Products · Product
Inkscape
Raised as a usability problem by 167 people on Hacker News over 16 years (2011–2026), in 71 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
- 1Interface lags noticeably on macOSUnreviewed
- 2
Every issue, all time, most people first
Interface lags noticeably on macOSUnreviewed
20112026- Interface was laggy and slow to respond to interaction2026-05-06
- Laggy interaction: menus freeze and dragging objects drops to bounding boxes or ~10fps2024-10-17
- Interface is very laggy on macOS2024-10-13
SVG output relies on viewBox, hard to edit interactivelyUnreviewed
20112026- Inkscape's SVG output is hell to use interactively, relying on viewBox2023-01-05
- Couldn't work out how to do the logo in Inkscape, so gave up and wrote SVG by hand2022-05-01
- Serious usability problems for lay users, especially with SVG workflow2017-04-21
Resizing a single shape is slow, with tearing and redraw flickerUnreviewed
20112026- Resizing a rectangle tears and updates at about 8fps, feeling very slow2023-01-05
- Resizing a single shape is very slow, with tearing and visible redrawing on Intel Mac2022-07-15
- Window redraws only once or twice a second when resized on macOS2022-06-04
Outdated interface makes drawing take far more effortUnreviewed
20112026- Doing even simple tasks like drawing lines or filling shapes is confusing2022-06-04
- Interface is outdated, so drawing tasks take far more effort than in modern tools2022-05-01
- Web-based drawing tools feel sluggish and crappy even for basic tasks2017-06-12
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Dialog windows open on the wrong display with two monitors2026-05-07
- Mass setting has too few levels, making fine pen control impossible and feeling sluggish2026-05-07
- Palette search takes about 5 seconds to appear, lags while typing, and returns irrelevant results2026-05-07
- A core toolbar drawing feature regressed in 1.x and stayed broken for years2026-05-07
- Interface was laggy and slow to respond to interaction2026-05-06
- User experience getting worse with each release2026-05-06
- Calligraphy tool is messy and unresponsive, and the devices panel removal hides whether the tablet is recognised2026-05-06
- Inkscape is basically unusable due to extreme lag2025-10-30
- Ctrl +/- doesn't zoom, and selecting paths shows no outline2025-05-10
- Trace Bitmap produces odd node placement with no segments, and zooming cannot align nodes precisely2024-12-09
- Welcome dialog has an obscured close button and confusing dismissal steps2024-10-18
- Can't pan canvas with pen or map pen buttons to functions2024-10-18
- Closing pop-up windows like Document Properties often doesn't work or freezes the app2024-10-18
- Calligraphy tool lags, produces jagged strokes, and lacks fine-tuning increments2024-10-18
- Barely usable on Mac despite being required for workflows2024-10-17
- Noticeable lag when the on-screen cursor follows fast mouse movement2024-10-17
- Laggy interaction: menus freeze and dragging objects drops to bounding boxes or ~10fps2024-10-17
- Cmd-A selects all canvas objects instead of text in a focused text field2024-10-17
- Takes over 5 seconds to show, freezes, and lacks commands present in UI buttons2024-10-14
- Interface is very laggy on macOS2024-10-13
- UI has never improved enough to tolerate using it2024-06-13
- Felt clunky and buggy, and the commenter had difficulty getting into the workflow2024-05-06
- Lacks natural flowcharting capability, making diagram work harder2024-05-01
- Inkscape's user interface is very difficult to use2024-03-30
- Filters are obtuse to use because they expose low-level SVG primitives2024-03-26
- Inkscape feels frustrating to use compared with Sketch or Affinity Designer2024-03-26
- Drawing in Inkscape is broken, a death by papercut UX2023-11-14
- Every interaction is really slow on macOS because it runs through X server2023-11-03
- Arrow keys don't move selected layer until switching tools and back2023-10-12
- Found Inkscape awkward and clunky for illustration and free-drawing2023-10-11
- Clunky, unpolished UI that is frustrating to use2023-07-28
- Mac version was effectively unusable due to a horrible UI port2023-07-28
- Command palette is slow, with strange filtering, ordering, and unintuitive focus management2023-07-25
- Command palette takes about five seconds to open, often, not just first run2023-07-24
- Mac version is laggy; clicking a rectangle takes about half a second to select2023-07-24
- Deleting a node on a straight line unexpectedly mangles the path into a mess2023-07-24
- Can't rapidly draw curves; must switch tools to remove anchors and adjust curvature2023-07-24
- Font menu is slow to scroll through to find the wanted font2023-07-24
- Too many buttons on all sides of the window feels intimidating2023-07-24
- Calligraphy pen is slow and produces terrible stroke quality2023-07-24
- UI and overall UX are weird and not designed around the user2023-07-24
- Placing circles at exact positions requires mental math and tricks found in videos2023-07-24
- Deleting a node unexpectedly changes how the remaining nodes are distributed on the path2023-07-24
- Can't sign up for GitLab with throwaway email, so can't report bugs2023-04-21
- UI performance is too janky and laggy by modern standards2023-04-21
- Path tools feel much slower to use than in Illustrator, beyond differing shortcuts2023-04-21
- Accidentally clicks wrong path and box zoom triggers unexpectedly; missing hotkeys for common operations2023-04-21
- App is so slow on Mac it is effectively unusable for years2023-04-21
- Keyboard shortcuts don't match Mac defaults, so save, undo and select all behave unexpectedly2023-03-22
- Resizing a rectangle tears and updates at about 8fps, feeling very slow2023-01-05