Here are two UI suggestions of me that we discussed at #gimp last night. Perhaps those who weren't there would like to give some input. 1) show selected layer/channel clearer 2) give user a sort of wizard at start-up Re: 1) It happens frequently to me that I paint in a layer or channel that I did not mean to paint in. If I had the LCP dialog open all the time, and on top all the time, and both layers and channels would be showed simultaneously, and the selection indicator for layer masks would not be so thin, this would not happen so often. But it does, and I don't like to waste screen estate on an extra dialog and I'd like to decide for myself which dialogs are on top. In other words, I think it would be handy if the GIMP would signal more clearly which layer or channel is currently active. Simon Budig suggested that the toolbox could contain two previews, one for the active image and one for the active layer or channel. I myself was thinking more along the lines of some text in the status bar (or a second status bar) in the image window that shows which layer or channel is active. These indicators could be optional of course. Re: 2) No, I do not want to dumb the GIMP down, but I want to make often used functions more accessible. The average user will do only a few of the many actions possible on start-up: - click away the tips dialog - open a file - browse images - start a new file - any more? These options could be beneath buttons in a dialog that appears on start-up instead of or along side the tool box. Sure, they only save some scrolling in a menu, but I believe these extra transactional costs become a burden to a user who has gotten to know the alternative method. This dialog should also be optional, so that power users will still keep that power feeling. WinZip does this very nicely (unfortunately, I do not know a Linux tool that gives you the choice between wizard and power access). -- branko collin collin@xxxxxxxxx
