Having lost a file yesterday... 's time to post and see where some
of the corners are in the open/save/export/import implementation.
I'm not filing this as a bug yet, because I'm not sure if it's a
bug in the code or in the spec or in my feeble brain... or if the
spec isn't up to date with people's ideas...
Consider
(1) open typewriter.jpg that came in from my camera
(2) do some fun editing
(3) save-as to go to typewriter2.xcf.gz
(4) now I want to make a jpeg so other programs can use the file, so I
can upload it on the Web, etc. Aha! there's File->Export to
typewriter.jpg,right there in the file menu. I do this, not
noticing that it's using the OLD filename,and the file is
overwritten with no confirmation. Because jpeg is lossy, I can't
now get back the original (actually it was backed up)
OK, let's suppose I learned my lesson and change to
(4) use file->Export.
GIMP has forgotten my new filename (typewriter2.jpg), and has also
forgotten that where opened the file (and saved the xcf.gz), and
wants me to put the new jpeg file in ~/Documents.
So I do File->save-as, and since that can't save in jpeg, I get out
a piece of paper, write down the directory (I can't copy it onto
the clipboard because the gtk+ file chooser uses buttons, and
dragging doesn't seem to work either, so I write it down.
Then I cancel, bring up file->export and navigate, a folder at a
time, to that directory.
I have 100 images to edit, so this isn't really saving me time.
Obviously it's not supposed to work like this. I think it should be
(1) I load typewriter.jpg
(2) Save would make typewriter.xcf.gz
(3) Save-as would change "typewriter" to some other prefix I chose,
e.g. "funky-keys"
(4) "export to" should now say, Export to funky-keys.jpg
(5) the export to dialogue should bring up the file chooser in the same
directory as funky-keys.xcf.gz but with the new name filled in, and
that name should be funky-keys.jpg, because I changed the name.
(6) "export..." should bring up the file chooser in the same directory
as funky-keys.xcf.gz, again with funky-keys.jpg by default.
(7) after saving, there must be visible indication that the image is not
changed since export. E.g. the * should go away from the title, or
there could be an annotation in the undo history to show the
filename, or the status bar could say
"exported to funky-keys.jpg in /media/thumbdrive6/typewriters"
(8) if I am saving to a filename other than the CURRENT filename shown
in the title bar, and the file exists, I must be warned and asked if
I want to overwrite the file. However, a repeated export to the
same file, with no intervening "save as" to change the filename,
needn't warn me. Or there could be a checkbox, "don't warn again for
this filename for this particular image, in this gimp session"
The current setup seems to me really really hard to use and error-prone;
I know the code isn't complete, so I'm just trying to nudge things in
the right direction here.
Liam (the naked ankh)
--
Liam Quin - XML Activity Lead, W3C, http://www.w3.org/People/Quin/
Pictures from old books: http://fromoldbooks.org/
Ankh: irc.sorcery.net irc.gnome.org www.advogato.org
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