jspaint/README.md

# [![](images/icons/32.png) JS Paint](http://1j01.github.io/jspaint/)

A nice web-based MS Paint remake and more...
[Try it out!](http://1j01.github.io/jspaint/)

The goal is to remake MS Paint
(including its [little-known features](#did-you-know)),
improve on it, and to extend the types of images it can edit.
So far, it does this pretty well.

You can also install it as a Chrome app.


#### Current improvements include:

* Unlimited undos/redos (as opposed to a measly 3 in Windows XP,
  or a somewhat less measly but still annoying 50 in Windows 7)
* Edit transparent images! To create a transparent image,
  go to Image > Attributes... and select Transparent,
  then Okay, and then Image > Clear Image
* Create an animated GIF from the current document history with
  <kbd>Ctrl+Shift+G</kbd> (pretty nifty, you should try it out)
* Cross-platform, I guess
* You can shoot at it [Asteroids style](http://kickassapp.com/)
* When you do Edit > Paste From... you can select transparent images and animated GIFs.
  You can even paste a transparent animated GIF and then
  hold <kbd>Shift</kbd> while dragging the selection to
  smear it across the canvas *while it animates*!
* It can open SVG files (by accident)
* You can crop the image by making a selection while holding <kbd>Ctrl</kbd>
* Rudimentary **multiplayer** support:
  Start up a session at
  [jspaint.ml/#session:bad455](http://1j01.github.io/jspaint/#session:bad455)
  and send the link to your friends!
  (It doesn't work very well yet, though.
  Currently when someone changes the canvas, you're annoyingly interrupted)


#### Possible improvements include:

* [Extended Editing](#extended-editing)
* Mobile support
* Proportionally resize the selection or canvas by holding <kbd>Shift</kbd>
* After adding text, save as SVG or HTML with selectable text
* <kbd>Alt</kbd> as a shortcut for the eyedropper, as long as it doesn't conflict with keyboard navigation of menus
* Loading palettes (I've started a [project](https://github.com/1j01/palette.js/) for this)
* Rotate image by arbitrary angle
* Keyboard shortcuts for rotation
* Alternate themes (You can already style it with browser extensions like Stylebot or Stylish)
* Noncontiguous fill (Probably by holding <kbd>Shift</kbd> and using the fill tool)
* Optionally treat almost-equal colors as equal


#### A lot of stuff isn't done yet:

* Non-silly magnification
* Shape styles on most of the shape tools
* The polygon tool is pretty bad
* Menu items don't get enabled/disabled dynamically
* [This entire document full of things to do](TODO.md)

Clipboard support is somewhat limited.
You can copy with <kbd>Ctrl+C</kbd>, cut with <kbd>Ctrl+X</kbd>, and paste with <kbd>Ctrl+V</kbd>,
but data copied from JS Paint can only be pasted into other instances of JS Paint.
The clipboard-related menu items can't access the clipboard
because it would be a huge security issue if browsers let web pages access the clipboard at will.
To use the clipboard menu items, you need to install the Chrome app.
The menu items will still be grayed out, though.


## Staying True to the Original

Ah yes, good old paint. Not the one with the
[ribbons](https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=ms+paint+windows+7+ribbons)
or the [new one](https://www.google.com/search?q=freshpaint&tbm=isch)
with the interface that can take up nearly half the screen.

Windows 95, 98, and XP were the golden years of paint.
You had a tool box and a color box, a foreground color and a background color,
and that was all you needed.

Things were simple.

But now we want transparency.
And we want to undo more than three actions.
We can't just keep using the old paint.

So that's why I'm making JS Paint. I want to bring good old paint into the modern era.
Also, it's totally retro. There might be themes later, though.
What was this section titled? Oh, um yeah I'm doing that too, I guess.


## Extended Editing

I want to make JS Paint to be able to edit...

* Transparent [PNGs][PNG] - Done!
* Animated [GIFs][GIF]
  (yes, that entails a fully featured (but simple) animation editor) -
  You can currently only make GIFs of the document history with <kbd>Ctrl+Shift+G</kbd>
* Animated Transparent [APNGs][APNG]
  (better than GIFs, but with less support)
* Multi-size Icons ([ICO][ICO] for windows and [ICNS][ICNS] for mac)
* [Scalable Vector Graphics][SVG] (kidding) -
  Actually, it could always open SVG files in browsers that can handle SVGs,
  and I've made it try not to save over the original SVG.
  That's pretty decent SVG support, for a 100% raster image editor.
* [Text Files][TXT] (definitely just kidding maybe)

[PNG]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Network_Graphics "Microsoft Icon Image format"
[GIF]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_Interchange_Format "Graphics Interchange Format"
[APNG]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APNG "Animated Portable Network Graphics"
[ICO]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICO_(file_format) "Microsoft Icon Image format"
[ICNS]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Icon_Image_format "Apple Icon Image format"
[SVG]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Vector_Graphics "Scalable Vector Graphics"
[TXT]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_file "Text file"


## Did you know?

* You can drag the color box and tool box around if you grab them by the right place.
  You can even drag them into a little window.
  You can dock the window back to the side by double-clicking on it's titlebar.

* In addition to the left-click foreground color and the right-click background color,
  there's also a third color you can access by holding <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> while you draw.
  It starts out with no color so you'll need to hold <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> and select a color first.
  The slightly fancy thing about this color is you can
  press and release <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> to switch colors while drawing.

* These Tips and Tricks from [a tutorial for MS Paint](http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/tutorial/mspaint)
  also work in JS Paint if they have a checkmark:

	* [x] Brush Scaling (<kbd>+</kbd> & <kbd>-</kbd> on the Numpad to adjust brush size)
	* [x] "Custom Brushes" (hold <kbd>Shift</kbd> and drag the selection to smear it)
	* [x] The 'Stamp' "Tool" (hold <kbd>Shift</kbd> and click the selection to stamp it)
	* [x] Image Scaling (<kbd>+</kbd> & <kbd>-</kbd> on the Numpad to scale the selection by factors of 2)
	* [x] Color Replacement (right mouse button in Eraser selectively replaces the foreground color with the background color)
	* [ ] The Grid (<kbd>Ctrl+G</kbd> & Zoom to 6x+)
	* [x] Quick Undo (Pressing a second mouse button cancels the action you were performing. I also made it redoable, in case you do it by accident!)
	* [ ] Scroll Wheel Bug (Hmm, let's maybe not recreate this? Ah who am I kidding I'll make it an option)