[sugar] icon assistance/validation

[Gary C Martin]

Hi Paul,

Hmmm, maybe I should adding to the SVG pages of the wiki. I've gone  
through much the same as you however decided to take another route as  
I didn't want the bloat of Inkscape files. I'm using a Mac so your  
milage may vary:

1) Have a dig around http://dev.laptop.org/git?p=artwork;a=tree to get  
an idea of the existing sugar icons, or look inside the source  
directories of existing activities. Toolbar icons and activity icons  
are slightly different so look for an example you like of the right  
type. If your browser supports SVG (Safari does) you can view some  
directly, but most are set with a white ink, so will be invisible  
viewed directly. Just download the svg file, edit  with a text editor  
(I use Xcode but anything with syntax colouring will be helpful) to  
change the colour and try viewing it in your web browser again.

2) Use the docs at http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/index.html#minitoc You  
don't need to read it all, but having a shimmy through the examples in  
Basic Shapes, and Paths should get you upto speed with the required  
xml. Probably also worth taking a look at the Mask section later on as  
it's pretty handy for a whole bunch of techniques.

3) Start with a working example SVG, and code up your icon step by  
step, using your browser to view changes as you go. You should still  
test the SVG from time to time in Sugar, it helps to see the artwork  
in context along with other sugar icons. If you're using a browser to  
preview, remember to change the colours temporally so you can see what  
you're doing.

Why do I like this approach? It keeps SVG files small and consistent  
with the Sugar fill/stroke requirements, and it forces you to design  
clean, simple and un-fussy icons. I used this approach for my Moon  
activity (activity icon and a couple of simple toolbar icons), and a  
full set of toolbar icons for the Calculate activity by Reinier  
Heeres, to replace the text he had been using.

Gary

On 12 Mar 2008, at 02:55, Paul Fox wrote:

> so, in no particular order, are there any linux tools to:
>    - "sugar validate" an icon?  i'm thinking of things like
> 	making sure all strokes are the same, all fills are the
> 	same (or unset), making sure that non-closed objects
> 	don't have a fill set, etc.
>    - display sugary previews of the icon, in its various colored
> 	and b/w renditions, and various sizes?
>    - automatically do the variable substitution required to make
> 	fill_color and stroke_color "animatable"?