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KDE SVG Wallpaper Competition

Posted by michael on from the swooshy dept.

Carewolf writes "KDE's 'looky' has a new challenge. This time to contribute SVG wallpapers for KDE 3.4. The four best wallpapers will ship with KDE 3.4 when released next year and the best gets a choice of gifts from corefunction.com. Join now to help make KDE 3.4 the best looking KDE release ever."

22 comments

  1. link by Jukashi · · Score: 1

    I was going to complain about the link pointing to slashdot, but http://corefunction.com doesnt respond either.

  2. Good for them by miyako · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's nice to see SVG wallpaper support to compliment the icon support, I hope that they get some really good submissions, I'll probably submit an entry myself.
    One problem with KDE has always been, IMHO, it's choice of default themes. There are a lot of really awesome themes out there, but the KDE team always seems to use a rather "bleh" default theme.

    --
    Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
    1. Re:Good for them by Brandybuck · · Score: 1

      KDE 3.4 will ship with Plastik as the default theme. This wasn't the default for 3.3 because it was too new for that release, and it's bad mojo to change defaults for a bugfix release, so it had to wait until 3.4.

      --
      Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
    2. Re:Good for them by twener · · Score: 1

      KDE 3.3 was *not* a bugfix release. And the "too new" argument is also bogus.

    3. Re:Good for them by Carewolf · · Score: 2, Informative

      It wasn't merged in KDE 3.3 because the translators didn't want to redo every screenshot for the new theme. At the time it was decided to postpone changes to major releases; that would be KDE 4.0.

      Since then we have go a new tool that automatically generates new screenshots in all languages. With this the objections died and Plastik became default.

    4. Re:Good for them by Brandybuck · · Score: 1

      I didn't say 3.3 was a bugfix release. I said it didn't make it into 3.3, and *subsequent* bugfix releases like 3.3.1, 3.3.2, etc., were not the spot for default changes.

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      Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
  3. SVG works with also Gnome by dolmen.fr · · Score: 2, Informative

    SVG wallpapers work also in Gnome 2.8 (and probably earlier) on my Gentoo. Too bad the Gnome art gallery only proposes bitmaps.

    Vector wallpapers and icons: at least two really cool desktop features where Linux based destkops are in advance.

    1. Re:SVG works with also Gnome by joeljkp · · Score: 1

      Does anyone list SVG wallpapers? I posted a suggestion to the Deviantart forums, but I guess it didn't generate any interest.

      --
      WeRelate.org - wiki-based genealogy
  4. Perhaps a stupid question... by agraupe · · Score: 1

    But how, in Inkscape, does one set document size to 1024x768? I see options for inches, millimeters, and so on and so forth, but I can't find a pixel option (or the option that would let Inkscape know it's creating something for digital output). This contest sounds fun.

    1. Re:Perhaps a stupid question... by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 2, Insightful
      You don't. SVG is scalable, so an SVG document can be rendered at any pixel size. Just make sure you use the right aspect ratio, and use cm, in, ft, or even or km as your measurement unit. Whatever floats your boat.

      Don't make 1024x768 wallpapers anyway, make them 1600x1200 and scale them down. That way everybody can use them.

      --
      main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
    2. Re:Perhaps a stupid question... by agraupe · · Score: 1

      That's good advice. BTW, TFA requests that submissions be 1024x768. Given that they are SVG, I don't really see why.

    3. Re:Perhaps a stupid question... by Brandybuck · · Score: 2, Informative

      The contest rules specify 1024x768 resolution. Of course it can be scaled to whatever you want, but SVG images have a native "size", and 1024x768 will be it for this contest.

      The reason for it shouldn't be hard to understand: not everyone has a 1600x1200 resolution. Scaling a large image down to a small size can make the image unusable, particularly if it had text and fine details. By specifying 1024x768 resolution, the wallpaper will look fine for all users.

      p.s. This scaling problem shows up most with SVG icons because they are so small. It's the reason why so many SVG icon sets are unusable, because the authors designed them for 128x128, but you still using 16x16 on your toolbars.

      --
      Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
    4. Re:Perhaps a stupid question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I guess this is why TFA states that everyone should submit 1024x768, Just so that everyone get the right aspect ratio. Poor those widesceen users... Anyways KDE sucks!!111one

    5. Re:Perhaps a stupid question... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Under File->Document Preferences, set your custom canvas size in points (pt). (pts are the default units in v .40, at least)

    6. Re:Perhaps a stupid question... by aminorex · · Score: 1

      > 1600x1200...everybody can use

      Everybody on a laptop, perhaps. To hit all the
      desktop users as well, substitute 3072x2304

      --
      -I like my women like I like my tea: green-
    7. Re:Perhaps a stupid question... by Synonymous+Yellowbel · · Score: 1
      Don't make 1024x768 wallpapers anyway, make them 1600x1200 and scale them down. That way everybody can use them.

      I think the better thing to do when creating wallpaper is to optimise it for 1024x768 but "fill out" the content to 1600x1200 (or even something wider for those lucky enough to have a 16:9 display).

      In other words, make the wallpaper look great/complete at 1024x768 (which most people use), but have enough extra stuff around it so it doesn't have to be scaled up tio fill the screen at higher resolutions.

      steve

    8. Re:Perhaps a stupid question... by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 1

      I'm not saying you should make a 1600x1200 wallpaper with no concern for how it looks at 1024x768, just that the source art should be 1600x1200 or higher. You can always scale stuff down with no quality loss (if you don't put in details too small for a 1024x768 image), but scaling up always loses quality. Taking a 1024x768 wallpaper and "filling it out" with stuff around the edges sounds like a recipie for a bad wallpaper. 1024x768 pixels is less than half the area of a 1600x1200 screen; you'll need more filler than original wallpaper!. Just make your wallpapers 1600x1200 or higher, and if they have any text or small details make sure they are large enough to look fine at 1024x768. That way everyone enjoys a great wallpaper.

      --
      main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
    9. Re:Perhaps a stupid question... by ScislaC · · Score: 1

      If you grab the most recent CVS version, it now has 'px' as an option for units in the document properties dialog.

      --
      ART on dA
  5. filters and anim. by oliverthered · · Score: 1

    I was going to enter the comp, but KSVG doesn't support filter, anmation and SVG text, shame that.

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    thank God the internet isn't a human right.
  6. Redo every screen shot? by oliverthered · · Score: 1

    Why not just script the whole lot with dcop, at least you know that the images in the documentation will be upto date.

    --
    thank God the internet isn't a human right.
  7. Wow, so much misinformation! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When using SVG, forget screen pixel size entirely. All you need is the aspect ratio. You can make the SVG image coordinates all inside the generic floating-point range of [0, 1] or anything you like, and let the renderer scale it correctly. The entire point of Scalable Vector Graphics is not having to restrict oneself to pixels!