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 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > 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/AdobePhotoshop-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 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [ z ] ! _______________________________________________ Gimp-developer mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.xcf.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer
