Chapter 6. Kig Features

Kig is an open source application. This means that you are free to use and modify it any way you like it. Distributing Kig is subject to some restrictions, basically that everyone should have the same rights to use Kig, including your modifications, as you and me.

Free software programs are developed in a very open spirit, and its developers are usually very responsive to user feedback. Therefore, if you have any questions, complaints, or whatever about Kig, please contact the kde-edu mailing list at (kde-edu kde.org).

Kig is a KPart application, which means that you can embed it into other KDE software. If you open a .kig file in Konqueror, it can be opened directly in the Konqueror screen without the need to start an external application.

Working with Kig should be very straightforward. Constructing objects is easy and interactive, with preliminary results being shown, etc. Moving, selecting and building all work as one would expect them to. Undo support should also be very intuitive.

Kig supports macros to be defined in a straightforward manner. These objects are presented to the user like normal objects. They are saved on exit and loaded on startup, so that they aren't lost on exit. You can manage these objects in the Manage Types dialog (see the section called “Working with types”). You can export them to files, import them from files, edit and delete them.

Kig saves its data in a clear XML format.

Kig supports the construction of loci.

Kig allows you to export a Kig file to some interesting formats, like images, XFig and LaTeX files, and SVG vectorial images. This is rather useful, because not all programs support the Kig file format yet.

Kig has a very flexible transformation system.

Kig aims to be compatible with its competitors. This is why it supports the KGeo file format, the KSeg file format and partially the Dr.Geo and Cabri formats; moreover, support for other formats is planned.