Guide · Document
Decide the document before the first curve.
Name, unit, size, margins, base font size, and main ink colour define the space every later tool works in.
Name the document.
The document properties panel opens with the name field. The name identifies the work inside the editor and follows the document into the saved project file, so a descriptive name is worth the few seconds it costs.
Layer names are generated separately from their own counters, so renaming the document never renumbers the drawings already on the canvas.
A future annotated screenshot will identify name, unit, size, margins, base font size, and main ink colour.
Choose the unit that matches the delivery.
The unit list covers px, pt, pc, cm, mm, in, em, and ex. Screen work usually stays in px, print-oriented work is easier to reason about in mm or in, and typographic work can be expressed in em or ex.
The unit is a property of the document, not of a single shape. Changing it changes how every size field in the interface is read, so it belongs to the setup step rather than to a later correction.
- Absolute units: px, pt, pc, cm, mm, in
- Relative units: em and ex
- One unit governs the whole document
Set width and height in that unit.
Width and height describe the document itself. The panel reports the document aspect ratio next to them so an intended proportion can be confirmed instead of assumed.
Raster export later takes its output size from the document pixel measure and keeps the sides on this ratio, which is why a correct size here saves a correction at the export boundary.
Outer margins sit outside the viewBox.
Top, right, bottom, and left margins are described as header margins outside the viewBox. The panel reports the resulting visible viewBox size in the document unit and in pixels, together with its own aspect ratio.
Because the margins participate in the exported size and viewBox calculation, verify the visible viewBox before placing artwork that has to meet the edge exactly.
- Four independent outer margins
- Visible viewBox size reported in unit and pixels
- Document and viewBox aspect ratios reported separately
Relative units need a base font size.
The base font size is given in pixels and is the reference that em and ex resolve against. If the document unit is relative, this single number decides what every size field means.
Setting it before drawing avoids the situation where a document is rebuilt because the same numbers suddenly describe a different physical size.
The main ink colour drives currentColor.
Fills and strokes that have no custom colour of their own follow the document main ink colour. That makes it possible to restyle a whole drawing from one control while it is being designed.
On export, the root element receives a color attribute and those inherited paints are written as currentColor, so the surrounding page can supply the colour. The attribute is produced only when the document actually contains such paint.
- One colour for every paint without a custom colour
- Exported as a root color attribute plus currentColor paints
- Written only when the document really uses it