Hi Vikash,
I agree with everything Jehan said in his response to your email, but
wanted to add some comments and ask a couple of questions:
On 04/18/2019 02:51 PM, VIKASH SINGH via gimp-gui-list wrote:
Hi All,
I am UI/UX Designer and I am interested to discuss some experience...
This discussion is not only for GIMP but for Inkscape and Scribus too. If
we visit GIMP website their is quote GIMP is best used in workflows
involving other free software such as Scribus, Inkscape and SwatchBooker.
And Yes It is.
It seems to me that "it" depends entirely on what a person actually uses
GIMP for. Speaking for myself, I don't even have Inkscape, Scribus, or
SwatchBooker installed on my computer. Instead I use GIMP for painting
and photography, in conjunction with RawTherapee, darktable, PhotoFlow,
Krita, Hugin, Exiftool, digiKam, etc, etc.
How would your proposed changes to GIMP cohere with workflows that don't
involve DTP and instead center around other tasks and goals for which
people use GIMP, such as photography/painting/HDR processing/fits/fine
art print production/video display output/image retouching, and etc?
Most Forums I visit, I have found biggest complain from users is not having
good User Interface for these Applications. If we think for one second for
only one App GIMP then the User Interface is Ok. But when it is used in
workflows involving other free software then it is bad experience.
People who don't like a software's interface tend to complain on forums.
People who do like the interface, tend to not feel any need to tell the
world they like the interface.
Despite what various UI experts might want to believe, there is no "one
size fits all" user interface. One person's "good user interface" can be
another person's usability nightmare. Personally, I found darktable and
Krita difficult to learn, but GIMP easy and intuitive. I've communicated
with people who's experiences with these programs match my own, and also
with people who report the exact opposite experiences. Also I prefer
Gray themes and color icons, and I've communicated with some people who
share my preferences and with other people who greatly prefer Dark
themes and gray icons. Choice is good.
A Graphic Designer in Industry have to used all three raster, vector and
publishing applications. And Professional designers don't want to learn
applications they want to work done in much less time. Today I am finding
cases where designer don't even want to learn Adobe Illustrator they
preferring to use modern design apps Sketch and Adobe Xd that have few
functionalities but better experience.
If a Graphic Designer doesn't want to learn how to use
"Illustrator/Inkscape/Whatever Else is Required to Get the Job Done",
that seems like an excellent reason to hire someone else. Speaking
anecdotally, while working for a small company I was asked to use a DTP
application to put out the monthly news letter, also including preparing
graphics and writing copy. At that point I didn't even know there was
such a thing as "DTP", but I figured it out and never missed an issue.
Another job required editing an Illustrator file as the person who made
the file was no longer around. I made the requested edits even though
I'd never used Illustrator before.
These sorts of programs aren't rocket science. Yes, they all have a
learning curve. Any software with advanced functionalities has a
learning curve. But learning software is just like learning anything
else - you pick a task, or get handed a task, and figure out that task,
and then move on to the next one. Pretty soon you are an expert.
The best advice anyone can give an aspiring Graphics Designer who only
wants to use software with "few functionalities but better experience"
is to get over it and "learn to learn". These people aren't the ones who
should be dictating software choices or UIs as they simply don't have
the experience to know good softwares or UIs from bad.
__________________
What is issue here ?
__________________
Not having consistency with the other two software's.
1. Different Layouts & themes
2. Different Icon Sets
I don't know about Scribus or Inkscape. But GIMP already provides a huge
array of user configuration options for layouts, themes, icons, keyboard
shortcuts, etc.
If DTP people really do want GIMP/Scribus/Inkscape to all somehow "look
more alike", then hopefully the DTP people can come up with "look alike
themes/icons/shortcuts/etc" to distribute for all three programs.
3. Different Task Flow
4. Different Tools Manipulators Flow(can create understanding problem)
Could you elaborate more on what you mean by "task flow" and "tools
manipulators flow"?
It's not clear to me that a program like GIMP - which is used for such a
hugely diverse array of editing tasks and output goals - should be or
even could be optimized/shoe-horned into a set task flow.
5. One have that feature another not and etc.
6. (Everything that create inconsistency in these applications)
Why do you want all these programs to have the same features?
Do you want to throw away the "not in common" features? Or do you want
to add all the features from all the programs to all the programs?
___________________
Even I Know its hard to solve. I already chatted with Inkscape developers
regarding this few months back that UI is so much locked. But even they
also wanted to have some consistency.
I really want to see GIMP, Inkscape & Scribus team come together to work on
similar ideas concepts, designs and task flow to maintain consistency.
I don't know about Scribus or Inkscape. But GIMP interface is already
highly configurable, and "DTP-oriented" configurations could be
distributed as config files and themes/icons.
If the already available array of configuration options for GIMP isn't
sufficient to set GIMP up for use in an envisioned seamless DTP
workflow, then a specific list of what's missing would be a good place
to start.
Which brings the discussion around to Jehan's awesome idea of being able
to easily exchange files between programs. The ability to easily
exchange files between programs is something that would make imaging
workflows in general (not just DTP workflows) considerably easier. It
would be awesome to have the option to easily switch back and forth
between different applications, for example sending a flattened version
of the current image from GIMP to Krita to RawTherapee and back to GIMP,
etc, or from Scribus to GIMP and back, or etc.
Best,
Elle
Thanks
Vikash
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