Why is Inkscape designed to irritate Illustrator veterans?

[scherzo]

It feels like even the most basic, used every 2 seconds, operation seen in Illustrator...is achieved in some entirely new....intentionally un-intuitive way in Inkscape. Everything from selecting an object to just zooming in and out, has some supremely annoying way to do it. So far not ONE of these eccentric requirements improves on the user experience. In fact they seem different....just for the sake of being different. Like an idiot game developer who comes up with a never-before-seen control scheme for their otherwise generic shooter. It's pointless, and only encourages new Inkscape uses to click "uninstall" with all their might.

Perhaps there's an "Illustrator Set-up" mod out there for people who don't care about super-hip new ways to paste text...and just want some work done?

[brynn]

Inkscape is not intended to be a free Illustrator replacement.  Inkscape is its own program and has its own goals and purpose.  https://inkscape.org/learn/faq/#what-inkscape

Maybe some info in this other faq item will help?  https://inkscape.org/learn/faq/#why-inkscape-so-different-adobe-illustrator

Edit
Hhmm, it seems there's a link missing from that faq item.  I'll find a post shortly.

Edit #2
Here it is:  http://wiki.inkscape.org/wiki/index.php/Inkscape_for_Adobe_Illustrator_users

I think there's also something in the manual about it....  Here, although this one may be a bit outdated, you still should find some helpful info:  http://tavmjong.free.fr/INKSCAPE/MANUAL/html/Illustrator.html

[scherzo]

Thank you for the link.

"Our mission was creating a fully compliant Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) drawing tool written in C++ with a new, more user friendly (GNOME Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) compliant) interface and an open, community-oriented development process."

"User friendly" is logically a goal of ANY software, but in this case it's actually part of the stated mission. Which just makes it doubly confusing why Inkspace eschews so much basic functionality in favor of awkward weirdness that just slows down easy operations.

I realize that someone who dedicates themselves to becoming "Inkspace literate" will eventually become comfortable with it. But it's just bizarre that such an unnecessary learning curve was added. Your new automobile isn't going to help drivers by having the brake and accelerator switch places.

Anyway, I appreciate the response. Have a good day.

[flamingolady]

As stated above, Inkscape wasn't created out of, or to replace AI, so why expect it to mimic it.  You're comparing apples to oranges.  This forum thread is to help folks who want help in using Inkscape as is, perhaps your questions for discussion would be better asked in another thread.

[fluxrider]

Scherzo, your posts sound very familiar to me, I have seen people make exactly the same kinds of complaints about Photoshop, GIMP, etc.
There are much simpler graphic editors out there, ones that don't do much, and they typically are quite intuitive.  It's when a graphic editor is robust and capable that it always seems to require a weird learning curve, and present much frustration to new users.

[brynn]

You seem to be extrapolating that your experience must be everyone's experience.  To be honest, your experience does seem to be common among Illustrator users.  That's exactly why those resources I provided were created.  But I would stress again, that Inkscape's goal is not to be a free Illustrator alternative.  Inkscape's goal is to be a vector graphics editor which follows SVG standards.  It doesn't really care how Illustrator works.

I came to Inkscape without any previous experience with any computer graphics program.  I found it easy and fun to learn....up to a point, when I needed help.  Then I found a friendly community who didn't hesitate to answer my questions.  And to fluxrider's point, I found Inkscape to be incredibly complex.  There are parts of Inkscape that are so complex and technical that even after 12 years I don't understand, and parts that I probably never will understand.

Were I to decide to shell out tons of money (well, it would be tons for me) and start using Illustrator, I could have the same complaints as you.  Why does Illustrator work in this crazy way - it doesn't make any sense, when there is a much easier way to do these very basic things.

You might find it interesting to look at some other vector graphics editors too?

[jimbalny]

I understand where you're coming from as I have used illustrator since version 6.0 and have always wanted to like inkscape. After coming back to inkscape these past few years and seeing all the progress, forcing myself to use it for a few weeks and I've found that you can do everything and more in inkscape nowadays. If you haven't checked out the 1.0 beta I highly recommend that you do. 1.0 brings HiDPI awareness, updated UI, dark mode. A lot of extensions have broken with this update but I think the 1.0 release will bring many more users back into the fold as well as more updated extensions.

[brynn]

I'm sure the extensions will be fixed in time for the stable release.