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GIMP Single-Window Mode Almost Ready, Hardware Acceleration Planned

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Re: GIMP Single-Window Mode Almost Ready, Hardware Acceleration Planned

#21
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UI works quite well with a focus-follows-mouse policy - as it has been standard in Unix for decades. With today's click-to-focus window managers the UI is just horrible (but that's not Gimp's fault).

To an extent it is Gimp's fault, though. It's not as though click-to-focus is a new fad that's sprung up and surprised everyone -- it's been the default way focus has worked in GNOME and KDE for as long as I can remember, and I've been using it for the best part of fifteen years on Linux. The fact that such a common use case (almost certainly the most common use case, not to mention Gimp-related irritation, for at le…

The most common use case... except among the kind of people whose idea of a fun evening is developing a Free image editor on a Free operating system.

I'm not one of those people, but I have a similar background, and GIMP has suited me pretty well for the photo-retouching and website-graphics work I've done.

Re: GIMP Single-Window Mode Almost Ready, Hardware Acceleration Planned

#23
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UI works quite well with a focus-follows-mouse policy - as it has been standard in Unix for decades. With today's click-to-focus window managers the UI is just horrible (but that's not Gimp's fault).

To an extent it is Gimp's fault, though. It's not as though click-to-focus is a new fad that's sprung up and surprised everyone -- it's been the default way focus has worked in GNOME and KDE for as long as I can remember, and I've been using it for the best part of fifteen years on Linux. The fact that such a common use case (almost certainly the most common use case, not to mention Gimp-related irritation, for at le…

> almost certainly the most common use case [click-to-focus]

Most common only if you are coming from a ms-windows background. Click-to-focus is only a relatively recent newcomer to the Unix/X-Windows system in the scheme of how long X-Windows has existed.

And if you ever break out of your ms-windows mindset and actually give focus follows mouse a try, focus follows mouse is actually the more powerful method.

Re: GIMP Single-Window Mode Almost Ready, Hardware Acceleration Planned

#26
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To an extent it is Gimp's fault, though. It's not as though click-to-focus is a new fad that's sprung up and surprised everyone -- it's been the default way focus has worked in GNOME and KDE for as long as I can remember, and I've been using it for the best part of fifteen years on Linux. The fact that such a common use case (almost certainly the most common use case, not to mention Gimp-related irritation, for at le…

> almost certainly the most common use case [click-to-focus] Most common only if you are coming from a ms-windows background. Click-to-focus is only a relatively recent newcomer to the Unix/X-Windows system in the scheme of how long X-Windows has existed. And if you ever break out of your ms-windows mindset and actually give focus follows mouse a try, focus follows mouse is actually the more powerful method.

Just as an FYI, Windows actually supports focus follows mouse with a registry hack [0]. There are a couple of quirks mostly to do with things like tooltips, but I've found it usable.

[0] http://sinewalker.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/ms-windows-focus-...

Re: GIMP Single-Window Mode Almost Ready, Hardware Acceleration Planned

#27
post #19
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you name some of these things that have been bothering you for the past nine months?

The biggest problem I have with GIMP is that it's not intuitive. Every time I open it I have to stop and think how I am supposed to do what I am trying to do, my work never flows. This has such an impact on my productivity that I'm desperately looking for alternatives that don't involve purchasing Photoshop - now looking at Pixelmator. Other members of the team have switched to Paint.NET or other simple editors, but…

Great! A list of problems with a description of _why_ it's a problem. Can I ask if you have put this list anywhere near the GIMP developers - mailing lists or bugzilla?

Re: GIMP Single-Window Mode Almost Ready, Hardware Acceleration Planned

#29
post #9
post #8

I have been using GIMP for 9 months and the UI is exasperating. It's not just multi-window mode, things like the way the windows are rendered and designed, focus issues, shortcuts, missing features and a lot of other annoyances. The most disappointing thing is that I'm not even doing intensive graphical work, just retouching some photos, moving things around, resizing, etc.

Some aspects of Gimp are a little bit annoying (especially on a Mac), but you can do pretty cool things with it once you get used to it. I do some artwork for some web sites I created and Gimp is a good tool for this. Photoshop probably would be better, but for as little as I do me it is way too expensive.

On OS X, you can try Seashore (http://seashore.sourceforge.net/The_Seashore_Project/About.h...). Based on GIMP code but simplified and emphasizing usability.

Re: GIMP Single-Window Mode Almost Ready, Hardware Acceleration Planned

#30
post #19
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you name some of these things that have been bothering you for the past nine months?

The biggest problem I have with GIMP is that it's not intuitive. Every time I open it I have to stop and think how I am supposed to do what I am trying to do, my work never flows. This has such an impact on my productivity that I'm desperately looking for alternatives that don't involve purchasing Photoshop - now looking at Pixelmator. Other members of the team have switched to Paint.NET or other simple editors, but…

Totally agree. I would like to add one think that is bugging me: layer size. It sucks. Move a layer 50 pix. to the right and suddenly you can't draw in the left 50 pixels because the layer has moved. But perhaps some issues are they because of patents. I can image they cannot copy every part of Photoshop. But infinite layer size would be nice.
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