extensions menu improvements

[Brynn]

Hi Friends,
Initially I had started a discussion on the mailing list about this. But now I think I should formalilze it here. (https://sourceforge.net/p/inkscape/mailman/message/36407155/)

As part of a project to get all the external extensions (approx 300) listed in one place, I'm using the current Extensions menu as a starting place to organize them. Focussing on it, I realize some improvements may be needed.

I propose that Stylesheet should be a submenu under Web.
I propose that Typography should be a submenu under Text.

Because so many extension writers are creating their own submenus for their extensions (often using the name of the hardware which the extension is used with), people who use a lot of external extensions probably have a disorganized menu.

So I wonder if it would make sense to create a menu structure which is ready and waiting for those external extensions to be installed. Even if some submenus would remain empty, and even though they would remain empty for most users, I think it would be better than the kind of menu that results from each author making their own submenu. Hopefully having the menu structure in place would inspire authors to use them, rather than make their own?

To accommodate the external extensions, we would need some new submenus, such as:

 - Animation/Presentation (10 to 12 extensions)
 - Gcode (the current Gcodetools submenu would appear under this submenu, along with approx 20 more extensions which produce gcode)
 - Misc Laser Tools (10)
 - Extensions for Programmers (2)

 - The current Export menu would need these submenus:
 - - Android (5)
 - - DXF (8)
 - - SCAD (7)
 - - JSON (4)
 - - TIKZ (4)
 - - PDF (7)
 - - Other (there are currently approx 30 Others, and possibly a couple more submenus could be created out of these 30)

 - The current Render menu would need these submenus:
 - - Boxmakers, Packaging (11)
 - - EggBot Stuff (4)
 - - Fiber Arts Stuff (10) (well, we probably would not use "stuff" in the menu)
 - - Music Stuff (7)
 - - Games, Game Boards (5)
 - - Grids, Guides (6)
 - - Tables, Charts, Graphs, Plots (12)
 - - Shapes, Patterns (13)
 - - Gears, Ratchets (4)
 - - Other (44) (possibly some other submenus could be created with these?)

And there's still a group of 8 or 10 which I'm not sure where they fit (currently all are in "custom" submenus, named after the hardware they work with (such as Formaker Laser, KM Laser, Mazakodron 3000, Cricut, etc.)

In the mailing list discussion, some other nice potential features were mentioned, such as a user configured menu, and an extensions manager with a search/filter feature. Hopefully those people will post comments below :-)

Thank you very much.

[Martin Owens (doctormo)]

You can post this to the inkscape-extensions gitlab repository too.

[Andrew Kurn (kurn)]

I like the idea of using the word /generate/ for extensions that add new things to the current drawing (as opposed to /render/). Brynn has commented that this might be confused with /Generate from Path/, but /Generate from Path/ would be a natural sub-menu of /Generate/.

[Brynn (brynn4inks-deactivatedaccount)]

Martin,
Oh, I didn't know there was anything about the program at gitlab yet. I thought only website issues, docs, and vectors team was there.

I'll look it up.

Thanks.

No, I like that idea now, Andrew, with Generate from Path being submenu under Generate. That makes sense. Thanks

[Brynn (brynn4inks-deactivatedaccount)]

Didn't get a chance to post at gitlab yet, but maybe later today.

Before I forget, I suggest that Extensions menu > Render > Hershey Text, should rather be in Text submenu.

Thanks.

[Patrick Storz (ede123)]

Moved to https://gitlab.com/inkscape/extensions/issues/10