Re: [Tuxpaint-users] Saving Artwork in Tuxpaint FAILS

[Bill K. <nb...@so...>]

On Thu, Sep 14, 2017 at 01:19:25PM +0000, George DiceGeorge wrote:
> Tuxpaint doesnt have a File / Save As dialog
> (last time I looked)
> which means its just a time wasting toy,
> not a tool for artists:
> 
> there's so much great art created by kids and grownups I know
> but when they click Save it gets overwritten.
> 
> Tell me I'm wrong and you've fixed it
> or fix it soon please!

Hi George!  I just responded to your same comment over on Facebook,
but for the record (and so that others out here involved in both the
development, and use, of Tux Paint, can chime in, if they're interested!)

=====

Hi George - It's possible to configure Tux Paint to either always save
a new image, every time Save is clicked (for people with big hard
drives, and youngsters who don't quite understand how to use a
computer), or to always save over the current image (obviously more
dangerous). By _default_, Tux Paint asks whether the current image
should be overwritten, or a new one created. (But since that can add
complication to a program meant for kids as young as 3 years
old... hence the option to disable it, and choose either one, or the
other, as a default. :) )

But yes, it's not really meant to be a "tool for artists", just like
kids' crayons aren't really _meant_ to. Sure, they _can_ be (and Tux
Paint can be as well), but it's meant to be a simple tool for the
youngest and least experienced users out there. There are plenty of
professional-level tools (both free (including open source) and
commercial)... Tux Paint can be a "jumping off point" for those! :)

====

FWIW, the "Always Save Over" & "Never Save Over" options
(which remove the prompt/dialog that comes up) was added to
Tux Paint way back in the release from Sept. 15, 2002 (15 years ago
tomorrow!)...  so it's been around since Tux Paint was about
3 months old. ;-)

That said, I know people have asked about a "proper" save dialog
in Tux Paint, which would almost certainly need to be platform-specific
(whereas 99% of Tux Paint is platform-independent... the UI is basically
identical on Linux, Windows, macOS/Mac OS X, and even Android, and iOS).

It would certainly need to be a 'power user' option (relatively speaking,
for Tux Paint's audience, of course!), since one of the goals of Tux Paint
is to provide a safe place, where an inexperienced user is prevented from
doing harm to the computer they're using (overwriting files, launching
other applications, etc.)

I don't believe much work to develop such a feature has been done, at
this point, though.  You aren't, of course, the first to ask!  (The oldest
record I see is a ticket from about 5.5 years ago, over on SourceForge:
https://sourceforge.net/p/tuxpaint/feature-requests/167/)

Of course, if I could magically cause anything to get done to Tux Paint,
a "Save As..." dialog would not be up very high on the list. :)  There
are much bigger things to worry about, like:

NUMBER 1!!!!

 * Addressing problems caused by later versions of Mac OS X & macOS

And many others... :)

 * Full migration from CVS to Git software repository
 * Upgrading to libSDL 2
 * Proper Android & iOS support, as part of the main codebase
 * Improving some caching (e.g. in "New" dialog, which can be very slow)
 * Improvements to on-screen keyboard feature
 * Addressing issues with touchscreens under Windows (maybe fixed by SDL 2?)


My own personal time available for Tux Paint has dropped a lot since
having children, and my current job (which I've had for almost as long
as I've been a parent!)

I'm hopeful that with a few less responsibilities (no longer running a
monthly computer club, or annual retro-gaming/-computing show), and
with both of my children now (finally!) in school, I may have some more
spare moments (like now!) to get back into the project.

(Not that I currently have the skills, experience, or equipment, to
even start tackling some of the important items above :) ... but at
the least, I can try to help find people who CAN help!)


Anyway, sorry that this came out to be an extra long response, but
I just wanted to share some of the motivation for the current feature
(and make sure you were fully aware of how it worked, and how it can
be reconfigured!), and explain why it's not really an "easy" thing
to do...  and why, because there are definitely bigger things to work
on within Tux Paint, it's probably not going to be something that
gets added any time soon.  (Unless some random developer out there
decides to jump in and add something!  It'd probably be best if it
were fully multi-platform, including support for both old & new
Windows, Mac OS X/macOS, Linux (hrm, GTK, or Qt, or?), Android,
and iOS -- wait, do people really even use "files" on those!? :) )

-- 
-bill!
Sent from my computer