> ...
>
> It should be easy add an alpha channel to the background layer as soon
> as a second layer is added to the image. Is there a reason why this
> should not be done automatically?
>
> I think that it would make things easier to understand for the user.
> Making the background layer "special" is not very intuitive.
>
> ...
>
> What do you think?
NO, please.
`Special' background layer maybe isn't very intuitive, but automatical
promoting has the same problem: it's based on a side-effect and it's not
intuitive too. We would have to explain (in some new Gimp tip) why
properties of background layer chage when you add second layer. Layers
_definitely_ shouldn't be changed by any action on other layers.
Adding automatically alpha channel to everything seems to be a better
solution, but imagine you open some image in a not-alpha-capable format,
change a few pixels and try to save it and Gimp will start asking you
about exporting, and flattening it. That's not anything I would call
intuitive behaviour.
The only good solution is probably to make `Add Alpha Channel' more
intuitive. The user should _see_ the background layer is special---lacks
something---and there must be some obvious way how to add it. (But is
there an obvious way how to manage this?)
Yeti
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