On Monday 16 June 2008, you wrote:
> My "hi-end" definition boild down to "streamlined UI for professionals".
Much of the "streamlined UI for the professionals" can be had if the toolbar -
as proposed - would be configurable in both position (there is no reason why
it should not be vertically alignable at the left or right hand side of the
window) and content. Then it would serve multiple purposes in that it allows
quick access to often used functions (individually for the specific user) and
allow for an easier learning curve (if preconfigured to have a set of common
functions that a new user might want to have access to in the beginning).
One thing bothers me even more now that you are insisting on this strealiming:
Why isn't this applied to the whole set of plugins and tools?
One thing I'd expect from any high quality software product is that settings I
have chosen once are keeping their value even if the program restarted. In
GIMP this only applies to a few tools but important things like all the
filters are all falling back to their inadaequate presets every time the GIMP
is started. Even if I have the option to save settings as default (such as in
the JPEG save dialog) some settings of the set are excluded for reasons that
are neither obvious nor in any way discoverable from the UI - in the case of
the JPEG save dialog it's the comment field, most of the time I want to give
a set of images the same or only slightly varying comments but I have to
externally keep a copy of what I want to set in this propery around as even
between images this contents isn't kept!
>
> The proposed toolbar does not solve any real issue. I've been spending
> a lot of time talking to "graphics" software users of all levels (noob
> to pro) for past years and none of them ever requested it or had
> problems because of not having it (I explicitely asked them about it a
> number of time).
Because it isn't an option at the time of the initial contact with the program
most users will not miss it and make do without. Offer something well
designed from the beginning and it will be used and if you then remove it it
will be sorely missed. At least that is my experience as a software developer
who has made his living off his designs for more than 15 years... I have
always been proven wrong when I had to resort to the lame excuse: "It's for
the experienced in .... (insert field of expertise here that doesn't involve
programming)"
>
> This toolbar *might* be good for a classic MDI application. In CSDI
> application al it does is cluttering interface. And all the users I
> ever dealt with are very vocal about cluttered UI.
And for those there could be the simple option to switch this toolbar off. But
I'd wager a bet that many would like to have this toolbar around reflecting
their most used tools, filters and options.
--
mfg
Karl Günter
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