Tiled clones -> Color: warn if fill (or stroke) of original tile is not 'Unset'

[Marek Jędrzejewski]

As shown on video
https://youtu.be/v1YW_dx7-H8
when creating tiled clones, objects doesn't get the color they should. The color can be seen in color preferences but not on the object itself.
Making the parent color unset changes nothing except it's harder to select objects.
Disconnecting clones doesn't help either.

[su_v (suv-lp)]

Please attach a test case (Inkscape SVG file) to the bug report to allow further investigation.

Likely though a question about usage, not a bug (the color(s) of the original tile need to be 'Unset' in order to allow restyling of individual clones [1]).

--
[1] http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Tiles-Color.html: «Two key points: First, the Fill and/or Stroke paint must be specified as 'Unset' (see the section called “Fill and Stroke Paint”). Second, an Initial color must be specified by using the Initial color of tiled clones dialog accessible by clicking on the color button next to the Initial Color label. Note that it is meaningless to have only a shift in Hue with a starting color of black or white. This is like trying to walk east from the North Pole. »

[Marek Jędrzejewski (slomianowlosy)]

Ok. My fault. I sprinted through the page you linked before, but I was disabling any color, not selecting 'unset'. It works fine now, but as it's involving some searching I think this could use some kind of warning message, when entering settings of clones color, that appears if you have color other than unset.
That would be great UX improvement ;)

[su_v (suv-lp)]

How would this work with more complex original tiles, e.g. a group (and multiple objects within that group, with only a few of them meant to be recolored in the individual cloned tiles)? Groups have by default fill and stroke 'Unset', but in such cases it is not the relevant object to check … How would Inkscape know (or guess) what the user wants in each specific case (i.e. which object inside the group was intentionally defined with a specific color, and which one with 'Unset'), and then warn the user accordingly? Or do you want Inkscape to prompt with a modal message dialog in all cases (even if the user knows how it works, and has carefully adjusted the paint values of the object(s) comprising the original tile)?

[Marek Jędrzejewski (slomianowlosy)]

I thought about warning in non-obstructing way. Something like these:
https://m2.behance.net/rendition/pm/20560631/disp/efc6e2963310777d0365d06689f2619b.png
Maybe it should appear for single objects only, not for groups, assuming that if user changes color for group, he knows what he's doing.

[su_v (suv-lp)]

How would you treat cases of a single object with stroke and fill, and the user wanting only one of them to be modified (e.g. fixed stroke color and unset fill; or a fixed color for the fill, and varied stroke color)? Warn only if both are defined? But then the use case of a filled-only object might not get warned about … Or a filled object with a stroke paint defined, but stroke width 0 (not visible)?

[Marek Jędrzejewski (slomianowlosy)]

Warn if there is no 'Unset' color in neither fill or border. It doesn't work with any other setting, so if 'Unset' is not set in any of them it means that user don't know about it or has forgot to do it.

[Marek Jędrzejewski (slomianowlosy)]

One more thing comes to my mind that could make it even better. A button in warning, allowing user to change the fill color to unset directly from there, without going to color settings.

[Mc (mc...)]

Aan easy thing to do could be to make current warning* (which only appears when hovering the "initial color" dialog) explicitly show up in the color dialog, maybe along with the interrogation mark icon from the F&S dialog to prevent confusion with "no fill".

*: "Works only if the original has unset fill or stroke"