[Clipart] clipart.freedesktop.org and OpenOffice.org

[Bryce Harrington]

On Thu, 8 Apr 2004, Chad wrote:
> bryce at bryceharrington.com wrote:
> 
> <snip>
> 
> >start collecting items for a todo list, like...
> >
> >0.  Project Initiation
> >   * Establish an IRC channel and get together informally
> >   * Set up wiki with access for clipart participants
> >   * Get access to a web server for posting static web pages
> >   * Review/revise this todo list
> >  
> >
> First question, why did you start with 0 instead of 1?

Too much programming I guess.  ;-)

> Here's an IRC - irc.freenode.net/#openclipart.org
> 
> >1.  Make First Clipart Package
> >   * Collect a couple dozen random SVG imgs useful as clipart
> >   * Write a README for the package
> >   * Add the public domain license to the package
> >   * Tarball the package
> 
> And we can't use SVG.  OOo doesn't support them.

The reason that we choose to emphasize SVG as a primary format is
because the initial founders of this project (from Inkscape, Sodipodi,
Scribus, AbiWord, Gnumeric, etc.) wanted SVG specifically.  At the
founding we discussed making the project SVG-only, but figured we try to
keep things open to a variety of formats.  This is why it's great to see
the OpenOffice folks becoming involved, even if it doesn't support SVG.

There were several founding principles we outlined when we started the
project, the most important of which being that the project be an
application-neutral way of sharing.  Sodipodi already has a clipart
collection, as do several of the other projects mentioned above, and
when Inkscape started down that road too, we decided it'd probably be
wisest to figure out a common forum where we can share between
ourselves.  Since these apps were SVG-based, this is why many of us are
very SVG-oriented.

Anyway, the point I think I'm trying to make here is that, wow, bummer
that OOo doesn't support SVG, but there's a number of applications that
do, that we care a lot about, so it is not possible to exclude SVG.

The intent of the first package is less about starting to get useful art
than to simply get the ball rolling; I anticipate that the initial
contribs may get replaced by better stuff down the road anyway, so
getting it right is less important than just getting moving.  I also
don't think the format of the contribs are as important as just having
some contribs.  So why don't we just drop the format restriction and
permit either SVG or WMF as the contributor wishes?

> If this is going to work with OpenOffice.org SVG's are out of the 
> question.  OOo just doesn't recognize them.

Again, this is not the attitude we want to foster.  SVG clipart is very
important to many of the participating projects, and obtaining a shared
SVG clipart collection was the original motivation for founding this
project.  However we want to keep the project as open as possible so
have no problem opening it to non-SVG contribs.  But to shut out SVG
because one of the participating applications doesn't support it would
be extremely inconsistent with the purpose of this project.  We need to
be fair, open, and inclusive, as much as is technically feasible.

Bryce