In the next article we are going to take a look at Boxy SVG. Is about a scalable vector graphics editor (SVG). Now it can be easily installed on Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04 and higher versions through its corresponding Snap package.
The goal of the Boxy SVG project is to create the best tool for anyone to edit SVG files. It seeks to reach both beginners, as well as professional web designers and web developers. For this reason, also can be used on any device and on different operating systems.
It's interesting to remember that SVG is the standard format for storing vector graphics, such as icons, graphics, and illustrations. SVG files (Scalable Vector Graphics), Scalable Vector Graphics, are a two-dimensional vector graphics format, both static and animated, in XML format. They are an open standard developed from 1999 by the W3C. This format became a recommendation of the W3C in September 2001, with which all browsers were renewed to be able to support this format. It is a format perhaps little known to many people, but very useful to use it.
Boxy SVG features
- Native SVG support. The editor of Boxy SVG uses SVG as a native document format. There is no need to import and export our graphics every time we want to make a small change.
- We will be able import files as PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP or PDF y export to PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP and HTML.
- Chromium-based rendering engine. The editor presents SVG documents in exactly the same way as the most popular desktop and mobile web browsers.
- Google Fonts integration with lots of free fonts. We will be able to explore hundreds of free fonts provided by Google's font library and import them into the Boxy SVG editor with just one click. We can also easily embed WOFF, WOFF2, TTF and OTF font files from disk.
- Keyboard shortcuts. There are over 100 commands with customizable keyboard shortcuts. With them we will be able to quickly switch between different tools and panels using one-key shortcuts.
- We will have development tools. SVG and CSS code can be viewed and edited using the built-in inspector. This UI inspector is inspired by the development tools provided by web browsers.
- The UI is clean and intuitive. It is heavily inspired by Inkscape, Sketch and Adobe Illustrator.
- We will also find available a extensive support for canvas editing of object geometry, transformations, paintings, and other properties.
- When using this program, we will be able to use the photo library. With it we can browse more than a million free photos provided by the Pixabay library. Each photo comes with a permissive license, various sizes, and can be imported by simply dragging it onto the canvas.
- We will find manual guides, smart guides and grid operations available.
- Path(join, subtract, exclude, close, reverse, etc.)
- Arrange operations (align, rotate, flip, sort, group, etc.)
- SVG supported with sprite editing.
Y many other features that can be consulted in the project website.
Install Boxy SVG
Boxy SVG offers un official snap pack for Gnu / Linux. For Ubuntu 18.04 and higherr, we will only have to look for it and install it from the Ubuntu software option:
In case of using Ubuntu 16.04, you just have to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and run this command to make sure the snapd daemon is installed:
sudo apt-get install snapd
Then only what gives us install SVG editor through the command:
sudo snap install boxy-svg
Once the application is installed, we can search for it in our system and start working with it.
uninstall
To remove the SVG editor from Boxy, we will be able to use Ubuntu software option or run in terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T):
sudo snap remove boxy-svg
For any question, on the project website, you can find a "Questions" section to which to turn.