Hi

First of all I'm still a total noob when it comes to using Inkscape - and every other vector drawing programs found on this planet !

This is might also be why my question may sound (very) stupid...

My question is why the canvas looks the way it does ? - ie. when I open Inkscape I see the rectangle outlined in black (the viewable area), but why is there all the white space around it.

I know that the canvas in Xara also look like this, so I guess that it is just some kind of 'industry standard', however, it is somewhat confusing for someone like me who are used to work in Paint.net

ps. I have tried to find an answer to my question by reading small parts of the quick overview by @microugly and Inkscape: Guide to a Vector Drawing Program, but I haven't found an explanation !

The rectangle outlined in black is the "page" on which you are drawing. You can, however, draw outside the page as the rectangle is simply a guide. You can change the dimensions of the page by going to File>Document Properties and under the Page tab select the paper size you are interested in or create a custom size. You can also turn off that page border in that same tab by unchecking the Show Page Border box.

What llogg said.

The page boundary has a couple of other effects: if you load your Inkscape SVG file into a web browser it will only draw the area within the page boundary, and if you export a PNG file you can click the "Page" button to easily define the export area as being the content of the page boundary.

It's actually quite useful to have a drawable area that extends beyond the page boundary at times. Consider a design which shows a portion of a circle bleeding off at the edge of the page. With Inkscape you can just draw your circle extending beyond the page boundary, knowing that your export will crop off the part that you don't want - no need for you to clip it or modify it yourself.

I often subvert the page boundary in my comics, by putting whole panels outside it. The PNG version on my website doesn't show them, nor does loading the SVG into a browser... but if you download the SVG file and load it into Inkscape you'll find these hidden 'Easter Eggs' as a special bonus for those in the know

So if you fancy seeing the page boundary abused for the sake of whimsy, follow the link in my signature and download some of my SVG files (right-click on the SVG link that follows the commentary on our strips; choose to save the link target to disk, then open it in Inkscape and go exploring). Note that not all our Easter Eggs are hidden in this way, so if you can't find something outside the boundary for a comic, try another instead.

Xav wrote:
It's actually quite useful to have a drawable area that extends beyond the page boundary at times. Consider a design which shows a portion of a circle bleeding off at the edge of the page. With Inkscape you can just draw your circle extending beyond the page boundary, knowing that your export will crop off the part that you don't want - no need for you to clip it or modify it yourself.

Hi

Thank you for replying with that good explanation - I also see the usefulness in your example.