Re: Dia: Why is it so hard to do simple things?

["Octavio Alvarez" <alvarezp alvarezp ods org>]

On Thu, 08 Sep 2011 04:49:28 -0700, Andreas Spindler <info visualco de>
wrote:

> How can I get this diagram to be printed on one page, with equally sized
> boxes and the same font size?

I don't know about the UML sheets, as I mostly do network diagrams, but I
usually set it to Fit:1x1 in Page Setup. I then export it to PNG and print
it with Gimp or include it in an ODF Text Document. It will save you a lot
of time.

As for the text size, I am able to select multiple text boxes and bring
up the dialog as if they were a single group. I can change the text from
there.

There are aligning options, and even keyboard shortcuts to have a faster
work flow.

I don't know about uniform sizing, though. I *think* box sizes depend on
the contents for those figures, but don't take my word for it.

> This seems to be the least thing it should do for all diagram elements.
>
> I really like the specific properties dialog boxes for the different
> UML types, where I can edit operations and attributes. But the result
> is unusable.
>
> Please see the attached screenshot.

Sorry if I'm harsh on you, but I think you didn't even went through the
menus, and also you expected it work exactly like some particular other
program you may already know.

Also, your screenshot was 220K in size, which is huge for some
subscribers, and it was not informative enough. I don't even know what
exact boxes are you using there because I don't know UML. You
made it difficult for me to help you.

So, please, next time: try to make it smaller. Include a sample .dia
file. Ask specific questions. Provide fixes for your problems.

> I created a class and a box popped on the screen, so huge, I couldn't
> even read it.

Change your screen resolution to something more up to date?

Also, did you tweak your DPI, or did you change the font settings for
your desktop? Is your GTK+ theme misconfigured?

> This is one of these programs where I ask myself: "Are the
> programmers really use this themselves?"

I don't know, but I do know that your statement did absolutely nothing
to improve the software. We don't have a "git apply-whine". :-)

I do think that Dia has a lot of limitations, and the only way to
overcome them is to provide patches. This is a community-developed
piece of software. You are welcome to contribute with good bug reports
(not all bug reports are useful), and with good patches (not all
patches are useful).


--
Octavio.