trunk/pages/index.html

title: Skencil, a vector drawing program

<h2>Latest news</h2>

<p>
<!--
 <b>:</b> <a href="news.html#newsIDx"></a>
        <br />
-->
 <b>2004-12-06:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID10"
        >German Manual updated</a>
        <br />
 <b>2004-11-11:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID9"
        >Screenshots updated; BuildImage 1.0</a>
        <br />
 <b>2004-09-28:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID8"
        >New Add-ons: skLaTeX, Calendar, 
        Equal-area proj, PolygloText, Autoshapes</a>
        <br />

 <b>2004-03-04:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID7">Skencil RPMs for Red Hat 7.3 - 9
  and Fedora Core 1 available</a><br />
</p>

<p><a href="news.html">More news...</a></p>

<h2>Introduction to Skencil</h2>

<p>Skencil is a Free Software interactive vector drawing
appliction. Known to run on
<a href="platforms.html">GNU/Linux and other
UNIX-compatible systems</a>, it is a flexible and
powerful tool for illustrations, diagrams and other
purposes.</p>

<p>A somewhat unique (for a drawing program) feature of
Skencil is that it is implemented almost completely in a
very high-level, interpreted language,
<a href="links.html">Python</a>. Python is powerful,
object-oriented and yet easy to use.</p>
<hr />


<p>Just a few highlights about Skencil's features</p>

<ul>
  <li>B&eacute;zier Curves</li>

  <li>Transformed text and images</li>

  <li>B&eacute;zier curves, rectangles and ellipses can
  be used as guides</li>

  <li>Gradient fills</li>

  <li>Blend groups</li>

  <li>Writes EPS files</li>

  <li><a href="features.html#N2">Text along a
  path</a></li>

  <li><a href="features.html">many more...</a></li>
</ul>


<h2>Status</h2>

<p>The current stable release is 0.6.16. Skencil is quite
usable already, even for production use, in my opinion.
The low version number is mainly due to lack of some
important features such as good text support.</p>

<p>The 0.6.x series will likely see minor improvements
over time, but no major changes to the core. There may be
more improvements in the import and export filters,
though.</p>

<p>Real development takes place in the unstable 0.7.x
<a href="devel.html">developer series</a>. Among the
major goals of this series is a port to GTK+, better text
support and a multi document interface.</p>

<p>The 0.7.x series of Skencil also supports more operating systems
(including Microsoft Windows) because GTK+ is ported to many platforms.</p>


<h2>Features</h2>
<p>In addition to the standard features (rectangles, ellipses, curves, text
etc.) that you expect from a vector drawing program, Skencil also has some
more advanced features like possibility to bend text along a path. See the
<a href="features.html">features page</a> for a comprehensive list of
features.</p>

<h2>Requirements</h2>

<p>Apart from the sources of Skencil, you need some
additional software. See the
<a href="download.html">download page</a> for details
on what software and where you can get it.</p>

<p>For Skencil to work properly with transformed text,
you also need an X-server capable of scaling and
transforming fonts. (XFree86 does support this.
Otherwise, you need X11R6 as far as I know).</p>

<p>Skencil currently supports only TrueColor visuals with
depths of 15, 16, 24 or 32 bits and 8-bit PseudoColor
visuals.</p>

<h2><a name="N2" id="N2">Contact &amp; Mailing
list</a></h2>

<p>There's a mailing list for all Skencil-related topics.
You can subscribe to it via the web-interface at
<a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sketch-list">
http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sketch-list</a>
or by sending a mail with the word subscribe in the
subject to
<a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=subscribe">
[email protected]</a>.</p>

<p>You can also
<a href="mailto:[email protected]">contact
me directly</a>, although I'd prefer to discuss things on
the mailing list.</p>

<p>If you want to report bugs, please have a look at the
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=100828&amp;group_id=828&amp;func=browse">
bug tracker</a> first.</p>

<p>New versions are announced on the mailing list, on the
SourceForge
<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/sketch">Skencil
page</a> and on
<a href="http://freshmeat.net/">freshmeat</a>.</p>

<h2>License</h2>

<p>Skencil itself is published under the terms of the
<a href="LGPL">GNU Library General Public License
(LGPL)</a>. Some of the code distributed with Skencil is
not directly part of Skencil and is distributed under a
Python-style license.</p>

<p>I've put it under the LGPL, because many parts of
Skencil can be used as a library (and are used by Skencil
that way), and the LGPL is less restrictive than the
normal GNU General Public License when it comes to
distributing an LGPL'ed library with software covered by
a different license.</p>
1	jpaalasm	606	title: Skencil, a vector drawing program
2
3			<h2>Latest news</h2>
4
5			<p>
6			<!--
7	bernhard	626	<b>:</b> <a href="news.html#newsIDx"></a>
8			<br />
9	jpaalasm	606	-->
10	bernhard	626	<b>2004-12-06:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID10"
11			>German Manual updated</a>
12			<br />
13	bernhard	625	<b>2004-11-11:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID9"
14			>Screenshots updated; BuildImage 1.0</a>
15			<br />
16	bernhard	618	<b>2004-09-28:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID8"
17			>New Add-ons: skLaTeX, Calendar,
18			Equal-area proj, PolygloText, Autoshapes</a>
19	bernhard	625	<br />
20	jpaalasm	606
21			<b>2004-03-04:</b> <a href="news.html#newsID7">Skencil RPMs for Red Hat 7.3 - 9
22			and Fedora Core 1 available</a><br />
23			</p>
24
25			<p><a href="news.html">More news...</a></p>
26
27			<h2>Introduction to Skencil</h2>
28
29			<p>Skencil is a Free Software interactive vector drawing
30			appliction. Known to run on
31			<a href="platforms.html">GNU/Linux and other
32			UNIX-compatible systems</a>, it is a flexible and
33			powerful tool for illustrations, diagrams and other
34			purposes.</p>
35
36			<p>A somewhat unique (for a drawing program) feature of
37			Skencil is that it is implemented almost completely in a
38			very high-level, interpreted language,
39			<a href="links.html">Python</a>. Python is powerful,
40			object-oriented and yet easy to use.</p>
41			<hr />
42
43
44			<p>Just a few highlights about Skencil's features</p>
45
46			<ul>
47			<li>Bézier Curves</li>
48
49			<li>Transformed text and images</li>
50
51			<li>Bézier curves, rectangles and ellipses can
52			be used as guides</li>
53
54			<li>Gradient fills</li>
55
56			<li>Blend groups</li>
57
58			<li>Writes EPS files</li>
59
60			<li><a href="features.html#N2">Text along a
61			path</a></li>
62
63			<li><a href="features.html">many more...</a></li>
64			</ul>
65
66
67			<h2>Status</h2>
68
69			<p>The current stable release is 0.6.16. Skencil is quite
70			usable already, even for production use, in my opinion.
71			The low version number is mainly due to lack of some
72			important features such as good text support.</p>
73
74			<p>The 0.6.x series will likely see minor improvements
75			over time, but no major changes to the core. There may be
76			more improvements in the import and export filters,
77			though.</p>
78
79			<p>Real development takes place in the unstable 0.7.x
80			<a href="devel.html">developer series</a>. Among the
81			major goals of this series is a port to GTK+, better text
82			support and a multi document interface.</p>
83
84			<p>The 0.7.x series of Skencil also supports more operating systems
85			(including Microsoft Windows) because GTK+ is ported to many platforms.</p>
86
87
88			<h2>Features</h2>
89			<p>In addition to the standard features (rectangles, ellipses, curves, text
90			etc.) that you expect from a vector drawing program, Skencil also has some
91			more advanced features like possibility to bend text along a path. See the
92			<a href="features.html">features page</a> for a comprehensive list of
93			features.</p>
94
95			<h2>Requirements</h2>
96
97			<p>Apart from the sources of Skencil, you need some
98			additional software. See the
99			<a href="download.html">download page</a> for details
100			on what software and where you can get it.</p>
101
102			<p>For Skencil to work properly with transformed text,
103			you also need an X-server capable of scaling and
104			transforming fonts. (XFree86 does support this.
105			Otherwise, you need X11R6 as far as I know).</p>
106
107			<p>Skencil currently supports only TrueColor visuals with
108			depths of 15, 16, 24 or 32 bits and 8-bit PseudoColor
109			visuals.</p>
110
111			<h2><a name="N2" id="N2">Contact & Mailing
112			list</a></h2>
113
114			<p>There's a mailing list for all Skencil-related topics.
115			You can subscribe to it via the web-interface at
116			<a href="http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sketch-list">
117			http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/sketch-list</a>
118			or by sending a mail with the word subscribe in the
119			subject to
120			<a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=subscribe">
121			[email protected]</a>.</p>
122
123			<p>You can also
124			<a href="mailto:[email protected]">contact
125			me directly</a>, although I'd prefer to discuss things on
126			the mailing list.</p>
127
128			<p>If you want to report bugs, please have a look at the
129			<a href="http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?atid=100828&group_id=828&func=browse">
130			bug tracker</a> first.</p>
131
132			<p>New versions are announced on the mailing list, on the
133			SourceForge
134			<a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/sketch">Skencil
135			page</a> and on
136			<a href="http://freshmeat.net/">freshmeat</a>.</p>
137
138			<h2>License</h2>
139
140			<p>Skencil itself is published under the terms of the
141			<a href="LGPL">GNU Library General Public License
142			(LGPL)</a>. Some of the code distributed with Skencil is
143			not directly part of Skencil and is distributed under a
144			Python-style license.</p>
145
146			<p>I've put it under the LGPL, because many parts of
147			Skencil can be used as a library (and are used by Skencil
148			that way), and the LGPL is less restrictive than the
149			normal GNU General Public License when it comes to
150			distributing an LGPL'ed library with software covered by
151			a different license.</p>
Name	Value
svn:eol-style	native
svn:executable	*
svn:keywords	Author Date Id Revision