Willie, Excellent! Lets hope the right folks are paying attention. Seems like a wonderful idea. It's both more functional *and* more attractive. I've always felt the stock Gimp interface was a little too weird/clumsy in it's layout. Cheers, Bowie Bowie J. Poag <bpoag@xxxxxxxxxxx> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Willie Sippel" <willie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: "Alan Horkan" <horkana@xxxxxxxxxxxx> Cc: <gimp-developer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 11:18 AM Subject: Re: [Gimp-developer] Gimp interface streamlining > I already explained most of my suggestions to Joao. > I did another design, available at > http://www.zeitgeistmedia.net/gimp/gimpstreamline2.png > > On Wed, 2003-09-03 at 18:17, Alan Horkan wrote: > > On 1 Sep 2003, Willie Sippel wrote: > > > > > Date: 01 Sep 2003 20:09:23 +0200 > > > From: Willie Sippel <willie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > > > To: gimp-developer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > > > Subject: [Gimp-developer] Gimp interface streamlining > > > > > > Hi there. > > > > > > First post, so please go easy on me ;-). > > > > > > Also Gimp always gets better and more powerful, the interface still > > > needs a lot of work. It almost looks like yet another Photoshop clone - > > > > I really dont think GIMP looks at all like Photoshop although ... > > > > > and even if Photoshop is some sort of de facto standard, it's interface > > > is pretty clumsy and inefficient. > > > > ... I agree Photoshop is far from perfect either. > > > > > 1.) Remove unnecessary buttons from the main toolbox to reduce clutter: > > > Smudge, Dodge or Burn, Blur or Sharpen, Erase, Zoom, Color Picker; > > > > I also would love for the toolbox to be customizable > > http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=105764 > > I don't want a customizable toolbar, but some of these tools are already > modes for paint tools, and the other mentioned tools should be the same. > > > but comletely removing the buttons as you suggest without anyway to add > > them back will likely displease many different people depending on which > > features they happen to use, personally I would miss the Zoom button. > > > > It might also be worth considering better to do like Photoshop and > > Sodipodi and have button submenus, that when you click and hold you get > > more of the related items. > > Screenshot of Adobe Photoshop toolbox submenu > > http://matrix.netsoc.tcd.ie/~horkana/dev/gnome/gimp/screenshots/photoshop/Ad obePhotoshop-clicknhold.png > > shorter link to Photoshop screenshot > > http://tardis.linux.ie/1653/matrix.netsoc.tcd.ie > > > > I know Photoshop very well, but I don't like the submenus, as they are > wasting time (click, hold, wait, look for the right option, move mouse, > release...) - this is unnecessary. Look at my new design for another way > to deal with that issue, might be more useful than a 'click and hold' > menu, and also better than my first suggestion. > > > > 5.) The Color Picker should become available when you click the > > > foreground or background color in the main toolbar, and should set the > > > respective color (set foreground when you clicked the foreground color); > > > > This is already the case in GIMP 1.2, just double click on it. > > > > OK. What about the right or middle mouse button? Check my new mock-up, > I've changed this. > > > > 6.) Add 'Alpha' to the Color Picker; > > > > Consider carefully if the more user friendly term "Transparency" should be > > used. > > > > 'A rose, by any other name...' - granted, but well - it IS alpha. And > Gimp is not Tuxpaint. But I thought about this, and this one should > remain as it is today, 'opacity' on the tool settings. Changing the > current color sliders from HSVRGB to HSVRGBA would be sufficient. > > > > 8.) Remove the giant FG/ BG preview at the bottom of the 'Colors' > > > window to make the interface more compact; > > > > There is an option to hide the brush+pattern preview, an additional option > > to hide the colours widget might be an acceptable idea (but there is > > always the matter of getting some one to write the needed code). > > > 9.) The remaining buttons on the main toolbox should be reordered: > > > Brush | Pen | Airbrush | Ink | Text | Fill | Select | Transform | Create > > > paths | Measure tools > > > > care to explain your reasoning for this reordering? > > > > I changed this one, but I think it's faster if the most common used tool > is also the first button on the list. I think 'ordered by importance' is > better as ordered random, like it seems today... > > > > 15.) Remove the brush and pattern preview from the main toolbox, because > > > it clutters the toolbox - it's redundant, anyway, because there is > > > allready a preview in the tool settings window. It might be even better > > > to also remove the pattern preview from the tool settings and show the > > > selected pattern on the color preview of the main toolbox; > > > > There is already a preference to remove it. > > Toolbox, File, Preferences... > > Interface, > > [] Display Brush, Pattern and Gradient Indicators. > > > > I must have missed this one. > > > > 16.) The color preview on the main toolbox should be redesigned: > > > > some paint programs have differnt designs, some even allow you to choose > > which design you like best but I dont understand what is wrong with the > > current design, please explain why your suggestion is better. > > > > Check my mock-up, I explained it there. Making the preview bigger and > not overlapping would make the preview on the color dialog obsolete. > > > > Some other small suggestions, as well as many of the described > > > suggestions are on the mock-up, > > > http://www.zeitgeistmedia.net/gimp/gimpstreamline.png > > > > > > > > > Suggestions and comments are very welcome and appreciated. > > > > It is great that you took the time to thnk about how to improve the GIMP > > but keep in mind that you suggested a whole lot of changes that could take > > a long time to get done iff there is a developer interested in making the > > changes you suggest. > > > > I would be glad if I could do this myself, but my C is lousy... ;-) > > Well, I know that. I would really like to use the Gimp for production > use, but it's still not there - well, it is, technically, but the > workflow is not sufficient. I talked to a lot of professional designers, > and most of them have issues with the interface only, although most of > them admit that Gimp is about as powerful for designers as Photoshop, or > even more powerful... It's sad to see that Gimp is considered unsuitable > for professional work because of the interface and the poor workflow. > > > Sincerely > > > > Alan Horkan > > http://advogato.org/person/AlanHorkan/ > > Thank you for your comments. > > -- > Willie Sippel <willie@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > [ z ] ! > > _______________________________________________ > Gimp-developer mailing list > Gimp-developer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > http://lists.xcf.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer
