Re: GdkPixbuf vs. Cairo, new image library needed?

["Raphael Bosshard" <raphael bosshard gmail com>]

Hei Kalle!

On 10/13/07, Kalle Vahlman <kalle vahlman gmail com> wrote:
> 2007/10/13, BJörn Lindqvist <bjourne gmail com>:
> > There is a
> > similar mismatch between GdkRectangle and cairo_rectangle_t.
>
> So are you suggesting GDK should operate in subpixel precision or that
> cairo would reduce it's precision? Either one sounds like a bad idea
> to me.

I'd love GDK to be subpixel precision. Really. More so: GDK's drawing
functions should not be output dependent. There are more and more
high-resolution screens around these days. Especially laptops tend to
have such screens. And then there are devices such as the XO which
have other unusual screens that somehow don't really fit into the
classic definition of pixel-based drawing. And with this
gigapixel-power appearing on the market, pixel based drawing is quite
a drawback.

GDK really should not care about pixels. That stuff should be in the
backends. And while GDK uses Cairo to render to screen, it doesn't all
the possibilities presented. GDK could go vecor.

Can you image a "Scale user interface" option in your desktop
preferences? With vector based drawing, moving to a
resolution-independent drawing would be within reach.