Re: RFE for scigraphica

Hello Adrian and others,

Very nice to see such a large number of e-mails on the scigraphica
mailing list!
When I evaluate a new software, I start by looking if the mailing list
is active to see if the project is alive. So hopefully such an activity
will give scigraphica more credit...

> >
> Well, we are using sourceforge bugtracker. It's pretty nice, so far.

OK, I did not know it. It looks usable indeed. More people are used to
bugzilla, and I think it is a better bug tracking system. But it is not
so important...

> >1) It is not possible to invert the scale of an axis (in a XY chart for
> >example).
> >
> You mean, to exchange the axes, or to invert the scale? I guess the 
> second one. You can do it clicking on "Reflect" in the axis dialog.

???
Are you sure it is in scigraphica-0.8?
I attach a screenshot of the axis dialog.
No "Reflect" button, or I am completely blind.

> >2) Copy/Paste from gnumeric to Scigraphica does not work. All the
> >content is pasted in one cell in Scigraphica, and the changes of column
> >or row are not taken into account. It is clearly a waste of time to
> >export from gnumeric, and then import from Scigraphica...
> >  
> >
> Well, this is not straightforward. I'm sure poeple in the gnumerc 
> community would like to do it, but in the meantime I'm too busy fixing 
> stuff before releasing. There are a few bugs that bother me, but I'm 
> almost there. I want this release to be as stable as possible, that's 
> why it's taking some time. This is crucial for a good marketing, you 
> don't want people complaining about stability issues, and telling others 
> to go and use xmgrace, don't you think ;-)

Adrian, I really appreciate your effort!
Yes, for good marketing it is crucial that stable releases are indeed
stable.
But you can do developement snapshots. Why not releasing a 0.9.0?
The fact that people need to use cvs to download scigraphica is a
barrier.

And for the copy/paste thing, don't underestimate its importance. It is
a real gain of time to be able to copy/paste from a spreadsheet.

> 
> >3) Possibility for two plots to use the same X (or Y) axis. It is common
> >to have several quantities to plot on, e.g. the same X axis.
> >  
> >
> Whay do you think this is not possible? Create several layers with the 
> same dimensions, one on top of the other, and hide the axes that you 
> don't want to see. You can show a top axis with one dimension, and the 
> bottom axis of a different layer with the other.

OK, OK, you can overlay two plots, like in the old xmgrace.
But it is not a very smart solution. If you want to e.g. change the X
scale, you have to change the X scale of every plots. And if you have,
say 5 different plots, you will find that a bit irritating...

In e.g. Igor Plot or Grapher, you can add several Y axes to a plot with
the same X axis. It is a much better solution. It is probably a big
change in the code, but I hope it will be considered after the 1.0
release.

> >3) Possibility to configure tick properties (line width, style,
> >length,...)
> >  
> >
> This is a good one, I don't know how I missed this point. I'll write a 
> new dialog in the next couple of days, and I'll tell you when it's in 
> the cvs repository.

I saw you already implemented it, wonderful!
Yes, it is important to have a tick properties dialog per axis.

> >It is incredible how good Scigraphica is already, and at the same time
> >how bad the marketing and communication for Scigraphica is.
> >I hope the situation will change in the future, because there is really
> >a need for a good scientific graphing software under Linux/Unix. We are
> >all restricted to archaic solutions like xmgrace, but it is limited and
> >clearly not for Joe User.
> >  
> >
> Any suggestions for a good marketing? All ideas are welcome.
> Thanks a lot for the feedback, this is exactly what I need.

OK, random ideas:
- Start by putting fresh news on scigraphica website. 4 years since the
last new.....................
- Do tarballs releases, so that people can EASILY download and use
scigraphica. Post a good README to workaround the problems that people
are encountering.
- Post some news on the development process.
- A bit of publicity on sites like gnomedesktop won't hurt either. I
think joining the gnome community would boost the project. For example,
you could use gnome bugzilla and cvs.
- Of course, a binary for windows would be a real plus. I think
scigraphica 0.8 have more or less been ported, have not it?
- etc, I am sure there is plenty of things to do, it is just my 0.02$...

I am (still) not a coder, but I may help the scigraphica project in
these marketing aspects, and some other stuff.
But I don't want to put time in a dead project. So make me believe
scigraphica is alive and will progress in the future. :-)

Best regards,

		Frédéric