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

["Kalle Vahlman" <kalle vahlman gmail com>]

2007/10/15, 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.

Pixel-based drawing is already a drawback, no need to wait for bigger
screens. But that's why nobody uses GDK to _draw_ anything anymore,
right (well, except pixbufs of course)? That's why GDK offers a simple
way for you to get a cairo surface to which you can plot with your
generic drawing method which is reused for printing etc.

> 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.

Of course, I dream of it every night and clean the sheets in the
morning. But that doesn't mean I agree that it's the platform
abstraction layer that should be doing it. If you take away the
drawing portion of GDK, there's lots of stuff left that have nothing
to do with vectorizing you screen. Changing GDK to "go vector" would
likely require massive changes to those portions too (not going to
happen) or a complete rewrite.

-- 
Kalle Vahlman, zuh iki fi
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