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25 Years of Krita

krita.org

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Re: 25 Years of Krita

#3
Wow, is it just me or does that screenshot of 2005 Krita 1.4 UI[1] look absolutely amazing?

All the icons are very distinctive and clear on what they do and the colors make them pop without stabbing your retinas. Perfect.

Feels like the mid-2000's was the peak in software UI design and it slowly started going downhill afte that, with companies chasing the soulless corporate mono-chromatic flat design inspired from mobile devices where you have no idea which UI element is a button you can hit and making you always hunt down buttons instead of instinctively nailing them every time with your peripheral vision because now all buttons are monochromatic and just bend together (look at your current browser's toolbar for example).

[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Krita_1....

Re: 25 Years of Krita

#6

Wow, is it just me or does that screenshot of 2005 Krita 1.4 UI[1] look absolutely amazing? All the icons are very distinctive and clear on what they do and the colors make them pop without stabbing your retinas. Perfect. Feels like the mid-2000's was the peak in software UI design and it slowly started going downhill afte that, with companies chasing the soulless corporate mono-chromatic flat design inspired from mo…

Agreed. I suspect the shift in design occurred when the base assumption moved from "most users have never used a computer before" to "most users are familiar with computers".

IMO Windows Interface Guidelines from 1995 are still relevant today: https://ics.uci.edu/~kobsa/courses/ICS104/course-notes/Micro...

Re: 25 Years of Krita

#7

Wow. I could've sworn Krita was only around 6 years old. I've only very recently started hearing about it.

There seems to be a phenomena I observe in the FOSS community where we reflexively respond to suggestions despite them being far beneath their FOSS alternatives. Only after digging or running into issues, do you find the good stuff.

Brand name -> Low quality, highly mentioned -> High quality, rarely mentioned

Photoshop-> GIMP -> Krita

Windows -> Debian-family/Ubuntu/Mint -> Fedora

I almost feel like a religious Zealot when I teach people that Krita>>>GIMP, Fedora>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Debian-family. Its unpaid work, its moral work. People shouldn't have to suffer with low quality products because something was popular a few years ago.

Re: 25 Years of Krita

#8

Wow, is it just me or does that screenshot of 2005 Krita 1.4 UI[1] look absolutely amazing? All the icons are very distinctive and clear on what they do and the colors make them pop without stabbing your retinas. Perfect. Feels like the mid-2000's was the peak in software UI design and it slowly started going downhill afte that, with companies chasing the soulless corporate mono-chromatic flat design inspired from mo…

The different icon colors and shapes help a lot. It doesn't look uniform, and this is actually a big plus, as there's less thinking required to identify the target. The new interface looks nicer, but interfaces should focus on being usable, not just look good. Sometimes this means getting out of the way and being unobtrusive. Other times, it means standing out more.

The modern Krita (which is not the final picture in the article) still does well. Most of the UI icons have clearly identifiable shapes, information density is even higher than in the old versions, and the style is still following the current fashion, with less color and a darker theme.

Re: 25 Years of Krita

#9

Wow. I could've sworn Krita was only around 6 years old. I've only very recently started hearing about it.

There seems to be a phenomena I observe in the FOSS community where we reflexively respond to suggestions despite them being far beneath their FOSS alternatives. Only after digging or running into issues, do you find the good stuff. Brand name -> Low quality, highly mentioned -> High quality, rarely mentioned Photoshop-> GIMP -> Krita Windows -> Debian-family/Ubuntu/Mint -> Fedora I almost feel like a religious Zealo…

You have converted me.

Re: 25 Years of Krita

#10

Wow. I could've sworn Krita was only around 6 years old. I've only very recently started hearing about it.

There seems to be a phenomena I observe in the FOSS community where we reflexively respond to suggestions despite them being far beneath their FOSS alternatives. Only after digging or running into issues, do you find the good stuff. Brand name -> Low quality, highly mentioned -> High quality, rarely mentioned Photoshop-> GIMP -> Krita Windows -> Debian-family/Ubuntu/Mint -> Fedora I almost feel like a religious Zealo…

There is a lot of overlap, but I’d hardly call GIMP low quality.

I use Gimp for photos (layers and such) . It wasn’t intuitive but I know how to use it now: I have Krita on an android tablet with a stylus for painting (it’s brushes are amazing) and frankly it’s pretty fun to use.

Using open source can be “free” but if you use something a lot they alway need donations.

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