Re: [Gimp-developer] Re: alpha vs. transparency / translucency
On Thu, Dec 19, 2002 at 12:08:55PM +0100, Sven Neumann wrote: Side effect, will be RGBA be named RGBT everywhere (in user visible interface)? Is not a bit silly to start renaming basic concepts of a field with something else (aka causing differences with reference docs that existed long time ago)? Just wondering. the user shouldn't be confronted with the term RGBA at all. IIRC, this is the case unless she's writing a script or plug-in in which case she is not a user any longer but a developer. Maybe. But how do you say RGBA in less then five words without using the acronym? I think RGBA is one of the terms a Gimp user could learn. BTW, I'm not sure if someone already pointed out Transparency is the oposite of Alpha, so if we changed Alpha to Transparency, not only the word, but also the meaning would change (think about all the hscales, entries and curves). Yeti ___ Gimp-developer mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.xcf.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer
Re: [Gimp-developer] Re: alpha vs. transparency / translucency
On Wed, 18 Dec 2002, Guillermo S. Romero / Familia Romero wrote: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (2002-12-18 at 1711.13 +0100): I agree with Alan and Raphaël (see the bug report) when it comes to the What/How statement. I can see how the term alpha may be unclear to new users, but I think it would be a pity to replace it all together, as this might cause users who are accustomed with the term to be confused. Another How: My image is RGB, how do I make it RGBA? :] Side effect, will be RGBA be named RGBT everywhere (in user visible interface)? Is not a bit silly to start renaming basic concepts of a field with something else (aka causing differences with reference docs that existed long time ago)? Just wondering. I agree - that it would be better to consistently use the more modern, technical term 'Alpha' - and provide some simple cues to new users that 'Alpha' and 'Transparency' are related. Technically, the meaning of 'Alpha' is completely the opposite of 'Transparency'. An Alpha of 1.0 (Lots of alpha) means 'opaque' and an Alpha of 0.0 (no alpha at all) means totally transparent. Hence, Lots of Transparency and Lots of Alpha have opposite meanings and the terms are NOT completely interchangeable. Perhaps in the couple of places in the higher levels of the GIMP menu where you can access alpha, it would be better to say 'Alpha (Transparency)' - so that newbies would come to understand that the terms are related. Having established that relationship in their minds, you can drop the '(Transparency)' part in deeper menus and dialogs. You could also add a 'Tip of The Day' that explains this. As an alternative, you could talk about 'Opacity' as a synonym for Alpha - but there are definitely contexts where that would be confusing too. Steve Baker (817)619-2657 (Vox/Vox-Mail) L3Com/Link Simulation Training (817)619-2466 (Fax) Work: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.link.com Home: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.sjbaker.org ___ Gimp-developer mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.xcf.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer
Re: [Gimp-developer] Re: alpha vs. transparency / translucency
On Thu, 19 Dec 2002 10:04:10 -0600 (CST), Stephen J Baker [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Wed, 18 Dec 2002, Guillermo S. Romero / Familia Romero wrote: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (2002-12-18 at 1711.13 +0100): I agree with Alan and Raphaël (see the bug report) when it comes to the What/How statement. I can see how the term alpha may be unclear to new users, but I think it would be a pity to replace it all together, as this might cause users who are accustomed with the term to be confused. Another How: My image is RGB, how do I make it RGBA? :] I agree - that it would be better to consistently use the more modern, technical term 'Alpha' - and provide some simple cues to new users that 'Alpha' and 'Transparency' are related. That's why I think that the suggestion given in the bug report #89275 is the easiest way to solve this problem: keep alpha almost everywhere, but just rename the sub-menu Alpha to Transparency. So you would have Image-Image-Transparency-Add Alpha Channel. -Raphaël ___ Gimp-developer mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.xcf.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer