Examples

A few examples are given here to show the possibilities of “hand” editing the XML file.

Adding Color to a Marker Arrow

Markers on paths in Inkscape do not inherit the attributes of the path. This is most noticeable for colored paths where the markers are drawn in black. As of v0.45, Inkscape includes the Color Markers to Match Stroke effect for changing the color of markers to match the stroke color. This section is kept for pedagogical reasons.

To add color to a marker, open up the XML Editor. Select the path with the marker in the canvas window. In the “style” attribute for the line, locate the marker entry (marker-end:url(#Arrow2Lend) for example). Then expand the “<svg:defs>” line by clicking on the triangle at the beginning of the line (if not already expanded). You should see an entry for the marker. Select that entry. The attributes for the marker should be displayed on the right. Select the “style” attribute. Add “fill:#rrggbb” to the attributes in the entry box at the bottom right, where #rrggbb is the RGB color in hexadecimal form (obtainable from the attributes for the path).

The marker should change color. If is doesn't, then expand the "<svg:marker>" line. Select the path entry and remove any Fill and/or Stroke paint. For this change to show up, you must save and reopen the SVG file.

If you wish to have markers of the same type with different colors, then you must add copies in the <svg:defs> section. You can use the Duplicate Node icon to duplicate a marker entry. Rename the new entry to a suitable name and change the reference to the marker in the path object you want the marker to be associated with. Again the file must be closed and reopened for the changes to be seen.

You are not limited to changing color. You can change other attributes such as the marker size.

Line with red arrowhead marker.
A red line with a red marker.

Underlined Text

Underlined text cannot be added through the normal Inkscape interface, nor will Inkscape display underlines. But you can add underlined text that will be displayed properly by another SVG program.

To underline text, open the XML Editor. Select the text you wish underlined. Go to the "<svg:tspan>" object found inside an "<svg:text>" tag. If you are selecting part of the text, you may need to add some attribute temporarily (color for example) to create a corresponding “tspan” object; the color can be removed later. Add to the style: “text-decoration: underline”.

Here is an example as rendered by the Squiggle program.

Underlined text.
Underlined text example.