When I try to make lines that resemble this in inkscape they appear only flat
1 I create a 1px high square
2. fill with black
3. stroke with radial white gradient

But what I end up with is a line that looks black on the outside and white in the inside. Is there another way to achieve fading and inset lines.

I did the following:
1. Bezier tool to create my 1pixel line
2. Path > Stroke to path
3. Duplicate the line and move up one pixel
4. Change lower line to white
5. Group both lines and set opacity to 50% (I understand layer modes are coming as they are in the dev packs)

much better result this way. Call myself trying to have a double white line bevel for each but with your help I believe I got it
just need to practice it on it some more.

Just one more thing how do you get the ends to fade?

capnhud wrote:Just one more thing how do you get the ends to fade?

You mean for the ends of the insets? Use a gradient fill on the lines so it goes from transparent to solid colour.

I understand layer modes are coming as they are in the dev packs

They are in the dev packs now? As in there is a UI for them? Do you know where I can find it? I've attempted to handcode a blend filter, but was unsuccessful.

Found it. I had been using the SVN's by simply copying over the .exe file which didn't get me all the extra features.