Introduction to Inkscape 1.0 - Parts of the Inkscape Graphical User Interface

Introduction To Inkscape 1.0

In my last post, I shared with my five reasons why I love using Inkscape. In that post, I also shared some of the things that you can do with Inkscape.

In this post, I will introduce to you the basics of Inkscape, particularly the Graphical User Interface or the GUI

When I started this post, I was using version 0.92. 

The Inkscape GUI

1. Main Menu 

2. Tool Controls bar

3. Toolbox

4. Commands Bar

5. Snap Controls Bar

6. Color Pallete 

7. Rulers

8. Scroll bar

9. Status Bar

10. Command Dialog Box

11. Page

12. Canvass

1. Main Menu 

The Main Menu contains all the commands that you need in Inkscape. The main options are:

• File - contains all the commands pertaining to the file. This includes creating new, opening, saving, and exporting files. You will also find here if you want to change the page size or the orientation.
  
  
• Edit - Some of the commands are: Select, Copy, Cut, Paste, Find/Replace, and other editing commands.
  
  
• View - The commands here let you control how the GUI appears, including showing and hiding the different control bars of Inkscape.
  
  
  
  
  
• Layer- By default, Inkscape has one layer, but you can add new layers. You can put a group of related objects in one layer then another group of related objects on another layer.
  
  
• Objects- shapes, lines, and everything else is treated as objects in Inkscape. This is where you will find the commands to control them.
  
  
• Paths - Paths are the lines and nodes that compose the objects. The shapes and text can be converted into paths so that their lines and nodes can be manipulated.
  
  
• Text - Not only you can change fonts and font sizes, but there are also other things that you can do with the text in Inkscape.
  
  
• Extensions- Extensions are added functionality for Inkscape. Extensions developed by independent programmers can be added to Inkscape.
  
  
• Help - Under help, you will find links to the Inkscape Manual, tutorials, FAQs, and other helpful information about Inkscape.

2. Tool Controls Bar 

The Tool Controls Bar contains entry boxes and buttons that are specific to the selected tool. These are additional options for the selected tool.

3. Toolbox

The Toolbox contains the "Tools” for creating, selecting, or modifying different objects. 

4. Commands Bar

The Commands Bar contains shortcuts to the commonly used items that you can find in the menus.

5. Snap Controls Bar

The Snap Controls Bar contains the options for snapping. I discuss this fully in my future post. 

6. Color Pallete 

Clicking on the colors from the palette would change the FIll color of the object. Using the Shift key while clicking will change the Stroke color instead. The color used by some tools can be set by clicking on a color swatch. The palette can be changed by clicking on the arrow icon at the right end of the palette. 

7. Rulers

Show the x- and y-axis coordinates of the drawing. Clicking and dragging the mouse from a Ruler onto the Canvas creates a Guide Line.

8. Scroll bar

Allows scrolling to adjust which part of the Canvas is viewable.

9. Status Bar 

The Status bar shows information regarding the current canvass and selection. This including the Style Indicator, current drawing layer, pointer position, and others. 

The Style Indicator shows the Fill and Stroke colors of a selected object, text fragment, or gradient stop.

10. Command Dialog Box

The Dockable Command Dialog Box shows the options available for the selected commands or tools. By default the Command Dialog Box is hidden.

11. Canvass

The drawing area. It may extend outside the viewable area. It can be panned (scrolled left/right and up/down) and zoomed.

12. Page

This is the part of the Canvas area corresponding to a printed page or other predefined areas. Useful for setting an output region in printing or exporting a bitmap image. The size of the page can be defined in the Page Properties Dialog Box.

These are the basic parts of the Inkscape Graphical User Interface (GUI). At this point, if you not quite familiar with the GUI yet, it is best to explore them. It would be much easier for you to use Inkscape once you get the 'feel' of the interface.

Next 'Inkscape Basics: Creating A New Project.

Reference:

Inkscape: The Guide To Vector Drawing