HI, yesterday I started with Inkscape on my MacBook Air and found the experience intensely frustrating. Here's a sample set of problems:
1. I first looked for tutorials. From Inkscape.com, I tried Learn -> Tutorials -> Basic Tutorial. This web page (https://inkscape.org/doc/tutorials/basic/tutorial-basic.html) says that I can manipulate objects on the page but, no, that does not work. It's a view-only environment. To get to this tutorial, open Inkscape and go to Help -> Tutorials. I had already read through the entire web version to pick up pointers. Now I had to start again in the online help version. It was good, but why invite me to waste time reading a view-only version? At least change the web page so it announces that there's a live-action interactive version available from within the Inkscape app.
I am withdrawing this comment because, as pointed out in a reply, this information is already there. Don't know why I missed it. -- Bob
2. Most apps on Mac use Cmd in place of Ctl. Not Inkscape. Inkscape uses the Control key. OK, I can learn that oddity.
3. Several Inkscape operations involve the Alt key. Example from the Basic Tutorial: "To create a new empty document, use File⇒New or press Ctrl+N. To create a new document from one of Inkscape's many templates, use File⇒New from Template… or press Ctrl+Alt+N." There is no Alt key on my Mac. How do I do an "Alt" operation?
4. In the tutorial, I saw this nice instruction:
Move the object by dragging it. (Press Ctrl to restrict movement to horizontal and vertical.)
4a. Great! Well, I tried it. The drag was jerky on my MacBook Air. Aha, you say, that's a lightweight machine. Well, I bought the extra RAM, it's about 4 months old, it otherwise performs well, and in Preview I can click and drag an object and the operation is smooth and responsive.
4b. Then, I tried pressing Ctrl to restrict movement as stated. Now, to click and drag on a laptop without a mouse, I press-and-hold with my left forefinger on the touchpad and move around with my right forefinger. To ALSO press the Ctrl key I have to stretch my left ring finger (pianists know this is the weakest finger; the pinky is too short) to press the Ctrl key at the same time. This worked intermittently yesterday. Today in the freshness of the morning I can't get it to work at all.
5. I looked and looked for Inkscape beginner's tutorials for Mac users and found several YouTube tutorials on how to install Inscape (a trivial task; it's just like many many other apps installed from the web). Nothing about adapting to Inkscape.
In sum, yesterday in two stints of halting, difficult work, I managed to draw just one shape of the drawing I wanted, and get the width of the line to be what I wanted (the width measurement was in inches; I switched it to pixels; it was a lot of trial-and-error to get it to look right.
This morning I should be looking at a rough draft of my drawing, making improvements before sending it off to others for review. Instead I have ONE empty outline of the thing I am drawing.
I'll look around for another app to use. Inkscape has, unfortunately, put up too many roadblocks, and the workarounds are either nonexistent or awkward to the max.
Oh, and there's no "contact us" form on the web site. Not that I could find. And, apparently, no specific online forum for Mac users.
As you know, Inkscape is FOSS and all development in the program and website is by volunteer coders. If you would like to share your thoughts or contribute to the improvement of Inkscape for Mac users, you can contact the developer team.
On the Inkscape.org homepage, the top news item is a call for help in Mac development. That article has a link to reach the developers working to improve the experience for Mac users.
At least change the web page so it announces that there's a live-action interactive version available from within the Inkscape app.
The first sentence on the page states: "... If you have opened it from the Inkscape Help menu, it is a regular Inkscape document that you can view, edit, or copy from. You can also save a copy to a location of your choice...."
While the Mac support and development are in need of greater attention, other Mac users (professional and amateur) have found Inkscape's benefits are worth the extra effort.
Hi Bob. You have my sympathy. I'm also a recent Inkscape-on-Mac user and I agree that there's a learning curve. We're a small fraction of the community and the documentation and tutorials and help files normally assume you have Windows or Linux. That said, I also use the Windows version and the differences are mainly due to the operating system rather than the application.
4a. Great! Well, I tried it. The drag was jerky on my MacBook Air.
I don't have a solution but it's not my experience. I happily run Inkscape v1.1 on an ancient MacBook Air from 2012 so this really surprises me. (Versions prior to v1.0 were unbearably slow on MacOS.)
4b. Then, I tried pressing Ctrl to restrict movement as stated. Now, to click and drag on a laptop without a mouse, I press-and-hold with my left forefinger on the touchpad and move around with my right forefinger. To ALSO press the Ctrl key I have to stretch my left ring finger
This is awkward but you don't have to play keyboard twister. In MacOS, a three-finger drag on the trackpad is equivalent to click+drag with a mouse. My windows trackpad can't understand this multi-point trickery. The ctrl, alt and shift modifier keys have the same effect across windows and macos.
Finally, Inkscape doesn't have a 24-hour instant support hotline, but this forum has enthusiastic members ready to help all users, old and new, at every level with any OS!
I see "option" not "alt." How many tricks do I have to already have up my sleeve before I can have initial success? Too many in this case.
Conversely I had a Mac laptop on which that same key was specifically labelled 'Alt' and not 'Option'. I initially had the same confusion as you, but when using Mac-native applications that told me to press the Option key! Unfortunately Macs are not very consistent when it comes to keyboard layout: where I worked previously, across three different Mac laptops, each with an additional (Apple official) Bluetooth keyboard, we had five different keyboard layouts!
I've always advocated using Inkscape with a mouse, even on Linux and Windows. Sure, you can get by with a trackpad (and I have), or a graphics tablet (again, I have) but, for me, the experience has always been at its smoothest with a mouse (with scroll wheel) in one hand, and the keyboard under the other.
As has been noted above, version 1.0 uses the Cmd key for most of the system-standard commands (e.g. file or clipboard operations). But there are still a lot of non-system operations that require the Ctrl key. Personally I wish the change had been all-or-nothing, as I find the current mish-mash a little frustrating at times when I inevitably pick the wrong modifier.
Beginners' Questions discouragingly poor support for beginners on Mac
Inkscape.org
HI, yesterday I started with Inkscape on my MacBook Air and found the experience intensely frustrating. Here's a sample set of problems:
1.
I first looked for tutorials. From Inkscape.com, I tried Learn -> Tutorials -> Basic Tutorial. This web page (https://inkscape.org/doc/tutorials/basic/tutorial-basic.html) says that I can manipulate objects on the page but, no, that does not work. It's a view-only environment. To get to this tutorial, open Inkscape and go to Help -> Tutorials. I had already read through the entire web version to pick up pointers. Now I had to start again in the online help version. It was good, but why invite me to waste time reading a view-only version? At least change the web page so it announces that there's a live-action interactive version available from within the Inkscape app.I am withdrawing this comment because, as pointed out in a reply, this information is already there. Don't know why I missed it. -- Bob
2. Most apps on Mac use Cmd in place of Ctl. Not Inkscape. Inkscape uses the Control key. OK, I can learn that oddity.
3. Several Inkscape operations involve the Alt key. Example from the Basic Tutorial: "To create a new empty document, use File⇒New or press Ctrl+N. To create a new document from one of Inkscape's many templates, use File⇒New from Template… or press Ctrl+Alt+N." There is no Alt key on my Mac. How do I do an "Alt" operation?
4. In the tutorial, I saw this nice instruction:
4a. Great! Well, I tried it. The drag was jerky on my MacBook Air. Aha, you say, that's a lightweight machine. Well, I bought the extra RAM, it's about 4 months old, it otherwise performs well, and in Preview I can click and drag an object and the operation is smooth and responsive.
4b. Then, I tried pressing Ctrl to restrict movement as stated. Now, to click and drag on a laptop without a mouse, I press-and-hold with my left forefinger on the touchpad and move around with my right forefinger. To ALSO press the Ctrl key I have to stretch my left ring finger (pianists know this is the weakest finger; the pinky is too short) to press the Ctrl key at the same time. This worked intermittently yesterday. Today in the freshness of the morning I can't get it to work at all.
5. I looked and looked for Inkscape beginner's tutorials for Mac users and found several YouTube tutorials on how to install Inscape (a trivial task; it's just like many many other apps installed from the web). Nothing about adapting to Inkscape.
In sum, yesterday in two stints of halting, difficult work, I managed to draw just one shape of the drawing I wanted, and get the width of the line to be what I wanted (the width measurement was in inches; I switched it to pixels; it was a lot of trial-and-error to get it to look right.
This morning I should be looking at a rough draft of my drawing, making improvements before sending it off to others for review. Instead I have ONE empty outline of the thing I am drawing.
I'll look around for another app to use. Inkscape has, unfortunately, put up too many roadblocks, and the workarounds are either nonexistent or awkward to the max.
Oh, and there's no "contact us" form on the web site. Not that I could find. And, apparently, no specific online forum for Mac users.
Submitted with great disappointment.
-- Bob Stromberg in Round Lake, NY
Thank you for your comments.
As you know, Inkscape is FOSS and all development in the program and website is by volunteer coders. If you would like to share your thoughts or contribute to the improvement of Inkscape for Mac users, you can contact the developer team.
On the Inkscape.org homepage, the top news item is a call for help in Mac development. That article has a link to reach the developers working to improve the experience for Mac users.
For others reading this topic, regarding the first comment regarding tutorials:
The first sentence on the page states: "... If you have opened it from the Inkscape Help menu, it is a regular Inkscape document that you can view, edit, or copy from. You can also save a copy to a location of your choice...."
Look again:
I see "option" not "alt." How many tricks do I have to already have up my sleeve before I can have initial success? Too many in this case.
While the Mac support and development are in need of greater attention, other Mac users (professional and amateur) have found Inkscape's benefits are worth the extra effort.
The community is here to help where we can.
This is the Glyph for alt: ⌥
Seems you´re not just new to Inkscape but macOS as well.
So for your records:
option=alt=⌥
command=cmd=⌘
control=ctrl=^
(in case you´re looking for a native vector drawing app for your M1 machine look up AffinityDesigner)
Hi Bob. You have my sympathy. I'm also a recent Inkscape-on-Mac user and I agree that there's a learning curve. We're a small fraction of the community and the documentation and tutorials and help files normally assume you have Windows or Linux. That said, I also use the Windows version and the differences are mainly due to the operating system rather than the application.
I don't have a solution but it's not my experience. I happily run Inkscape v1.1 on an ancient MacBook Air from 2012 so this really surprises me. (Versions prior to v1.0 were unbearably slow on MacOS.)
This is awkward but you don't have to play keyboard twister. In MacOS, a three-finger drag on the trackpad is equivalent to click+drag with a mouse. My windows trackpad can't understand this multi-point trickery. The ctrl, alt and shift modifier keys have the same effect across windows and macos.
Finally, Inkscape doesn't have a 24-hour instant support hotline, but this forum has enthusiastic members ready to help all users, old and new, at every level with any OS!
And from 1.0 most Ctrl+something commands are turned in Cmd+Something commands.
Mac and Inkscape user here, if you need help please ask.
Conversely I had a Mac laptop on which that same key was specifically labelled 'Alt' and not 'Option'. I initially had the same confusion as you, but when using Mac-native applications that told me to press the Option key! Unfortunately Macs are not very consistent when it comes to keyboard layout: where I worked previously, across three different Mac laptops, each with an additional (Apple official) Bluetooth keyboard, we had five different keyboard layouts!
I've always advocated using Inkscape with a mouse, even on Linux and Windows. Sure, you can get by with a trackpad (and I have), or a graphics tablet (again, I have) but, for me, the experience has always been at its smoothest with a mouse (with scroll wheel) in one hand, and the keyboard under the other.
As has been noted above, version 1.0 uses the Cmd key for most of the system-standard commands (e.g. file or clipboard operations). But there are still a lot of non-system operations that require the Ctrl key. Personally I wish the change had been all-or-nothing, as I find the current mish-mash a little frustrating at times when I inevitably pick the wrong modifier.