On May 10, 2007, at 12:35 AM, Joop B. Buker wrote:

Recently we installed Inkscape, since my son likes to draw and design.

Now he experiences the following. Around every selected object a big white square is present and the handles are not on the object anymore but at some distance. See image

<Inkscape handles.png>

He cannot find how to restore the original settings. He de-installed Inkscape and made a new installation but the problem stays. What must he do?

It appears to me that the problem is just that the stroke of the rectangle has been changed to a thick white one. It would be hard to tell the difference between the white of the stroke and the white of the background. To verify this is the problem, you could draw a second, larger rectangle over the same spot and then send it to the back using the select tool.

To correct that, just select the rectangle and then bring up the "Fill and Stroke" dialog. The "Stroke Paint" tab can be used to select a color other than white, and the "Stroke Style" tab can be used to change the thickness.