Layers in Inkscape

A very handy tutorial on how (and why) you should use layers in Inkscape.

Personally, I find layers handy in three situations:

• when there are too many objects in the illustration, I find myself inadvertently clicking on the wrong ones. Controlling layers can make some objects unclickable, while still being viewable.
• when I want to experiment with an illustration without messing up the original. Sure, I could save a copy, and work on a new copy, but layers provide a more natural solution.
• when I am making multiple schematics that share most of the illustration. Of course, I could save each incremental difference as a new drawing, but again - layers allow me to do that in a more economical fashion. Also if I decide to make some changes to the "shared part" of the illustration, I don't have to go about changing it in a dozen different files.