Gimp is 25 years old today • Hacker News Board

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#181

Post by tambourine_man » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 2:16 PM UTC

ehsankia wrote: post #125

megameter wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I would put it is: GIMP has features, not workflow. There are a lot of things that are possible, but not by combining the basic tools and metaphors in sensible ways: each time is more like diving into the command line options of a GNU tool, finding the exact thing, and if you really, really need to automate it, it goes in a script where it can be safely forgotten. Which is, certainly, a way of doing, but not…

Actually, the way I would put it is that GIMP is the perfect example of why companies hire UX designers. GIMP is textbook example of how software can technically have all the same features, but be insanely hard to use and utterly confusing to anyone without a guide. Compare it to Photoshop which does more or less the same things but anyone can naturally pick up and use.

>technically have all the same features

>does more or less the same things

Photoshop has way more features than GIMP. GIMP has some severe basic wholes like lacking CMYK support after 25 years. I think they rather wait for printers to be obsolete than actually spend time implementing the color mode.

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#182

Post by yesenadam » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 2:17 PM UTC

mastazi wrote: post #23

gimpuser wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used Gimp for 15 years and never once has being handicap or disabled reference crossed my mind while using this software until you just brought it up. You should reconsider reaching so hard.

Is English your first language? I ask because I didn't consider this a problem until 10-ish years ago, when I migrated to a mostly English-speaking country and many people I would be talking to, would be aware of that meaning.

Australia here. I've never knew the negative meanings the word has until I read this page. It's bizarre to read here people assuming everyone knows it's offensive.

As opposed to "git", which I used in school to mean an idiot, an annoying person. A "github" sounds like where those people gather..

I use and love GIMP. Also, I learnt it while my computer was set to a language I was learning (Spanish). I didn't understand 95% of the menu item words when I started. So, hearing people saying it's hard to use (in English) is also surprising. :-)

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#183

Post by howlgarnish » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 2:20 PM UTC

ghaff wrote: post #179

ehsankia wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, the way I would put it is that GIMP is the perfect example of why companies hire UX designers. GIMP is textbook example of how software can technically have all the same features, but be insanely hard to use and utterly confusing to anyone without a guide. Compare it to Photoshop which does more or less the same things but anyone can naturally pick up and use.

Honestly, I wouldn't pick Photoshop as a particularly shining example of UX. It's probably better than GIMP. But it's also a product that has accreeted features and ways of doing things over the years and is pretty squarely targeted at people who use it all the time professionally. There are lots of different ways of doing the same or similar things.

Having many ways to do a thing is arguably better than GIMP, where there's exactly one way to do a thing and you need to find the right option from the right menu under the right icon to use it.

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#184

Post by enriquto » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 2:29 PM UTC

dau wrote: post #6

earthboundkid wrote: post #2

And it doesn’t look a day over 30.

they should invite the Blender people over to fix the UI for them :-)

> they should invite the Blender people over to fix the UI for them :-)

Is this sarcastic? I opened blender once and had a panic attack. Gimp felt usable since the beginning.

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#185

Post by enriquto » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 2:34 PM UTC

CharlesW wrote: post #25

neolog wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't realistically use an app called "GIMP" at work even if I was personally comfortable with it. What kind of work do you do?

I work at a technology company that knows what apps people run on their computers, but even if I didn't I would no more use an app called "GIMP" than I would one called "FAG". The name is pretty offensive IMHO.

This argument is ridiculous.

In my language, PIXAR means literally "to pee". This leads to inevitably to a couple of jokes when you start talking about this company, and then it stops forever. I'd still be happy to work for this company regardless of its name.

There's thousands of languages in this world. Any word or acronym that you come bay will be likely "offensive" in several of them. It does not really matter. Most people in the world are not native english speakers and "Gimp" means nothing to them.

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#186

Post by dalbasal » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 2:37 PM UTC

ampdepolymerase wrote: post #172

dalbasal wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> GIMP is the perfect example of why companies hire UX designers. Whole I agree that this is UX design, but I suspect that UX can be (and often is) a product of the type of organisation producing it moreso than the "UX designer hired to do UX." UX for something like Gimp is very hard. The metaphors have to encompass a ton of stuff and the UX needs A web app created by a bank, electric company or somesuch will tend t…

Calibre may not be pretty but for a CRUD app it is usable. People who have complaints about Calibre generally have issues with its chrome and dated layout but nobody dislikes it because it is hard to use. A default GTK style UI always looks terrible on Windows and Mac, both of which have much higher requirements for user interface defaults. This is especially so with Amazon and iBooks setting differing expectations f…

People like Calibre. I'm not saying it's bad. I'm just using it as a type example. Gnu-ish software is different in a recognizable way from Google, MSFT, etc. Different enough that both strengths and weaknesses are different.

With Calibre, most users won't feel like they have a grasp of what the software is and what you can do with it... compared to an Apple product. But, it's super powerful and the answer to a lot of "how do I X?" queries is use calibre. Without calibre, the operative answer would probably be "you can't."

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#187

Post by acomjean » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 2:41 PM UTC

pja wrote: post #137

ehsankia wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, the way I would put it is that GIMP is the perfect example of why companies hire UX designers. GIMP is textbook example of how software can technically have all the same features, but be insanely hard to use and utterly confusing to anyone without a guide. Compare it to Photoshop which does more or less the same things but anyone can naturally pick up and use.

Can they though? I'll admit it's a long time since I've sat in front of a Photoshop window, but I remember it being just as complex to use. Is this just partially a "what you're used to is easy & anything different is hard" thing? What exactly makes Photoshop easier to use in your opinion? This is a genuine question - I see this asserted so often, like it's a truism, but nobody ever seems to give specific examples.

Photoshop has a whole industry around teaching how to use it.

They have photoshop conferences, books and magazines. Not something you expect for a piece of software that’s intuitive.

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#188

Post by blhack » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 2:42 PM UTC

Love gimp, but what has come to drive me nuts about using it is that the icons are now all flat and colorless. It seriously slows down my workflow having to hover over each tool for a few seconds to find out what it actually does.

And this comes from somebody who has used the software pretty consistently for 20 years (Fark.com photoshop contests from my teens, woo!).

Maybe this is just a mac thing, though?

Anyway: congrats on 25 years, GIMP team! Your tool is a joy, and your work is hugely appreciated by me! Great job!

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#189

Post by gbl08ma » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 2:43 PM UTC

blhack wrote: post #188

Love gimp, but what has come to drive me nuts about using it is that the icons are now all flat and colorless. It seriously slows down my workflow having to hover over each tool for a few seconds to find out what it actually does. And this comes from somebody who has used the software pretty consistently for 20 years (Fark.com photoshop contests from my teens, woo!). Maybe this is just a mac thing, though? Anyway: co…

The new default icon set drives me nuts as well. Fortunately, you can select other icon sets in the settings.

Re: Gimp is 25 years old today

#190

Post by h2odragon » Sun, Nov 22, 2020, 2:44 PM UTC

gilrain wrote: post #177

neolog wrote: post #43

GIMP's name comes from Pulp Fiction. > It took us a little while to come up with the name. We knew we wanted an image manipulation program like Photoshop, but the name IMP sounded wrong. We also tossed around XIMP (X Image Manipulation Program) following the rule of when in doubt prefix an X for X11 based programs. At the time, Pulp Fiction was the hot movie and a single word popped into my mind while we were tossing…

In retrospect it was probably a mistake to choose a name which is either a niche aspect of the BDSM lifestyle or an ableist pejorative. That it was deliberate is even more baffling.

It's perfect. It's a funky little tool you only take out of the box when you need it for a specific purpose. You use it (with vigor and some cussing because it fights back); get your job done, and shove it back into the box of shame, until the next time you need it. You might love what it does for you but you rarely celebrate the tool itself, preferring instead to delight in the faint tinge of shame.

"GIMP" is the perfect name for this software.