Date: Thu, 21 Jun 2012 06:05:07 -0700
From: doodoodee...@yahoo.com
To: gimp-developer-list@gnome.org
Subject: [Gimp-developer] GIMP 2.8 less productive than GIMP 2.6 (too many
dialogue boxes)
-----------
To: GIMP devs and users
Having recently made the upgrade to GIMP 2.8, it's immediately obvious to me as
a long time user that GIMP is now a far less productive application. Some
aspects that I find particularly obtrusive:
-> The "Export" vs Save implementation: this alone already made me go back to
2.6, at least until this "feature" is made optional or removed from GIMP
altogether. Previously, all I had to do to save an image in any desired format
after editing it, was to use "Save as" exactly as I would in any other program;
now I have to go through multiple dialogue windows and manually select the same
options ALL THE TIME (such as the dreadful "Do Not write colour space
information" for BMPs), since they aren't assumed by GIMP for future
operations. Even
something that should be as simple as a quick modification followed by a
CTRL+S to overwrite the same image in its own native format has become an
headache.
------------
I'm not particularly fond of the save/export distinction ... in its current
form. I can agree that the distinction is generally a positive one, as in,
used correctly there are decidedly fewer dialogues to wade through for writing
a non-XCF file to disk than there were in 2.6.
BUT I think there are some minor things that completely ruin productivity for
certain styles of workflow. For example, the fact that "Export" (Ctrl+E) and
"Overwrite" (no default shortcut) are two separate commands. I believe this is
a horrible design decision when the only pertinent difference between them is
whether or not the current image session originated from a non-XCF file.
If I'm creating a single-layer composition and choose to store it on disk as a
PNG. Okay, so Save is intended for XCF now, use Export instead, that is a bit
of a speed-bump but the Export commands are on the same menu and they even have
similar keyboard shortcuts set up. Ctrl+E it is, first it asks me for a
filename (just as the Save command would with a new file), but subsequent uses
just writes the file to disk in a single keystroke with no further prompts
(also just like the Save command would do with an XCF).
That is, UNTIL I come back later in a new GIMP session. Now it is considered
an 'imported' image, so the 'Export' is replaced by 'Overwrite', and I have no
keyboard shortcut for writing changes back to the file NQA. If I hit Ctrl+E
(which for some reason still remains invokable) I have to go through all the
usual Export prompts as if I've never exported the file before, but including a
new prompt asking whether to overwrite the existing file. THIS is the real
productivity-killer.
It is not GIMP's place to judge the merits of its user's individual workflow.
It is GIMP's job to do what they tell it to do, to the best of its ability
(i.e. within the scope of its design vision). I always viewed GIMP as being
able to accommodate a wide variety of different workflows ... is that now
saying that GIMP has a multiple-personality disorder? I think not.
-- Stratadrake
strata_ran...@hotmail.com
--------------------
Numbers may not lie, but neither do they tell the whole truth.
_______________________________________________
gimp-developer-list mailing list
gimp-developer-list@gnome.org
https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer-list
