Inkscape Vs. Xara

[handrawn]

ho ho ho

though if I am really desperate I will admit to occasionally trying to undo a cross head screw with flat bladed driver - despite having the scars to prove it is not a good idea.

they have different tools these two programs - they work in some ways quite differently as well as in some other ways quite close

[Egg Bramhill]

Taking your thread completely off topic (but this is the off-topic forum):

which is best a flat bladed screwdriver or a cross headed one

On a serious note (apart from the obvious 'robot' location) is there an advantage between the two. i.e. like surface area etc?

[handrawn]

for me the advantages are in the tools that work differently - hence my 'screwy' analogy I suppose

xara has transparency that can be built up in many stages [ by making the single object a group and applying another transparency as many times as you want within reason]
inskscape gives each color in the palette an A [alpha] attribute as well as RGB
so for each color you can adjust the opacity, completely independently of everything else in the object, because color is defined RGBA not RGB

xara has tools that inkscape does not - eg customisable [to an extent] brushes
inkscape has a 'vector flood fill' tool - strictly speaking fill bounded areas - but these areas do not need to be fully closed - a big advantage to a cartoonist

this is not to say these issues cannot be worked round so that only one program need be used - but I am not and never have been a one tool fits all kind of guy

[Availor]

Taking your thread completely off topic

Please remember this next time I do the same

[handrawn]

nice to see irony is alive and well Egg