First of all, I have been using inkscape for 6 days and thanks to this forum I have learnt an incredible amount, I have made 2 professional images today after spending 5 days reading discussions on this forum and watching the limited youtube videos. I cannot share these particular images as they are going to be used in my business.
So I just would like to formally thank everyone here.

Ok now with the question. I can manage joining of 2 paths but it takes about 5 attempts and I am unsure on the correct way to do it. Say I have drawn two shapes and I want to bridge them together. I select the Nodes that I want to join and currently *mash commands" lol firstly I "Break path at selected nodes" then fight between "Join selected nodes with new segment" and "Join nodes" eventually I get it to work, but I really want to know the correct way. The attached image illustrates what I am saying. The problem is sometimes extra nodes get created and get in the way stopping it from joining, then sometimes after I do join them I cannot smooth the line afterwards which I think maybe because the path is not joined?

Hi Xav,

Hey thanks, that definitely is a way better method, I can't believe that I did'nt think about doing it that way, hahahaha so simple.

The break path between selected nodes is an unnecessary step.
Instead, -rectangle-select the part of the paths you want to get rid of, and unconnect the nodes, then
select two of the start-end nodes and connect them together, and repeat it for the remaining part.

But it all depends on your workflow and goal.
As Xav suggested, you don't need to -or, preferably shouldn't- add nodes to the paths as on your original image.

Lazur URH wrote:Instead, -rectangle-select the part of the paths you want to get rid of, and unconnect the nodes

I cant find the option to "unconnect nodes" can you point out where it is please?

Hmm maybe wrong jargon.

Click the icon on the node tool's tool controls
"Delete segment between two non-endpoint nodes"



http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Paths-Editing.html#Paths-Editing-Node

Thanks Lazur, but I still cant get the nodes to join from two separate circles, do they have to be grouped ect?

No need for grouping,


with the object select tool select both, then use the node tool.

Or with the node tool click on one path, hold Shift and click on the other one as well before.



Combining the paths together (Ctrl+K) before is unnecessary too, but might help you with the goal if confused by the selecting.

Hey Lazur, thanks for taking the time to make the image to explain it for me, I really appreciate it. It makes sense now I think I was trying to do too many steps at once which resulted in errors. So thanks again.