Inkscape vs. Draw (was: Re: [tdf-discuss] Apply button)

Hi Ian,

just a few thoughts ... some other topics made my spare time reserve
disappear :-)

Am Sonntag, den 14.11.2010, 20:30 +0000 schrieb Ian Lynch:
> > > From my point-of-view, this is different. Inkscape is a graphic tool
> > that is used by experienced designers. We may assume that those guys do
> > have better hardware (e.g. larger screens). And, Inkscape does have
> > another concept with docked panes ...
>  Inkscape is used by kids in primary schools so the argument about
> professional designers doesn't really hold water - I use it on a netbook! So
> why not have docked panes in Draw? If it works well offer it.

Simple. Because the topic wasn't about docked panes, but about the
transformation dialog.

And, "used" varies. If we compare functionality, then it should be
compared on a given use case. I agree that Inkscape is a great tool and
much more handy for kids - in my point of view, because simple things
like like moving objects, drag-and-drop, ... works better.

But, to be efficient within complex graphics, the task pane of Inkscape
just "grabs" a lot of space (which then has to be scrolled, or you have
to undock it and move it around, ...). Fortunately, in our case,
position control is given via the toolbars - not only via the task pane.

By the way, Christian Lippka offered a nice "private" teaser some weeks
ago. This is about how the layout might work for such task panes:
http://lippka.com/teaser.png

However, the original discussion was about avoiding iterative
opening/closing the position dialog. And the given proposal was to -
first - improve the positioning first.

> We - in contrast - develop an office suite that also targets other
> > "markets" like developing countries. Although the minimum system
> > requirements state "1024x768", the design for OOo still targets netbook
> > resolutions. If there would have been more space, I would have designed
> > the new printing dialog differently :-)
>
> I don't buy this at all. I use a netbook regularly and I don't see any
> advantages in using Draw over inkscape in that environment. Neither are
> ideal on that size screen. If you are short of RAM and processor power I'd
> say OOo is going to cause you more problems that Inkscape ;-)

That's correct. I come back to comparing use cases - I find it very
difficult to write longer documents with Inkscape ;-) The point is, the
main design (was/is) based on the whole office suite with all the
applications. Currently, Draw is more or less a nice addition, because
the codebase nearly identical with Impress. Sometimes a huge advantage,
sometimes not ...

[... effort of moving / opening / closing dialogs over and over
again ... ]
> If you don't have to call it up why is there any manual effort? Just ignore
> it exists. [...]

Because it (guess *g*) - doesn't help to solve the initially given use
case. If you want to precisely move objects, you have to use it. That is
a design flaw ... it wouldn't be necessary (that often) if we could
improve the resizing and moving behavior.

Okay, back to other topics ... or better, back to doing something with
Inkscape :-)

Cheers,
Christoph


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