Hello,

I think it would be very benefical, if the zoom factor would change linearly instead exponentially when you scroll your mouse wheel.

Hi

How much should we increment when zooming in ? +25 ?
So zooming in would be 100,125,150,175,200 and so on ?
But when zooming out, what values would you expect ? 100,75,50,25 then 0 ?

Exponent scale looks more clever to me.
Could you elaborate a bit why linear zoom factor would be more benefical ?

I would say the increment should be +10 or +20.

I think you have a better control with a linear zoom factor. If you have to zoom a lot over wide ranges than it could be the case that the exponential zoom factor zooms too much (e.g. from 200% to 400% instead to 250%). And so you have to change the zoom factor manually. It would be no problem to do that but it would make some work much easier and faster.
Another idea would be if you would have a selection for either a linear or an exponential zoom factor.

>I would say the increment should be +10 or +20.
>I think you have a better control with a linear zoom factor.
> If you have to zoom a lot over wide ranges than it could be the case that the exponential zoom factor zooms too much (e.g. from 200% to 400% instead to 250%).

So the problem is the zoom factor not the fact it's exp vs linear.
You can set the zoom factor in the preferences (shit+ctrl+p) in the steps/factor section (not sure of the name, in French it's 'incréments')
Value should be 141% meaning you need two steps to x2
If you want to do it
in 3 steps : value should be 126% (2^ 1/3 = 1.259920)
in 4 steps : value should be 119% (2^1/4 = 1.189207)
in 5 steps : value should be 115% (2^1/5 = 1.148698)

With linear values it will take ages to zoom in. From 200% to 400% it will take 20 "clicks". From 400% to 800% it will take 40 "clicks"

> And so you have to change the zoom factor manually.

same for linear.

> It would be no problem to do that but it would make some work much easier and faster.
> Another idea would be if you would have a selection for either a linear or an exponential zoom factor.[/quote]

Linear scale would be harder to implement IMO.
Say you zoom to content => zoom is 65%. You zoom out "by 10". What the zoom factor should be ? 75% (the next ten) ? 70% (the nearest multiple of ten)

So linear zoom looks pretty "useless" [for me]. Can you give a use case where linear would be > exp ? Or cite software that use the scale you'd like to have ?
Maybe what you're after is more about shortcuts for special ratio (0.333, 0.5, 0.75) ?

Sorry to rez a topic:
Rather than specifying the actual factor, choosing the number of steps between stops (doubling or halving in size, similar to the term's use in photography) could be helpful. Some users might need zooming to reliably fall on round percentages—Inkscape currently seems to drift by minute amounts, which can throw off use of the ruler.

(Just now, I also notice that using the scroll wheel while on top of a path doubles the zoom factor.)

Having an option for linear stepping (and a step value) might be helpful for those who may want to preview how their vector performs at certain sizes. Perhaps a button can be added near the zoom field to quickly toggle this?

nayhem wrote:Rather than specifying the actual factor, choosing the number of steps between stops (doubling or halving in size, similar to the term's use in photography) could be helpful.

yeah actual defintion is not handy.
Maybe something like
"move wheel [2] times to zoom by x[2]" will be more comprehensive than zoom factor 141
"move wheel [3] times to zoom by x[10]" will be more comprehensive than zoom factor 215

nayhem wrote:Having an option for linear stepping (and a step value) might be helpful for those who may want to preview how their vector performs at certain sizes.

Don't think the step value will be enough. imo Linear stepping will make sense only in a limited range (say 10% - 200%).
(except if you think of changing the step value regularly ? eg go with a step value of 10 in [10,200] then switch to a value of 100 in [200,1500] then a value of 500 in [1500,...]. I don't use this in my workflow but dunno about yours (?).)

Do you really want to go from 0 to 25600 by an increment of 10 ?
Maybe what you're asking is more a way to customize scale
10,20,25,33,50,66,75,90,100,110,125,150,200,250,500,750,1000,1500,2000,2500,3000...
with a option to align onto those values if the zoom value gets close.

Being able to switch between the scales would be the major thing, right after making the factors more consistent.

For steps, we would essentially be choosing x in 2^(1/x), with a default of 3 or 4.

Linear scaling would indeed become impractical at high zoom, but we can probably decide for ourselves what is sensible. I think most people would prefer to stick with factors.

A custom scale could be a good third option for those who need absolute control.

What practical values are you thinking of for step value ?
Will you go from a 85% zoom with a 15% value => 85%, 100%, 115%, 130% would it be usefull tou you ?

what about a [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9] * 10 ^ (log10(zoom factor)) scale
...1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,20,30,40,50,60,70,80,90,100,200,300,400,500,600,700,800,900..

or a
[1,1.1,1.25,2,2.5,3,3.333,4,5,6,6.6666,7,7.5,8,9] * 10 ^ (log10(zoom factor)) scale
...1,1.1,1.25,2,2.5,3,3.333,4,5,6,6.6666,7,7.5,8,9,10,11,12.5,20,25,30,33.333,40,50,60,66.6666,70,75,80,90..