Inkscape / xara (just a question)

General discussions about Inkscape.
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David Hewitt
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Inkscape / xara (just a question)

Postby David Hewitt » Thu Feb 19, 2009 6:34 pm

I apologize in advance if this is anI ignorant question...

1)Ok now xara was released (mostly) as open source...(right?)
I have heard that one of the most important parts (the render library) was omitted from this.....
But i assume the rest was not......


2)And im also aware of posts i have read on the developers site that details all the possible xara functionality (lacking in inkscape) that could possibly be adapted for inkscape.

So my question is (in light of these points) has no-one decided it might be advantageous to take the open-source components of xara and patch them up with inkscape technology necessary to get it up and running...then to take this project and run with it for a few years...
And in the process get the experience necessary to assimilate what inherent value lies un-realised in this code which has been offered up.....

llogg
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Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2008 7:30 am

Re: Inkscape / xara (just a question)

Postby llogg » Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:23 pm

1. If you like xara more than inkscape please use xara.
2. Yes, I'm certain that someone has thought of implementing xara features in inkscape since you found as much explicitly stated on the development board. I'm also certain that this is likely to be far more difficult than you think because one of inkscape's guiding principles is svg compliance, a limitation not shared by xara.
3. I'm a physician. I often get asked questions by laypersons that imply "This seems so simple why haven't you fixed me?" And the answer is that it's never simple. Having had this experience a few thousand times I've adopted the attitude towards skills/professions that I'm ignorant about that I will assume it's more complicated than I think. You are assuming that writing code is simple and thus wonder why all these wonderful things haven't been done. You should instead adopt the opposite approach.

bbyak
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Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2007 4:53 am

Re: Inkscape / xara (just a question)

Postby bbyak » Fri Feb 20, 2009 1:10 am

Inkscape has a completely different UI layer and completely different internal data structures. So the only thing that would make sense to borrow is graphic algorithms. But here, Xara has little to offer except its fast renderer, which is not open sourced. For the rest, Inkscape has a lot more powerful stuff (geometry, filters, tweak tool, clone tilings, etc etc) than Xara. It is not always easily accessible to the user, but we don't really need Xara to work on that. As a developer, I'm not aware of a single piece of code that was adapted from open source Xara so far; any similarities are simply from looking at the Xara program itself (not its code) and trying to apply its good ideas.

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David Hewitt
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Re: Inkscape / xara (just a question)

Postby David Hewitt » Fri Feb 20, 2009 8:54 am

llogg wrote:1. If you like xara more than inkscape please use xara.


To respond directly to this...I actually do...
Only because i find certain aspects of it easier....(nothing that probably won't be addressed in a few version updates of inkscape..)

Plus the thing i like most about inkscape is its potential not so much the current state of the UI...
(its obvious it has allot under the hood....I would just like to see more GUI development to make the most useful stuff more accessible to the novice....

And xara does seem to be moer developed gui wise (currently) in this respect anyway....(regardless of the fact that inkscape may indeed be in advance of them in some technical respects)

llogg wrote: You are assuming that writing code is simple and thus wonder why all these wonderful things haven't been done. You should instead adopt the opposite approach.


That's why i put the comment up front about apologizing about the ignorant comment....
I.E i knew their was a reason... i just wanted to know more specifics...

But anyway thanks to both of you for your comments at least i have a clearer conception of this now ETC...


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