The GIMP at a crossroads

First this disclaimer. I am not an artist, nor will I ever be. I am a cloner of web-themes, adjuster of image sizes, and practitioner of casual customization. I think the the GIMP interface is one of the most difficult things I've had to learn in the GNU/Linux world. I've spent hours trying to figure out how to get to point A from point B, and I've rarely been satisfied that I've got the technique mastered. Compared to this, tuning an OLTP database is a walk in the park. When you fire up the GIMP, you can't help but be simultaneously dazzled and baffled by the amount of buttons and levers you've been given to work with. I'd love it if the interface at the top was much simpler, and guided poor souls like me down to the level and tools that I need to complete my task. I realize that this is a massive undertaking, but I think it's critical to the product (or products, if the developers choose to split the app) Last year at OSCON, TIm O'Reilly talked about the trends that book sales showed him about new technology. In my search for books on the GIMP , I couldn't find anything published after 2000. That's a very disturbing trend for an application that's a key part of the GNU toolset. I hope the trend changes over the next 24 months.

DT

Time to write one then! --Paul

Hmm. Not sure splitting it up is great. I do some web stuff, but also some things that require more advanced tricks. Often the two end up crossing paths in the middle of what I am working on. Currently I use Paint Shop Pro, but have tried Gimp. PSP comes with an animation editor, but that won't let you edit or use any filters, etc. on the animation. There is no 'export to frame' type feature to go from PSP to the animator, etc. I stopped working on some of the animations I was attempting, mostly because there is no easy way to take stuff only creatable in PSP and easilly feed it to the animation program, and once there, trying to get multiple frames back to PSP, then back to the other was less than easy. If I had known that Gimp provided animation editing, I... still wouldn't have used it, because, while PSP has at least as many gadgets as Gimp, it autohides a lot of them, until you actually need to set them. Gimp dumps them in a mess of windows all over the desktop. Half I can't figure out what they do and the ones I do recognize I can't figure out how half of them work in Gimp. Its a bloody mess and ugly as well.

So yeah, fix the dang UI and unconfuse the features. Then if you still feel like you 'have to' yank out the animation features and the like... make sure you 'have to' do it, not just because you think everyone wants it.

Hear, hear!

The Gimp's interface is not the most difficult one I've had to use lately. That would be Blender, though Cinellera is quirky enough to be in the mix.

The trouble with the Gimp's interface is that it doesn't seem to reward you much for learning it. Many interfaces (Blender, again) are daunting at first blush, but turn out to be very well mated to the tasks you have to do. You invest in learning the interface and are rewarded by an efficient and comfortable work flow.

Maybe I just haven't learned it well enough, but the Gimp doesn't quite achieve that for me.

As to splitting the Gimp into two tools?

Pish posh. Web and publishing graphics work are similar enough that a good interface should let all the functionality remain.

Methinks Adobe split its products to have more products to sell and money to make, not because they worked better split apart.

I have to admit that the gimps interface, after a couple of years, still frustrates the piss out of me. I can make it sing, but it's one of those voices that's wildly off key.

As for interfaces that are hard to learn, but as you point to Dino, optimized for a particular task; easy to learn doesn't mean easy to do heavy lifting -- sometimes hard interfaces to learn make for incredible productivity (vi anyone?).

I hope the gimp feels that way someday...

I am a gimp weenie-- the most complex thing Ive done is make some shimmering/flaming animated cursors for X, which was quite a slog, but everything was there once I figured it out. But for most of the simple stuff, I wonder if tools like xv and ImageMagick (display, or convert) would be more appropriate, as I often find them to be. I'm sure there are other simpler tools out there (?) Are they lacking for workaday stuff?