GIMP 2.8 Will Sport a Redesigned UI 401
ceswiedler writes "Ars Technica's Ryan Paul previews the upcoming release of the GIMP. It will include a single-window mode where the user can dock toolbar windows and switch between images via tabs. There are other improvements as well, including docking support in multi-window mode and improvements to the text tool." To get this early preview, Paul compiled version 2.7.1 from the active development branch, along with its dependencies.
I really hate the GIMP UI changes. (Score:2, Interesting)
I used to prefer GIMP to Photoshop back in the day because I could work so much more quickly with many, many open files and windows using GIMP thanks to the "lots of little windows" approach. It made fine-grained window management easy using a capable window manager and focus-follows-mouse.
I always found the Photoshop interface clumsy in comparison, but now with every release GIMP gets closer to it.
"... Two Steps Back" (Score:5, Interesting)
Are they still committed to breaking one of Gimp's best features: "Intelligent Save" ? (Inferring file type based on extension)
Splitting "File > Export" and "File > Save" is counter-intuitive; it's not DWIMish, and I guarantee more people will be frustrated that the Save dialog box is "broken" when they try to save a JPG and end up with an XCF file instead. "File > Export" reeks of being Designed By Developers, rather than actually taking user behavior into account.
(And stealing the keystroke for "Fit In Window" is just adding insult to injury...)
Finally (Score:3, Interesting)
Like a lot of novice users I gave GIMP a shot. Loved the plugin system and spent many an hour trying to get older plugins working and tweaking other plugins to do some neat effects. But in the end the UI made it difficult and confusing to use. For YEARS the internal arguments over the UI made it seem unlikely something like single window mode would reach maturity (and become usable on Windows). Kudos to the developers. I'll give it another shot.
Re:Smartest workflow move ....ever! (Score:3, Interesting)
It's even worse - at least on my KDE system, the main GIMP toolbox window doesn't even show up in the task bar. I have no clue why, but this is the only program that has this issue. The net result is that I have to minimize other windows to get to it if I ever "lose" it.
Re:Smartest workflow move ....ever! (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, on OS X Photoshop has a much nicer UI than the Windows versions have had (I haven't used the Win version of Photoshop since CS so it may have changed), one of the things that always bothered me with the Win version was how it handled windows and toolbars, on the OS X version the default behaviour is non-MDI (free-floating image windows) and that if Photoshop isn't the active program the toolbars are hidden. As for the "traditional" GIMP UI, well it's worse than the "traditional" Windows UI for Photoshop so I fail to see how they could possibly make it worse by changing it...
/Mikael
Re:Smartest workflow move ....ever! (Score:3, Interesting)
They should also not alienate their users by changing the UI on every damn release. I liked the way it was back in 2.2. I can barely use 2.4. I'm quite afraid of how horrible 2.8 is going to be. Every time they move shit around to be 'more like photoshop' they end up putting things in places that make absolutely no sense. I know on one of the older versions when they first started this crap, to manage layers you went not to the 'layers' menu but to the 'dialogs' menu. WTF? Now I don't even know how anymore. It usually takes me 20 minutes of digging through menus to finally find the layer manager.
Re:Smartest workflow move ....ever! (Score:3, Interesting)
Focus-follows-mouse [...]
It made sense for the stereotypical bearded Unix guy with nothing but 8 different XTerms open on his gigantic Sun monitor. [...]
OK, but how does focus-follows-mouse disadvantage everyone else? I use it, and I don't have a beard.
Re:I really hate the GIMP UI changes. (Score:4, Interesting)
I've always noticed a kind of cultural difference in this respect between people who came up through the Windows vs. the UNIX/Linux worlds. Generally, the former like their apps monolithic and full-screen, whereas the latter prefer to have multiple windows open, each just large enough to do the job. E.g., my GF, an unrepentant Windows user, runs just about everything full-screen, regardless of how little real estate the contents of the window might consume. She uses PS a lot, and to her GIMP looks very fragmented and confusing. I, on the other hand, find that GIMP's multiple windows fits my thought process very well, and consider PS to be overwrought and clunky. To each their own, I suppose...
Re:Smartest workflow move ....ever! (Score:3, Interesting)
If you want "easy", then look for an iPhoto knockoff rather than a Photoshop knockoff.
I chose GIMP because I usually don't want to manipulate photos; I want to edit pixel art for use in a sprite comic or a video game. Occasionally I edit photos, but usually to trace them on a separate layer to make pixel graphics. What's a better tool than GIMP for doing that?
Re:Smartest workflow move ....ever! (Score:5, Interesting)
That's all very well and good, but a window manager that's broken covers:
KDE
GNOME (I believe - I've never used it in anger myself)
Windows
and probably MANY more, if not most. So, a significant proportion of the potential user-base.
Yes, some of these can be configured to work the way the developers require for sensible functioning of their app.
Also, this does not address the problem of having to use GIMP with multiple workspaces/desktops, whereby "Send to desktop n" will send the image you're working on, but none of the toolbars or dialogs associated with working on that image. This was my second biggest bugbear of using GIMP (the first, obviously, being the absurdly steep learning curve).
Re:Smartest workflow move ....ever! (Score:4, Interesting)
OK, but how does focus-follows-mouse disadvantage everyone else? I use it, and I don't have a beard.
I can't speak for everyone else, but in my case the keyboard and mouse works like a team, I do shortcuts on the keyboard while the mouse is on its way or already somewhere else. A typical operation is copying/moving files or text which for me is usually Ctrl-X/C *click* Ctrl-V as the click focuses on the destination. Focus follow steals the focus too soon.
Another big annoyance is losing focus if I move my hand over to the keyboard to type, particularly on the stupid apps that have focus follows mouse even inside the application. It really doesn't take much to move a line away in a form or something.
Also, I find I can be much more effective if I can be erratic with the mouse and click to confirm rather than things popping in and out of focus all over the place. That I could probably get used to ignore but I find it distracting and not productive.
Re:Smartest workflow move ....ever! (Score:3, Interesting)
Blender is in the process of changing it's UI, too! They had this amazing and innovative idea of putting important and often used commands available on actual buttons, so you're not completely screwed if you don't happen to remember the shortcut!
You might be able to shave off at least a month of that one year learning curve now!
(The latest SVN builds for all the relevant platforms can be found here [graphicall.org], if anyone want's to check it out)