurs to me that the status messages and the layer dropdown may cater to different crowds. Being able to read the status messages clearly is something novice users need the most. The layer dropdown is something experienced users are after. Of course, there is some overlap (novice users needing layers will spot the layer dropdown first, and even experienced users will find info in the status bar of use from time to time). But this makes me wonder if the status bar could benefit from some sort of adaptive ui behavior or perhaps just a configuration setting? For new users, the layer dropdown (among other things) could initially just be scary clutter, so clearing off the status bar in favor of status messages could make the application >look< a lot more approachable. Then, later once they've gotten more comfortable, they could graduate into expert mode and have these extra accessories turned on. This may also fit in with a more mode-oriented usage model that we've discussed previously in the context of technical drawing vs. artistic drawing needs, which shows up in areas like snapping and so forth. The layer dropdown is not a good example here since both technical and artistic drawers need that, but a better example might be a symbol pallete (very important for tech drawing, but not so much for artists), vs. the color pallete (important for art, less so for tech). A framework that allowed the UI to adapt to different user modes could prove handy for a lot of different purposes. Another example would be a "child-oriented mode" where the UI is simplified to basic drawing options. Ideally, we would be able to come up with a single design that suits all needs (e.g. moving it into the canvas), and it is very wise to always make that the top goal, since the fewer configuration options, the easier the software will be to test and maintain. In practice, though, as Inkscape's usage grows and fills in more and more niches, the need for usage-mode-specific UI layouts is going to grow. > I still think most users make it to some intermediate level. > If you look at hours spent with a software, users that only > touch it once in a while don't count. Well, it depends on how you look at the project's goals. Certainly, our most important audience is users who contribute back to the project, and as such it's true that these users will be spending enough time with the project to get over small usability issues such as UI clutter. (Remember, every Inkscape user was a novice at one time.) However, Inkscape also has the goal of being a member of the larger open source community, and I think this involves embracing some of the more occasional style usages, such as if someone just needs to knock out a quick flyer for their club, or make a gift card for a relative. It would be a great sign of success if Inkscape were the only 2D drawing program required to be on the open source desktop. Bryce

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bug with create tiled clones
by unknown＠example.com 30 Jan '07

30 Jan '07

create an object than go to edit/clone/create tiled clones type a negative entry ( like: -10,00%) in the tab "scale" and click on create to see the crash. inkscape 0.45pre2-1! thanks Kirk --------------------------------- Vinci i biglietti per FIFA World Cup in Germania!

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Converting Type to Shapes
by Dave Crossland 30 Jan '07

30 Jan '07

Hi! I've been using Inkscape to do some typographic designs, and I can use the text tool to make a single charachter and then use the "Object To Path" command on the Path Menu (CTRL SHIFT C) to convert it into an editable shape I can control with the node editor, and make its bounding box fit tightly around the shape so I can use the Align and Distribute palette to place it just right. However, when I write a line of text, I'd like to use "Object To Path" to convert the text into a group of objects, which I can then ungroup and rearrange using Align and Distribute. When I do this at the moment, all the letters appear to be one object. Any tips? :-) -- Regards, Dave

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Bounding boxes and patterns, cloning, etc...
by Andrew Mellinger 30 Jan '07

30 Jan '07

Greetings! I am a long time Freehand user (still using Fh8 on the mac) and I am trying to switch to Inkscape. I playing with it for a few hours last weekend and I have a few questions. FH8 used to have 'replicate' and used to remember the offset of duplicate options so one could easily duplicate a set of things over and over. For example, if I wanted to build a grid, I could draw a line then duplicate it once placing it in the right place then hit the duplicate key over and over. I've been trying this with patterns and cloning and I have problems with bounding boxes. It looks like the tiling wants to tile base on bounding box, but the box is outside of the actual area by some amount like the size of miters, or lines or soemthing. i.e. The bounding box doesn't bound to the node points, but to the line. This makes it impossible (as far as I can tell) to make a pinstripe pattern. Anyone encountered things like this before? I'm using Inkscape 0.44. Thanks for any help! -Andrew

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Re: [Inkscape-user] Layers dropdown, was: Baffling UI
by Alan Horkan 30 Jan '07

30 Jan '07

On Tue, 30 Jan 2007, Thorsten Wilms wrote: > Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2007 14:13:34 +0100 > From: Thorsten Wilms <t_w_@...1631...> > To: inkscape-user(a)lists.sourceforge.net > Subject: [Inkscape-user] Layers dropdown, was: Baffling UI > > On Tue, Jan 30, 2007 at 12:43:00PM +0000, Alan Horkan wrote: > > Not the best point to step in, but I deleted most of this > thread to not get angry ;) Hopefully we can come to some conclusion without anyone getting too heated. Everyone is keepings polite but persistant and it isn't what you'd call a flamewar. > > Why not give it a try for a release, or for a while during the unstable > > time between releases? > With trying you mean removing the layer dropdown? Yes. > I use it all the time. I often have a number of layers, but work > in one layer for a while and don't switch layers that often. > If is elect something on another layer, I look down there to > see 'where' I am. The layer palette is only allowd to eat Good to know even if it backs up bulias point ;P FYI Adobe Photoshop includes this information in the titlebar of the form Filename @ Layername - Adobe Photoshop (roughly, I just saying from memory) If you are only using it for status and not making much use of the hiding or locking buttons do you think an indication in the title bar would be helpful? > So: > - Layer dropdown takes space that could be used for something > else. > - for what? this started because the status bar messages were unclear and abbreviated. one idea I've seen elsewhere is that clicking on the status bar pops a message dialog so that even if you have a small status bar you do have a way to see the full status bar message. I'll file a request if asked but I should nearly file one against GTK ... > - Dropdow could mislead new users to think its all there is. > - it's in the menus and the documentation. Users are new > to an app only once ... You'd think people are only beginners once but unfortunately many people stay there, I for example dont use Blender often enough to retain what little I have learnt and I'm effectively a beginner everytime. If you have worked in technical support you find many more users are like this when it comes to their computer. without really trying inkscape has been successful in attracting artistic users who want inkscape for their various kidns of crafts work it will help if things can be kept simple with one right way to do things and not too many assumptions made about inkscape users being experts at technical drawing and wanting many different possibilities to achieve the same end results, as it is the results that matter. > - My claim of different scenarios for drodown and palette > (see above) Hope you will consider my counter suggestion and perhaps further describe how and why you use the dropdown. Might be interesting to know if anyone actually uses the menus for switching layers. -- Alan

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