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05-04-22 07:07:29 PM
Jul - Computers and Technology - After 14 years: GIMP is finally becoming usable! New poll - New thread - New reply
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Gywah

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Posted on 02-07-10 09:38:11 PM Link | Quote
It's not your application that's the problem, it's your argument.
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Posted on 02-07-10 09:38:11 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Gywah
The argument that GIMP was unusuable because of its multi-window layout is not only wrong, it brings into question the intelligence of someone who would make such a statement.

Photoshop for OS X has ALWAYS had a multiwindow layout.
Yeah, but OS X's task switching and window management is geared more towards multiwindow apps.

How would you feel if Photoshop created a separate icon on your dock for each panel, for example?

Also, Photoshop uses small tool windows (which are specifically designed for this purpose) - not full-blown windows with their own separate Z-ordering and such. It's really annoying having to minimise 3 windows separately just to minimise GIMP in its entirely. (And it gets worse if I have more than one image open!)

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Gywah

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Posted on 02-07-10 09:40:20 PM Link | Quote
Sounds like an OS or preference issue to me.

Also, if you use a window manager without a taskbar doesn't that too "address" the "issue"? Thankfully this new UI can be disabled.
Ninji

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Posted on 02-07-10 09:44:17 PM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Gywah
Sounds like an OS or preference issue to me.

Also, if you use a window manager without a taskbar doesn't that too "address" the "issue"? Thankfully this new UI can be disabled.
So what about Windows users?

I just started up my copy of GIMP. Apparently it does use tool windows - however, their implementation is horribly broken.

If I minimise GIMP itself, the tool windows should go along with it. But instead, they just stay there taking up my screen space unless I close them

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Gywah

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Posted on 02-07-10 09:50:02 PM Link | Quote
*shrug*

I can't account for what windows users experience. I can only equate running Gimp on Windows to running Photoshop with Wine.
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Posted on 02-08-10 12:02:25 AM Link | Quote

Suffice it to say the majority of us use windows. Helps to know your audience

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Gywah

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Posted on 02-08-10 03:21:02 AM Link | Quote
Why would I expect the average Gimp user to be a Windows user?

I think it's only fair to judge an application for its native environment. I had Microsoft Excel 2007 wig out and completely refuse to produce a usable graph on Linux the other day, turns out it was the wine layer which caused it. Ran it within an XP virtual machine and worked fine.

See where I'm going with this?
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Posted on 02-08-10 03:25:54 AM Link | Quote
Originally posted by Gywah
Why would I expect the average Gimp user to be a Windows user?
What if I told you that GIMP's window abuse also drives me insane on Linux?


Your analogy doesn't really make much sense because Excel is only released for Windows - while GIMP has official ports to Windows and OS X, in addition to Linux.

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Gywah

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Posted on 02-08-10 03:27:36 AM Link | Quote
Technically you're right, technically you're also wrong.

Wine provides a drop-in solution to natively use the win32 API, it does the port without a port being necessary. That's why the Linux version of Picasa uses it.

Also, the behavior on Linux depends on the Window Manager you use.
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Posted on 02-08-10 06:53:05 AM Link | Quote

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While I can see why you think people are being finicky, GIMP remains cluttered and difficult to use, whether or not that is caused by intentional issues or porting ones.

Hence this is useful to those of us who aren't running Linux or have figured a way around the hover-windows which sort of get lost when you resize windows or minimize them.

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paulguy

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Posted on 02-08-10 12:34:08 PM Link | Quote
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Even without a taskbar, the gimp would still be annoying. It doesn't matter what your method of switching tasks is... I did find it SOMEWHAT usable in Ion, until I selected any option that opened another window. What a hassle. I would like to see them make some changes to the multiwindow interface, that have been mentioned here. Like individual panel windows that all minimize along with the main windows and so on, rather than having 2 "specifically" purposed, somewhat hard-coded windows, rather than the ability to spawn as many windows as you want at will and dock whatever the hell you want to each one. I put specifically in quotes because you can more or less dock or undock stuff on them, but they each have a specific role. Like the window that normally has tools is the "main" application window that stops the whole application when closed... I don't like it that way. It should ONLY close once you've closed all the image windows, not some arbitrary tool window. Of course, all these gripes are based on the years old code that it's built on that they're unlikely ever to change.

Personally, I welcome the new option, and will likely make use of it. It really looks like they're doing the interface the right way.

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Posted on 02-08-10 01:57:50 PM Link | Quote
The way gimp uses layers also drives me crazy, I hate having to expand layers whenever I copy/Paste something. Also when it randomly decides to hold on fonts every third start up.

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Gywah

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Posted on 02-08-10 02:57:02 PM Link | Quote

Originally posted by paulguy
Of course, all these gripes are based on the years old code that it's built on that they're unlikely ever to change.



Wow, that's kind of a weird statement to say, especially considering the huge amount of legacy code in Photoshop.

1) Gimp was almost completely re-written for the 2.x GTK2 port, so much of the code is actually brand new and quite easy to hack on.
2) On the other hand, Photoshop's code is decades old and the behemoth of old code is what has prevented a proper Linux port, one might even be impossible at this point.

All the "issues" you've addressed, I put issue in quotes because they're personal UI opinions, can be address with a fairly basic understand of the GTK2 API.

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paulguy

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Posted on 02-08-10 03:49:17 PM Link | Quote
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They're not entirely UI opinions, they're mostly just features that'd be useful and really wouldn't change one's use of the program much if they prefer the default layout and all that.

Also, if they're API limitations, then why not build on it? It _IS_ their API anyway, being the GIMP Toolkit.

also, y so srs?

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Gywah

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Posted on 02-08-10 06:33:08 PM Link | Quote

I never said there was an API limitation, at all. I said it only takes a basic understanding OF it to address the "issues".

Secondly, GTK is only the "gimp" toolkit in name now, just as the GNU foundation has almost nothing to do with Gimp anymore. The G in GTK has more to do with GNOME than Gimp, really.

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Posted on 02-10-10 06:13:51 AM (last edited by Drag at 02-10-10 03:17 AM) Link | Quote
1554
Originally posted by Gywah
The argument that GIMP was unusuable because of its multi-window layout is not only wrong, it brings into question the intelligence of someone who would make such a statement.

Photoshop for OS X has ALWAYS had a multiwindow layout.

In order to bring the entirety of GIMP back into focus on my desktop, I need to click on each individual window's button on the taskbar in order to bring it onscreen. I usually keep my web browsers and other such windows maximized, so the fact that I have to click three (or four) buttons on the taskbar just to bring a single application back onto my screen, versus other similar programs where clicking just one taskbar button brings it all back up; it's a pretty big UI flaw, and I completely understand why a large number of users would have a problem with it. My decision to keep most of my program windows maximized is my own preference, and it doesn't cause any problems with any of the programs I use, with the sole exception of GIMP.

You also cannot compare this to most other multiwindow applications (such as IM programs, where each individual conversation is in its own window), because the various windows in GIMP all interact together to provide the full functionality of the program simultaneously. Older versions of Microsoft Word would also open multiple windows: one window per document open. However, clicking *any* of those windows would bring up all of the menus, toolbars, commands, etc along with the document, all in a single window.

So as was previously stated, having the core components of the program open in completely seperate windows with no unification is bad UI design, and results in unnecessary clutter. It doesn't matter how powerful the program is, if the UI is cumbersome and gets in the way of using the program, then people are going to prefer alternatives. This is a longstanding fact of any human-machine interface. If you had the choice between a basic 4 function calculator with buttons and a numeric LCD, and a basic 4 function calculator that used binary switches as input, and displayed output on a series of LEDs, which would you find easier to use, and thusly, which would you end up using?

The problem is design, not end user intelligence.

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Posted on 02-18-10 05:52:31 AM Link | Quote
02-18-10 12:52:31 AM
Post #2823
Why all the hating on multi-window interfaces? They're fantastic for organization, especially on multiple monitors. Single-window interfaces rarely can be used on more than one screen at a time, and when you have a lot of tool windows like in Gimp, not being able to stuff those windows onto another screen is just wasteful and annoying.

Creating taskbar buttons for every tool window and not minimizing them along with the main window is a design flaw; that doesn't mean the only solution is combining them all into one window. Much better to just address the flaws directly.

(Of course, if your OS offers multiple workspaces - which even Windows does, in a hackish manner, with an addon from Microsoft - then it's not an issue at all... one workspace for the program, another for your web browser/text editor/etc, and use the sticky function for your IM windows and terminals to keep them accessible at all times. Works beautifully.)

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Posted on 02-18-10 07:20:35 AM Link | Quote

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Originally posted by HyperHacker
Why all the hating on multi-window interfaces?


It's not on them particularly, but rather when the Windows are poorly implemented and hanging up and refusing to all appear at once when minimized, then maximized.

And a hackish add-on to isolate a poorly programmed application so it won't do that is like dealing with an inefficient employee who drops and smashes plates in your restaurant by giving them their own office and using tupperware containers so what they drop no longer breaks.

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paulguy

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Posted on 02-18-10 03:23:47 PM Link | Quote
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Originally posted by HyperHacker
Why all the hating on multi-window interfaces? They're fantastic for organization, especially on multiple monitors. Single-window interfaces rarely can be used on more than one screen at a time, and when you have a lot of tool windows like in Gimp, not being able to stuff those windows onto another screen is just wasteful and annoying.

Creating taskbar buttons for every tool window and not minimizing them along with the main window is a design flaw; that doesn't mean the only solution is combining them all into one window. Much better to just address the flaws directly.

(Of course, if your OS offers multiple workspaces - which even Windows does, in a hackish manner, with an addon from Microsoft - then it's not an issue at all... one workspace for the program, another for your web browser/text editor/etc, and use the sticky function for your IM windows and terminals to keep them accessible at all times. Works beautifully.)


It's going to be an option, though. You can choose between single and multi window modes, as far as I can understand. Which is great.

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Posted on 02-18-10 08:16:23 PM Link | Quote
I hate the GIMP for a few reasons.

First is the lack of Wacom tablet support in OS X. The GIMP is ported to the Mac using Mac OS X's implementation of X - X11. X11 doesn't have any support for Wacom tablets, and thus neither does the GIMP. What you're left with is a stalemate where both parties are forever blaming each other, with zero interest on improving the product for the end user. This apathy makes the GIMP on the Mac a depressing experience.

Second is the awful usability. As far as I can tell, I can't dynamically resize the size brush that I am using. There are only brush presets. Brush presets are fine for different shapes and textures, but just not flexible enough for brush sizes. I don't know if there is a permanent interface element for this, if there is I've never found it. I'm also disappointed that I can't change the settings for the brush tool while I have an active path - my path is lost if I try it.

The window management problem is an irritation. In OS X you can select the X11 dock icon to bring all to the front, but not with the GIMP's icon. You also have to focus on a window before you can interact with it. To come from the canvas to the toolbox, you have to click four times to change tool and begin editing again.


Open source software is a good thing. Ubuntu and Open Office shows that open source is indeed rivalling proprietary software, and be a joy to use (especially Ubuntu). However, I don't believe free software is necessarily better. I'm using an illustration app called Pixelmator. It works natively in OS X, it has Wacom support, has many of the illustration functions of Photoshop, is very accessible and usable, and cost me £30. I love it - it might not be free, but it's affordable. I paid the price of a discounted videogame and I get usability, functionality, updates and no need to download a dodgy crack like Photoshop.
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Jul - Computers and Technology - After 14 years: GIMP is finally becoming usable! New poll - New thread - New reply


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