[Macworld]

Post your comments for Inkscape 0.47 here

[axnicho]

It’s a bit of a stretch to describe X11 as ‘a way to run Linux apps on the Mac without a lot of trouble’. X11 is a venerable windowing system used by almost all Unix (and Unix-like) systems, including Linux and Mac OS X. It’s not some kind of emulator or compatibility layer (though, of course, most applications developed for Mac OS X use Apple’s own proprietary windowing system instead). Inkscape is (in a significant sense) a native Mac OS X application; it just doesn’t use Apple’s preferred user interface. Also, talking about files being ‘saved to the Finder’ is a little clumsy. The files are saved to the filing system, and the Finder is one of many applications that can access the filing system. (But perhaps for most normal users, the Finder is where files go, so maybe I shouldn’t be so pedantic about that.)

[maeric]

Inkscape certainly is a robust vector app for being Open Source. For professional use, there is no CMYK support. As the developers say:

"For Inkscape to be accepted in the print world, there must be good reliable support for both RGBA and CMYK color spaces. At the moment, the easiest way to get Inkscape SVG into CMYK color spaces is via import into Scribus or using Acrobat Distiller on Win32."

Scribus?! Hmmm.

Anyway, I've used it quite a bit and there is a lot going for its feature set. For a Mac user the UI is rather Windows-ish. FreeHand remains my go-to app but kudos to Inkscape for challenging Illustrator.

[RhymingDesigner]

I've been using Illustrator for nearly 20 years and as much as I love it, I'm very happy to see a product competing in AI's general sphere. For the casual user, Inkscape seems like a reasonable way to generate some vector artwork.

As for the accompanying screenshot, shouldn't the artwork demonstrate the point of the article? No so here.

[meiotic]

I had been using Illustrator CS3 for graphics for scientific publications, but was looking for a lower cost alternative to replace Illustrator CS5. However, I recently switched to EazyDraw 3.4.1 and have been very pleased. I have found the application to be functionally equivalent to Illustrator for the type of graphics I need to make. I tried Inkscape, but felt it did not really measure up to EazyDraw (it also worth noting that the MacCentral review of EazyDraw is out of date and does not describe the plethoria of features that have been added since it was written). And just to clarify, I have no connection to EazyDraw, other than being a pretty happy customer.

[mjtomlin]

"drawing application that uses X11, a way to run Linux apps on the Mac without a lot of trouble"

X11 is not a Linux emulator, it is an open source windowing system that is built into most Unix and Unix-like system. It also ships as one of two windowing systems in Mac OS X, the other being Apple's Aqua interface.

That being said, Inkscape is an excellent application. I've been using it for a couple of years now. Although it is a bit hard to get used the interfaces when jumping back and forth, it is definitely usable.

I'm surprised the article doesn't even mention the fact that it's one of the few drawing apps that supports the open SVG format, which is great for making scalable web images. In fact, when I do make images/drawings for websites I create an SVG file and a PNG file.

[HaoAnhLe]

Image failed to mount twice.