For what it's worth I also prefer a px-based default template.

• For digital art it makes the most sense as Tyler noted.
  
• For stuff that's intended to be used "on paper" it does not break anything and can in fact even avoid incompatibilities due to the viewbox scaling. Also it feels more natural to make a line 1or 2 px wide (which are useful widths for me in everyday use) instead of fiddling with fractional millimeters. If I need mm-based sizes I can also still use them where necessary.

On a related note I'm not even sure our default size of A4 is overly useful. I've yet to create content in Inkscape that would need an A4 size... For me it's either digital artwork which has some even pixel size or I'm creating graphics that are put on A4 paper and therefore need to be smaller anyway (e.g. ~ 8cm wide to fill one column). So, while we need some default (which might just as well be A4) I don't think we should assume users actually create A4 content and base our decision on that.

Regards,
Eduard

I see no downside to having all releases/localizations use px as display units and scale=1. 

AFAICT, it breaks nothing, which cannot be said for other current defaults. Everything works and no gymnastics trying to explain units and scale to the non-technically inclined.

Even the newest users can understand how to set the document to their preferred display units. No need for typical users to change scale.

Simple rationale: svg is a web format, hence default.svg units = px. 

Thanks,

TD

On Wed, Sep 20, 2017 at 9:47 AM, brynn <brynn@...3089...> wrote:

Oh, I didn't know about these templates!

However, I think it's better for users to know how to use the interface, rather than use a template which only sets up the units, and not the page size (unless you happen to want an A4 page).

I'm not clear what you mean by this:

The one thing you cannot do, however, is modify the document units after

Inkscape has opened the startup file.

If you know how to change the units (as I've just learned how to do it correctly) can't they be changed?  Or do you mean that the user would have to save a new template if they change the units?

I'm just writing the new FAQ item right now, so I'll include this info about the templates too.  But need to understand that last statement (above).

Thanks Alvin :-)

-----Original Message----- From: alvinpenner
Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2017 6:29 AM
To: inkscape-user@...2709...e.net
Subject: Re: [Inkscape-user] the Scale setting and Display units

It may be worth mentioning that you can choose the document units that you
prefer when you start up Inkscape. If you use the startup template file
C:\Program Files (x86)\Inkscape\share\templates\default.svg (which is the
default), then you will find that the document units are mm. You can confirm
this by drawing a rectangle that has the width of the full page and then
using the XML editor to confirm that the width has been expressed in mm. A
typical example would be

 <rect
    style="..."
    id="rect10"
    width="210.91072" (should be 210, my hand was shaky)
    height="88.446426"
    x="0"
    y="0.66666663" />

If you prefer to use px as the document units, then use the template file
C:\Program Files (x86)\Inkscape\share\templates\default_px.svg. In this case
if you draw a rectangle that has the full width of an A4 page you will get:

   <rect
      style="..."
      id="rect18"
      width="797.14288" (should be 793.7007, which is 210mm expressed in
px)
      height="357.14285"
      x="0"
      y="2.519685" />

If you prefer to use pt as document units, then use the template file
default_pt.svg

If you want to permanently modify the startup units, then copy a file like
default_pt.svg to overwrite the file default.svg. (after first making a
backup, just in case.)

The one thing you cannot do, however, is modify the document units after
Inkscape has opened the startup file.

hth,
Alvin




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