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Interview with Øyvind Kolås, GIMP developer (2017)

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Re: Interview with Øyvind Kolås, GIMP developer (2017)

#51

Post by as1mov »

InsideOutSanta wrote: post #45
as1mov wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the dev team had a nickel for every time someone complained about the name, there would have enough money by now to fund the development of a UI revamp. Now if they had a nickel for everytime someone complained about the bad UI...

But do they want to do a full UI revamp? My impression is that a lot of people in the gimp ecosystem are happy to be aggressively unwelcoming to a broader audience. They don't see the name or the poor ux as a bug, but as a feature, and actively attack people who want to fix these issue. They call then "snowflakes" and "SJWs" and are gleeful when they fail to make any kinds of improvements. Some of these people can be…

> They don't see the name or the poor ux as a bug, but as a feature, and actively attack people who want to fix these issue.

They will probably not attack people who want to fix these issues, but only those who leave drive-by one liner low effort comments about the UI.

Re: Interview with Øyvind Kolås, GIMP developer (2017)

#54

Post by rzerowan »

goodmythical wrote: post #37
hungryhobbit wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the contrast between this and one of the next comments: >In my honest opinion, GIMP is a horrific piece of software. Both are absolutely true! GIMP has been, for many years, the best free graphics software available. At the same time, it's so horribly anti-user (and anti-usability) that if it wasn't free software, the company behind it would have gone bankrupt a long time ago.

I think that the weakness doesn't lie within GIMP itself. Imagine that you are a car hobbyist. You know your way around a wrench. But then you step in to an F1 garage or even your local repair shop run by that one guy who inheritted his father's shop in the 50s and has thrown a tool away since the Reagan administration. It's going to be possible for you to do everything that you know how to do, and even to learn some…

I wonder what would it take o implement layout compatibilty packs , to allow the user at install to select which layout they are most comfortable with , v2.0 , Photoshop compatible , stable or experimental. All calling into the same base.

Of course such an effort most likeky would need to be a paid effort fulltime rather than volunteerr work.

It always felt sad to me it never reached the usablility/familiarity that Blender has.

Re: Interview with Øyvind Kolås, GIMP developer (2017)

#55

Post by cmyk_student »

rzerowan wrote: post #54
goodmythical wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that the weakness doesn't lie within GIMP itself. Imagine that you are a car hobbyist. You know your way around a wrench. But then you step in to an F1 garage or even your local repair shop run by that one guy who inheritted his father's shop in the 50s and has thrown a tool away since the Reagan administration. It's going to be possible for you to do everything that you know how to do, and even to learn some…

I wonder what would it take o implement layout compatibilty packs , to allow the user at install to select which layout they are most comfortable with , v2.0 , Photoshop compatible , stable or experimental. All calling into the same base. Of course such an effort most likeky would need to be a paid effort fulltime rather than volunteerr work. It always felt sad to me it never reached the usablility/familiarity that B…

There's a third-party theme called PhotoGIMP which changes the layout and shortcuts to match Photoshop: https://github.com/Diolinux/PhotoGIMP

Longterm, we have a roadmap item for an Extensions platform: https://developer.gimp.org/core/roadmap/#extensions

So basically, you could download plug-ins, themes, shortcut presets, etc, directly into GIMP. We have a lot of pieces done - we just need someone to focus on it to finish.

Re: Interview with Øyvind Kolås, GIMP developer (2017)

#56

Post by b112 »

cmyk_student wrote: post #43
b112 wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest beef is the UI constantly goes through massive changes at each release. Options moved, mysterious new configs, literally it is as if you're using an entirely new piece of software every few years. For those of you who daily drive GIMP, well you'll be up to speed quickly. For those of us that use it once a month or so, for a day, it quickly becomes exceptionally annoying. I'm happy if the UI isn't the best.…

It's funny to hear that, because we get a large number of complaints that we haven't changed GIMP's interface at all from 2.10 to 3.0 and that's why we're "failing". We try to be respectful of existing users (and again, we get lots of complaints that doing so "holds GIMP back"). If you have some examples of massive changes you've dealt with (and from what version to what version), I'm happy to look into them further.

Maybe my angst is from prior versions. I've been using it since... well, it has existed.

Re: Interview with Øyvind Kolås, GIMP developer (2017)

#57

Post by rzerowan »

cmyk_student wrote: post #55
rzerowan wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder what would it take o implement layout compatibilty packs , to allow the user at install to select which layout they are most comfortable with , v2.0 , Photoshop compatible , stable or experimental. All calling into the same base. Of course such an effort most likeky would need to be a paid effort fulltime rather than volunteerr work. It always felt sad to me it never reached the usablility/familiarity that B…

There's a third-party theme called PhotoGIMP which changes the layout and shortcuts to match Photoshop: https://github.com/Diolinux/PhotoGIMP Longterm, we have a roadmap item for an Extensions platform: https://developer.gimp.org/core/roadmap/#extensions So basically, you could download plug-ins, themes, shortcut presets, etc, directly into GIMP. We have a lot of pieces done - we just need someone to focus on it to f…

Nice , will definately check those out. Good luck and all the best in the work.

Re: Interview with Øyvind Kolås, GIMP developer (2017)

#58

Post by Forgeties79 »

goodmythical wrote: post #37
hungryhobbit wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love the contrast between this and one of the next comments: >In my honest opinion, GIMP is a horrific piece of software. Both are absolutely true! GIMP has been, for many years, the best free graphics software available. At the same time, it's so horribly anti-user (and anti-usability) that if it wasn't free software, the company behind it would have gone bankrupt a long time ago.

I think that the weakness doesn't lie within GIMP itself. Imagine that you are a car hobbyist. You know your way around a wrench. But then you step in to an F1 garage or even your local repair shop run by that one guy who inheritted his father's shop in the 50s and has thrown a tool away since the Reagan administration. It's going to be possible for you to do everything that you know how to do, and even to learn some…

I get where you’re coming from but as somebody who has bounced between three different major NLE’s, a lot of these tools are not radically different from each other.

The differences are pretty substantial sometimes don’t get me wrong, but your previous experience usually carries over in more ways than it doesn’t and you’re able to get up and running with like…80% of proficiency you had on your preferred program after a month I’d say.

GIMP isn’t quite that smooth of a transition and you can feel it. I don’t think it’s necessarily a fault or something they should spend resources addressing, but it is noticeable

Re: Interview with Øyvind Kolås, GIMP developer (2017)

#60

Post by wileydragonfly »

I like GIMP and I’ve unlearned a lot of my photoshop muscle memory but the name is a huge problem and I have to say “yes, I know, the name is unfortunate” every single time I introduce it to someone new. I’ll carry this burden because it’s free software but it is so annoying.
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