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Your search for lack UI GIMP returned 2 results.

Monday 13 March 2006

The Gimp's (lack of) UI #2

By glazou on Monday 13 March 2006, 10:23 - Computing

Things I got by email about my original article:

use this excellent plug-in or UI add-on to turn the Gimp into something good
that's exactly my point : you have to use an external add-on to make the thing usable... That's bad, and not everyone is able to do that, or even able to find/install such add-ons.
Nvu's UI sucks, so shut up
oh, and that's supposed to be an excellent excuse for the Gimp ?
Do yourself, you moron
not only I wish I could, but I am going to investigate this idea very seriously
Not true, the Gimp is easy to use once you have understood its spirit.
that's a quite big "once"... I never made that step and not because I did not try...
there are alternatives to the Gimp
but almost unknown... Only linux geeks know them, there's not a single article about them outside of programmers' magazines and they are totally unknown on Win or Mac.
why bother ?
because I want, I need, a free cross-platform UI-friendly alternative to commercial image editing software.
(update) we're not going to make the Gimp look like Photoshop !
that's not what I'm asking fo. I am asking for more UI-friendliness. There are UI designs you just cannot copy from PS because they are patented ; there are others you won't copy because you'll find better and nicer options ; and for the rest, you may very well end up by pure chance with solutions totally similar to what PS does. So what ? Your religion says "Thou shalt not use a Photoshop-like UI" ?

Saturday 11 March 2006

The Gimp's (lack of) UI

By glazou on Saturday 11 March 2006, 16:27 - Computing

If you saw me once give a talk about Free Software/Open Source, you probably already know what I think of the Gimp's UI :

  • it's a perfect example of the worst of free software
  • a geeky user interface made for geeks by geeks who just don't care if the rest of the world find their user interface too geeky
  • it's so obscure than even a geek like me is lost in that UI...
  • the Gimp's UI is the strongest factor against the success of the Gimp in front of other image editing tools, free or not. Because of its UI, the Gimp is a blocking factor to bring Linux on the desktop

And it seems I am not alone with that opinion. With my Nvu hat on*, I urge the authors and maintainers of the Gimp to :

  1. DRASTICALLY simplify not only the general UI but also EACH AND EVERY FEATURE ACCESS.
  2. Use Firefox's example : ask UI experts for a COMPLETE UI redesign. Drop the bloat, think usability, learning curve AND USERS. Stop the icons-everywhere fever. Oh shit after all, USE XUL !!!!!
  3. Move to an MDI interface or at least choice between SDI and MDI at startup !
  4. Drop the fuc**** gtk+ filepicker and its lame usability ! In my worst nightmares, I see Microsoft and Apple adopt the gtk+ filepicker ; ten minutes later, the final global nuclear war begins;-)
  5. Do WHATEVER is needed to reach a good Linux experience on Linux, an Aqua-like experience on Mac, and a Win-like experience on Windows !
  6. What REALLY MATTERS is not the toolkit but the USER'S SATISFACTION !

Sven, Mitch and Yosh : WAKE UP GUYS !!! I am ranting because I DO LIKE THE GIMP and I want to have a much better Gimp. I am devastated to see it unable to leave the geek's segment of the market because you are unable to accept the fact you're not UI designers. I am INCREDIBLY frustrated and upset each time I am unable to find how to accompish a trivial task with the Gimp, something that would take me half of a second to find on any other tool. If the Gimp is the best example of what you can do in UI design, then read me well : NO YOU ARE NOT GOOD UI DESIGNERS.

So please, please, PLEASE, keep focusing on the kernel, and leave the UI to others if you don't want to hear what we're saying.

Note: as always, comments are not allowed on this blog. Ping me by email if you want to reach me.

* I am not a UI designer myself. Fortunately, Nvu inherits from Composer, and behind Composer were a few excellent UI designers that constantly refused or reoriented our geeky suggestions. That's why today, an estimated two million user base use Nvu and find it easy and simple to use. We understood there are compromises you cannot refuse : use a native filepicker on every platform, use the native UI style on every platform, implement one-click features, and, more important than the rest, targert people with no technical knowledge. You guys just have to do the same.