User testimonials

2007-04-18T12:17:48Z

Ti6J8z:

=== From: Grant ===
Date: August 16, 2006
Subject: Inkscape has promise but I can't use it

I had very high hopes for Inkscape 0.44 installed on my new MacBook (MacOSX 10.4.7) as I had hoped to avoid having to buy a copy of Illustrator for it. Unfortunately, though I can import and edit my existing SVG files from Illustrator (on another machine) without serious problems, I have been unable to export them as correct EPS or PDF, which I require for a book I'm working on. The EPS files display dashed lines as solid, and the PDF files, though they are non-empty (about the same size as the EPS files) don't display at all in MacOS Previewer -- I get a blank page. In short, I simply can't use it for the purpose I had in mind. I'm sure it's fine if you can live with SVG-only format files and/or print directly from Inkscape. It's possible that there's something wrong with my installation, but I've reinstalled it a couple of times from different sites and I've verified that I have the latest versions of gs, pstoedit, and similar utilities.

Also, although the docs allude to the capability of importing AI or EPS under certain circumstances, I have been absolutely unable to figure out from the information on line how to make this actually work. SVG seems to be my only current option for importing existing files.

I'm posting this not to discourage people from trying out Inkscape but rather to caution those who might view its current implementation as a reasonable working substitute for a commercial package like AI. Maybe I'm just unlucky, or maybe it's just a MacOSX problem. If there's something wrong with my installation, then it's clearly something that the average user (like me) won't easily be able to debug without a lot of effort and outside guidance. Questions or comments may be sent to gpetty @ aos.wisc.edu

=== From: Proxi ===
Date: August 2006
Subject: Inkscape rocks !

Hello,
Inkscape is a very good vector software with amazing possibilities.
Congratulations to the Inkscape Team.

=== From: User Bats ===
Date: March 2006
Subject: Notes from a recent job using Inkscape.

Hey,
Please go to [[User:Bats|my user page]] where I have a write-up about Inkscape 0.43 and my recent thoughts and comments written just after I had finished the job.

Inkscapes makes Linux really cool (from my perspective), keep it up!

=== From: Gab Studio ===
Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2004
Subject: Great software !!!

Hi;

I'm just trying *INSKCAPE* and would like to *congratulate you all*.

I join my first work... if you want to add it in the galery :)

BRAVO again from France for this great software
have fun

regards

Gab

=== From: Jared Thompson ===
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004
Subject: awesome program

I know this may not be according to the purposes of this list,

but I just wanted to say that I recently discovered inkscape and I think
it is quite an impressive program so far.
I have been playing with it non stop for the past few days and love it,
the website is also nice and clean.
there are plenty of tips and in the program a help file that gives a
good overview to get beginners started

I will be looking forward to contribute what I can as time goes forward.

again,
just wanted to say thanks for an awesome program

-jared

=== From: Artemio ===
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2004
Subject: thank you

Dear Inkscape developers,

at first, please take my sincere congratulations - Inkscape is on the 3rd
place in my top 5 list of most used applications! :-)

You have made possible what I have dreamt for over two years since I started
using Linux (I use ONLY Linux since that time). You have done a really great
work. Inkscape has absolutely everything I need from a vector editor and even
more. It's very light, fast and the interface is very straightforward and
intuitive. Thank you, thank you very much!

Frankly, you have blown all my expectations away - I didn't think someone
would do font->path thing possible, this is amazing! Now I can bring my SVGs
_anywhere_ and they will be read just as I made them (already tested this).

Please excuse me for talking too much, it's just that I really respect your
work and wish you all the best! I do have some little suggestions to you, but
I will write them in my next message :-)

Good luck to you all and thanks so much again!

Artemio.

=== From: Charles Goodwin ===
Date: Sun, 09 May 2004
Subject: Re: wow, this is amazing!

Everything about Inkscape has been impressive thus far, not least of
which the speed with which action is taken to address any issue.

- Charlie

=== From: Trent Buck ===
Date: Tue, Jun 8, 2004
Subject: Re: new illustrator screenshots

Quoth Alan Horkan on or about 2004-06-08:
<blockquote>

On Sat, 5 Jun 2004, Trent Buck wrote:<br>
<i>FWIW, I think inkscape's UI is already better than AI's.</i>

You said Inkscape is better so I make it a challenge to you to list more
ways, and maybe we can start a comparision chart in the Wiki which would
be useful for promoting Inkscape.
</blockquote>

OK, I'll confess, I haven't used AI for than about half-an-hour, because
I couldn't get the hang of the interface. Let me itemize my reasons for
using Inkscape.

Bear in mind that these are my *opinions*, not necessarily *right* in a
technical sense. I'll put a ' ' in front of things that are actually UI.

Inkscape beats AI

As a newbie, I found the Inkscape (well, sodipodi) interface to be
pretty self-explanatory. Using AI I get the feeling I should take a
3-day course just to learn how to use it.
(Maybe this is just because of all the extra features, I don't know.)

It's free. When something happens I can check the source. It is
also far easier to add or request features.

It works on linux. Enough said.

The GTK toolkit is relatively clean, customizable and robust.

Inkscape beats Sodipodi

The larger community results in faster growth in all areas.

Boolean operations. Miscellaneous tweaks make Inkscape more
comfortable.

Inkscape beats both of them

Buttons are around the edge. It has been shown by HCI folks that
this is a far better design than the toolkit approach. Fitts' Law
states that you can click screen corners and edges far faster than,
say, 10px in from the edge.
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Fitts' law

Likewise, this means everthing is in one window, which works much
better with my windowmanager (http://ratpoison.sf.net).

Keybindings for everything. I don't normally even have a rodent
plugged into my system, so being able to stay keyboard-centered is a
major advantage.

I should also point out that I'm not really an artistic person, my
strengths are more oriented in mathematics, english and science. I am a
CS student by profession. I mostly use Inkscape when I need an image
and there isn't a specialized tool to draw it.

It could well be that I don't see Inkscape's deficiencies because my
drawings aren't complicated enough to need them.

-trent

=== From: Richard MacIntyre ===

Unless they've already mentioned it hereon, Julian MacDonald has kindly written a script, and Francois Guillet has just begun work on an SVG plugin, respectively, for SVG import into Art of Illusion- a 3D program- from Inkscape. see: http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=1117167

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User testimonials