Re: [RFR] templates://tgif/{tgif.templates}
On Sun, 2 Jan 2011, Justin B Rye wrote:
Jonathan Wiltshire wrote:
Your review should be sent as an answer to this mail.
I've only got suggestions for the control file, which changes most
of it but still needs more work; I'll just attach my draft version
rather than a proposed patch.
+_Description: Paper size to be used:
+ Select the size of paper to be used by Tgif. This
selection will be appended to the global Tgif initialization file.
[...]
+_Description: Units to use for the grid:
+ Select the units to be used by Tgif when rendering the grid. This will also
+ determine the scaling when the snap-to-grid option is enabled.
This all looks fair enough. Maybe you could say "Please select",
but if it was really being polite and considerate you'd think it
would just consult LC_PAPER and LC_MEASUREMENT for its defaults and
not bother the user with questions...
I think there might be value in allowing the user to select a measurement
which differs from the locale. As a scientist, I prefer working in metric
on my drawings even though I live in en_US.utf8 locale. For the
papersize, I could see making the selection based on LC_PAPER once I
figure out how to do it...
Tgif (originally the "Tangram Graphic Interface Facility") is a classic
drawing program for 2D vector graphics which can produce PostScript
output suitable for LaTeX.
("Classic" again is a euphemism for "antique".)
The long description could really do with being a bit longer; it doesn't
specify why I should want it or what it can do that other programs can't.
However, the homepage doesn't contain any more detail - even the getting
started guide has almost as short a description. Carlo, do you have any
suggestions?
Wikipedia makes some usefully complementary points at
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tgif_(program)", though its claim that
Tgif is unusual in using a grid makes no sense to me.
Is it worth mentioning the use of Prolog?
I just read the Wikipedia entry and it is probably a bit out of date too.
here is my suggestion for additions to the long description (I never
really liked the old one myself). This is description extracted from the
man page. The last paragraph mentions the file format and Prolog.
Perhaps it is overkill?
Tgif (originally the "Tangram Graphic Interface Facility") is a
classic drawing program for 2D vector graphics which supports
hierarchical construction of drawings and easy navigation between
sets of drawings.
Tgif natively produces PostScript output suitable for LaTeX (PS and
EPS), X11 bitmap, and X11 pixmap files. Other vector formats (SVG and
PDF) as well as raster file formats (JPEG, PNG, and GIF) can be
created with the use of standard filters.
Primitive objects supported by tgif are rectangles, ovals,
rounded-corner rectangles, arcs, polylines, polygons, open-splines,
closed-splines, and text (please note that the splines tgif draws
are not Bezier curves). Objects can be grouped together to form a
grouped object. A primitive or a grouped object can be made into an
icon object or a symbol object through user commands.
X11 bitmap files, X11 pixmap files (version 1.0 only) and
Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) files can be imported into tgif and be
represented as tgif primitive objects. Files in other raster formats
(e.g, JPEG, TIFF, etc.) can also be imported through the use of
external tools which convert them into X11 pixmap files.
Tgif stores drawings as a list of objects in a text file with a
.obj extension and individual building block objects in a symbol
file with a .sym extension. Both types of files are stored in the
form of Prolog facts. Prolog code can be written to interpret the
drawings.
Carlo
--
Carlo U. Segre -- Professor of Physics
Associate Dean for Graduate Admissions, Graduate College
Illinois Institute of Technology
Voice: 312.567.3498 Fax: 312.567.3494
segre@iit.edu http://www.iit.edu/~segre segre@debian.org
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