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Comment by meibo | Hacker News Reader

Inkscape definitely needs an UX refresh like Blender had one. It's very hard to pick up, lots of weird/arcane behavior that doesn't match other tools in the space.

Happy to see that work is still being done.

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It's only weird if you learn Illustrator first. For me it was extremely intuitive, and at this point the shortcuts are muscle memory. I taught it to 10 year olds for 3 years.

But... you want people to use the software you make as a developer, I assume? In the same way that Blender provides an input mode for Maya users, Inkscape could provide input modes for Illustrator users.

FOSS is supposed to serve people, if your system can easily accommodate that, I see absolutely no reason not to other than some ideological desire to be different.

If someone that has been using Illustrator for years tries Inkscape and goes "Why the hell would it work like that, that's insane", then gives up, that doesn't serve that user nor FOSS, and they go back to paying Adobe.

Just downloaded 1.2 for testing, and the setup/splashscreen has a "Keyboard" select with "Adobe illustrator" option.

There's a keyboard shortcut configuration for Illustrator users. Modifiers too, I hear the difference between ctrl and shift really hurts moving between programs.

Not a problem since 1.1

I briefly tested that with 1.1.2, at least r for rotate doesn't do anything.

Absolutely hard NO on that. I use inkscape almost every single day, and most of the buttons and tools are just pure muscle memory for me.

I genuinely do not understand this idea of doing "UX[sic] refreshes" on productivity software. Do people do design refreshes on hammers and screwdrivers?

"I want all my software to work in the same way, even if there are problems with the way it all works. I don't want developers to think about things and come up with new and potentially better ways, because then I have to learn stuff. Just make everything work the same, and I'll be happy, fast and productive."

So understandable. So depressing.

I have the opposite experience. I've tried Illustrator and some Corel products, but Inkscape has been the most easy-to-approach tool for me.

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