Update "Columns" in inkscape default palette

[Denilson Sá]

TL;DR:
sed -i 's/Columns: 3/Columns: 27/' "share/palettes/inkscape.gpl"

Since I have both Gimp and Inkscape installed, I have decided to add /usr/share/inkscape/palettes path to Gimp, so that Gimp can now use the built-in Inkscape palettes.

However, the "inkscape.gpl" one is not optimized because it is configured to 3 columns, while a better value would have been 27. So I suggest changing that value.

https://bazaar.launchpad.net/~inkscape.dev/inkscape/trunk/view/head:/share/palettes/inkscape.gpl

The "Gray.gpl" is also awful, but it is not terribly useful anyway, and bug 602698 suggest killing some palettes.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/602698

[Denilson Sá (denilsonsa)]

"MATLAB-Jet-72.gpl" is also configured for 3 columns, and most likely can also have the column count updated.

[jazzynico (jazzynico)]

I agree the palettes should be more consistent. I just checked the Gimp palettes, and found out that in most palettes the columns value isn't set, except for the following ones:
----
#grep -H -r Columns /usr/share/gimp/2.0/palettes/
/usr/share/gimp/2.0/palettes/Ega.gpl:Columns: 16
/usr/share/gimp/2.0/palettes/Named_Colors.gpl:Columns: 16
/usr/share/gimp/2.0/palettes/Web.gpl:Columns: 6
/usr/share/gimp/2.0/palettes/Visibone.gpl:Columns: 16
/usr/share/gimp/2.0/palettes/Visibone_2.gpl:Columns: 16
/usr/share/gimp/2.0/palettes/Tango.gpl:Columns: 3
/usr/share/gimp/2.0/palettes/Plasma.gpl:Columns: 16
----
It seems that the default value for Gimp (when no columns is set, or when it's set to 0) is 16, and thus only web and tango have different values.

With Inkscape, we have:
-----
# grep -H -r Columns /usr/local/share/inkscape/palettes/
/usr/local/share/inkscape/palettes/Tango-Palette.gpl:Columns: 3
/usr/local/share/inkscape/palettes/Gray.gpl:Columns: 3
/usr/local/share/inkscape/palettes/inkscape.gpl:Columns: 3
/usr/local/share/inkscape/palettes/LaTeX-Beamer.gpl:Columns: 0
/usr/local/share/inkscape/palettes/MATLAB-Jet-72.gpl:Columns: 3
/usr/local/share/inkscape/palettes/echo-palette.gpl:Columns: 3
/usr/local/share/inkscape/palettes/Android-icon-palette.gpl:Columns: 1
----
Inkscape palettes use the column value in the Palette dialog (Shift+Ctrl+W) it has no effect on the scrollable zone at the bottom of the Inkscape UI. The palettes also default to 16 columns when the value is not set (or 0).

If I understand correctly, the idea is that the column number should grow with the colors a palette has. Thus it's perfectly correct to set very low values for Echo, Android and Tango. I agree that Gray and Inkscape should have more columns, and the default value (16) should be enough (27 seems too high IMHO). For MATLAB-Jet-72, I'd favor an intermediate value (6).

[su_v (suv-lp)]

> and the default value (16) should be enough (27 seems too high IMHO)

I like it because it nicely arranges the different color shades - Inkscape's 'X' it inserts at the start of the swatches tends to break the display of the palette when columns are used to arrange the swatches based on shades (or other types of ordering).

(This is only relevant if using the 'Swatches' dialog to display the palette)

[Denilson Sá (denilsonsa)]

Indeed, that "Swatches" panel behaves like Gimp one. It is unfortunate that it adds a "X" color at the beginning, because it breaks the layout of some palettes such as "Visibone". Should we open another bug to suggest moving the "X" color to somewhere else?

[jazzynico (jazzynico)]

~suv > I like it because it nicely arranges the different color shades

Do you mean you prefer 16 or 27 columns?

Denilson> It is unfortunate that it adds a "X" color at the beginning

I'm not sure it's easily possible, but maybe removing the X from the Swatches dialog and keeping it in the bottom palette would be a good compromise?

[Denilson Sá (denilsonsa)]

About the "X", I can think about:

* Removing from the swatch (but keeping at the bottom palette).
* Moving it to the LAST color, so that it won't break the layout.
* Showing it in its own row, with rest of the colors below it.

Personally, I believe the middle solution (moving to the last) seems to be a good compromise (no loss of functionality, but also easy enough to implement).

[su_v (suv-lp)]

On 2015-02-11 13:21 (+0100), jazzynico wrote:
> On 2015-02-06 11:20 (+0100), ~suv wrote:
>> On 2015-02-06 11:10 (+0100), jazzynico wrote:
>>> and the default value (16) should be enough (27 seems too high
>>> IMHO)
>>
>> I like it because it nicely arranges the different color shades
>
> Do you mean you prefer 16 or 27 columns?

No, I prefer 27 to 16 (if the 'X' (as currently) is inserted at the first position, without a row break).

On 2015-02-11 14:26 (+0100), Denilson Sá wrote:
> About the "X", I can think about:

Voting for:
> * Showing it in its own row, with rest of the colors below it.

Reason: quick accessibility, independent of the height of the dialog.

For the position in the palette below the canvas, this report has a useful proposal to improve accessibility to the 'X' independent of how far the palette was scrolled:
- Bug #1397560 “X swatch on palette stays put on scroll- wishlist”

[jazzynico (jazzynico)]

Trunk update with new values rev. 13920.

Gray 3 -> removed
LaTeX-Beamer 0 -> removed
MATLAB-Jet-72 3 -> 6
Inkscape 3-> 27

[jazzynico (jazzynico)]

Follow-up report for the X color issue:
Bug #1421932 "The X color breaks the palette display in the swatches dialog"
https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1421932