TODO list

[C. Ecker]

On Tue, 2 Nov 2004, Joel Biddier wrote:

> >
> Post it. I would like to see what you are thinking. It maybe the start
> of a guide of tasks.

OK, below is my list of todo notes. It is surely incomplete and it is only
ment a starting point for the discussion. I also indicated what I am
working on. All other tasks should then be open (I guess).

[...]
> >
> For now, it may not be a bad idea for people to post their todo lists
> (post yours). From those lists we can prioritize. Essentially, weed out
> the junk or add to a ?stuff for later? list. It can be a starting point
> for a task list.
>
[...]

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(me)    I am working on that
A       Finish in 1st phase (catch up to 0.6)
B          ~      2nd phase (0.7 becomes "Skencil", 0.6 becomes "Skencil-Tk")
C          ~      3d phase  (catch up with state of the art free drawing progs)
D          ~      the far future
?       Optional

Web:
~~~~
. Release plan                  A
. Task list                     A
  Should include notes on
  * Difficulty
  * Where to start
  * How this could be done
  * ...
. Wiki                          A?

User Documentation:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
. Check whether the documentation on Linux-graphics is complete         B
. Make the Linux graphics the standard documentation                    B
. Update the documentation to the current 0.6                           A
. Update the documentation to 0.7                                       B
. Make a documentation package                                          B

Development documentation:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
. Additional topics:                    A
  - How to start
  - Things to mind
  - Commands, scripts
  - How to write an extension script
  - Writing plugin objects
  - Writing filter plugins
  - Using the Skencil CVS
  - A list of objects and messages
. Translations                          B


Planing:
~~~~~~~~
. Finish TODO list                                              A
. A concept for the GUI design                                  (me)
. Check Cairo                                                   C
  - Can it replace libart ?
  - What would be the effort ?
. Find a solution for creating PS-files with transparency       C
  - Use gnome print for PS-export ?                             C
. Should we use Gnome or stay with Gtk ?                        A

Plugins and Scripts:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
. Study the plugin mechanism.                                   A
  - What is already there, what is missing
  - Generic dialogs
. Would be nice to have a more flexible context menu which does
  not need to be registered at the start of Skencil             ?
. Translation of some scripts/plugins to 0.7                    C
. Collect plugins and scripts on the home page                  C
. Make a package with plugins and scripts                       C
. A good scripting window                                       A/C
. SVG export                                                    B
. SVG import                                                    B
. XFig import is unfinished                                     B
. XFig export                                                   ?


Core Coding:
~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Change 'Sketch' 'Skencil' (the sooner the better)             A
- A better text support *1                                      C
- A panel for text input                                        C
- Context menu in canvas                                        A
- The libart rendering bug                                      A
- A PS backend which can handle transparency                    C
- A replacement for libart                                      C
- Guide lines (what is missing?)                                A
- Transparency  *3                                              C
  . Export
  . Rendering of transparent gradients
- Extend file format (multi line text)  *2                      C


Missing Functionality:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Change stacking (move up/down/top/bottom)     A (me)
- Duplicate                                     A
- Clipboard (copy/cut/paste)                    A (me)
- ...


Missing or unfinished Panels /Dialogs:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Toolbox
- Fill panel
  . Extend for transparency             C
- Line panel
  . Extend for transparency             C (me)
  . Scaling of arrow heads              A (me)

- Font panel                            A
- Selection panel                       A
- Palettes                              A (me)
  . Editable                            D
- Layers panel                          A (me)
- Text panel                            D

- Styles panel                          A
- Grid panel                            A
- Document panel                        A
- Guide lines panel                     A
- Line/ Bezier dialog                   A

- Dashes dialog                         B
- Styles dialog                         B
- Arrow dialog                          B

- Print dialog                          A
  . Posterize option                    ?
- Generic dialogs for plugins/ scripts  A

Menu Entries which are in 0.6 but not yet in 0.7:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- File:
  . Save as PS
  . Print
  . Insert document
  . Options
  . About
- Edit
  . Copy/Cut/Paste
  . Select all
  . Duplicate
  . Create (-> Plugins)
  . Mode
- Effects
  . Remove transformation
  . Create blend group
  . Create mask group
  . Create path text
- Curve
  ...
- Arrange
  . Arrange panel
  . Change stacking
  . Grid panel
  . Create horizontal guide line
  . Create vertical guide line
  . Help lines panel
  . Page layout panel
- Style
  . No fill
  . Fill color
  . No line
  . Line (not finished)
  . Name style
  . Style panel (is this 0.7`s property panel?)
  . Update style
  . Font
- View
  . Do we need "New editor"/ "New view" ?
  . Do we need the treeview ?
  . Redraw
  . Crosshairs
- Script
- Windows
  . Hide /show all panels


*1 It could be started with a simple implementation which is already
  available, e.g. Marc Rose's area text or a stripped down version of my MyWord
  plugin. For later releases I would prefer MyWord because it has a much more
  flexible architecture. The backend should be pango (?).
*2 The file format should allow the text object to be extended in later
   releases (tables, Sketch objects as glyphs, ...)
*3 Probably translucency should be finished already at B. Then it is not
   necessary to program a version without transparency for B.

Ideas:
~~~~~~
. Is it possible to invert colors ? A negative transparency value could
  be used for that.
. A postscript export which can handle also transparency is not so difficult
  to implement in Skencil. Therefore linking to gnome-print could be avoided.
  The solution is roughly like this:
    * The PS-device maintains to two pixmaps a bw one and an ordinary
       color one. The later is just an image of the drawing. The bw device
       is used to mark which pixels are overlaid by transparent objects.
    * The PS-file is written as usual. In the end, for all pixels marked as
      "overlaid with transparent objects" a rectangle filled with the color
      taken from the corresponding pixel of the color pixmap is written.
. There should be 3 packages
    * Skencil
    * Skencil-Doc
    * Skencil-AddOns

  This way the user will see already upon installation that there are docs &
  addons