default page size from locale

[Mwtoews-users]

Hi,
The default page size for an Inkscape document should
be set according to the system locale: either A4 or
Letter. I am using v. 0.44 on WinXPSP2. My computer
language is set to "English (Canada)" (or LANG=en_CA in
cygwin). My default paper size in Inkscape defaults to
A4, however this should be Letter (as well as for
"fr_CA", "en_US", and others).

As a suggestion, I've been looking around in the
GTK+2.x API, and I see GtkPaperSize and
gtk_paper_size_get_default() in the GTK library. Maybe
(or not) this function is used already in Inkscape? Or
maybe it is broken in GTK+? I couldn't find the
dialogue in the Inkscape SVN tree. (I also could not
find GtkPaperSize in the GTK+ 2.6.2 API .. was it
[re]moved?)

Thanks,
+mt

[Tjvigil66 (tjvigil66)]

Originator: NO

+1

Can't all Inkscape defaults be placed into an XML file - default page size
included?

[jenningsthecat (jenningsthecat)]

I disagree with this whole 'locale' approach, as it doesn't recognize individual users' needs. For example, I live in Canada; we're "officially" a metric country, but when it comes to certain industries, English units are the rule. I personally never use Metric units in my mechanical drawings, and only when required by a specific component in my printed circuit board designs. I'm quite happy to set up each individual app's defaults with regard to units, page size, time/date format, etc. An option to honour the system locale would be nice, but for God's sake give users the ability to configure their own defaults via an easily-accessible GUI if they so desire.

[David Bolton (davidkbolton)]

The goal would be to get it right for most users. US Letter is should be the default page size for United States, Canada, Chile, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and the Philippines (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_(paper_size) ). A4 for every other locale.

A related issue is the fact that the default.svg is saved in the Program Files instead of the AppData folder on Windows. So even if you change the default.svg to US Letter you have to redo those changes with every update/install.