4 ms·

Maybe I'm an idiot, but I use GIMP occasionally and find the UI horrendously confusing. Every time I use it I have a web browser tab open with "How to [X] in GI

Maybe I'm an idiot, but I use GIMP occasionally and find the UI horrendously confusing. Every time I use it I have a web browser tab open with "How to [X] in GIMP".

skocznymroczny 7y ago
For me the webbrowser tab says "Where to download Paint.NET"
microwavecamera 7y ago
GIMP has been my goto graphics software since the early 2000's and yes, this is true. Several common tasks that Photoshop has baked in or has a plugin for has to be done manually in GIMP. Since 2.10 the plugins have really improved but it still definitely has a steep learning curve compared to Photoshop. Another good open-source alternative is Krita. It has a really good balance between usability and features with a slick, modern UI.
yellowapple 7y ago
I don't feel like it's any worse (or better) than Photoshop usability-wise. Really, given the sheer complexity of that sort of raster image editor, confusion is unfortunately par for the course.
bscphil 7y ago
Could you give examples of this? I use Gimp non-professionally a few times a week. (Photo development work is done in other apps, including RawTherapee and Lightroom.) I must say that I find GIMP incredibly easy to use, much easier than Photoshop for example (but also much less powerful than Photoshop). The tools consistently make sense and are where I expect them to be, and I find the menu bar to be well set up. Dividing the different functions into Image / Layer / Colors / Filters makes a lot of sense to me. (I do use the system GTK theme with color icons, which I don't think is the default, but it makes the tools much easier to see for me.) I'm not doubting that some people have trouble using GIMP but I have no idea what those problems are, because most people aren't specific about what parts of the UI confuse them. I've yet to see a graphics editing program that was at least as powerful as GIMP and less confusing.
- Balgair 7y ago
  I'll give one: How do I add a layer to a picture in gimp? Say I want to overlay a logo onto another image and then just save that resultant image. In MS Paint, it's like 30 seconds of work: Crtl+A, Crtl+C from one image, make sure that it's a transparent copy, Crtl+V in the other image, wangle-jangle the box to be correctly positioned, save it, done. In gimp? Good God, it's at least 10 trips to google to figure that out.
  - bscphil 7y ago
    I must be misunderstanding what it is you want to do. As a test, I opened two images in GIMP. On the smaller one, I ctrl-c. Tabbing over to the larger one, I ctrl-v. The small image is overlaid in a temporary layer on top of the larger one. I can drag it around with the move tool. At this point if I'm done I can just export it. If I need to do more work I can either flatten it with Layer -> Anchor Layer or make the new layer permanent with Layer -> To New Layer. I don't see how it could possibly be simpler than that. Even the exact same keyboard shortcuts you used in MS Paint work directly in Gimp with no changes!
    - Balgair 7y ago
      Ok, I just tried this in gimp and crtl+C and ctrl+V do not work for me. When I right click on the other window with all the layers listed, it sees that there is another layer in there with another picture, but it will not show up in the resultant image. I'm going to be honest, I'm not a daily gimp user. Even the terms you've used here (flatten, anchor, export, tabbing over, temporary, move tool, permanent) will require me to google those terms. I'm sure that the shortcuts that I've used 'work' for you. However they do not 'work' for me. Like, I'm honestly going out of my way here to test this out and trying to follow what you've written there. I'm spending my own time to try this. I know what AWS is, I know Python and pandas fairly well, I've gone to talks by Stallman, etc. I'm not grandma. And I have no idea what to do here or what you're trying to tell me. Gimp, for me, a semi-tech-literate person, is gobbly-gook and requires loads of training to get up to speed.
      - 7y ago

Maybe I'm an idiot, but I use GIMP occasionally and find the UI horrendously confusing. Every time I use it I have a web browser tab open with "How to [X] in GIMP".

skocznymroczny 7y ago

For me the webbrowser tab says "Where to download Paint.NET"

microwavecamera 7y ago

GIMP has been my goto graphics software since the early 2000's and yes, this is true. Several common tasks that Photoshop has baked in or has a plugin for has to be done manually in GIMP. Since 2.10 the plugins have really improved but it still definitely has a steep learning curve compared to Photoshop. Another good open-source alternative is Krita. It has a really good balance between usability and features with a slick, modern UI.

yellowapple 7y ago

I don't feel like it's any worse (or better) than Photoshop usability-wise. Really, given the sheer complexity of that sort of raster image editor, confusion is unfortunately par for the course.

bscphil 7y ago

Could you give examples of this? I use Gimp non-professionally a few times a week. (Photo development work is done in other apps, including RawTherapee and Lightroom.) I must say that I find GIMP incredibly easy to use, much easier than Photoshop for example (but also much less powerful than Photoshop). The tools consistently make sense and are where I expect them to be, and I find the menu bar to be well set up. Dividing the different functions into Image / Layer / Colors / Filters makes a lot of sense to me. (I do use the system GTK theme with color icons, which I don't think is the default, but it makes the tools much easier to see for me.) I'm not doubting that some people have trouble using GIMP but I have no idea what those problems are, because most people aren't specific about what parts of the UI confuse them. I've yet to see a graphics editing program that was at least as powerful as GIMP and less confusing.

Balgair 7y ago
I'll give one: How do I add a layer to a picture in gimp? Say I want to overlay a logo onto another image and then just save that resultant image. In MS Paint, it's like 30 seconds of work: Crtl+A, Crtl+C from one image, make sure that it's a transparent copy, Crtl+V in the other image, wangle-jangle the box to be correctly positioned, save it, done. In gimp? Good God, it's at least 10 trips to google to figure that out.
- bscphil 7y ago
  I must be misunderstanding what it is you want to do. As a test, I opened two images in GIMP. On the smaller one, I ctrl-c. Tabbing over to the larger one, I ctrl-v. The small image is overlaid in a temporary layer on top of the larger one. I can drag it around with the move tool. At this point if I'm done I can just export it. If I need to do more work I can either flatten it with Layer -> Anchor Layer or make the new layer permanent with Layer -> To New Layer. I don't see how it could possibly be simpler than that. Even the exact same keyboard shortcuts you used in MS Paint work directly in Gimp with no changes!
  - Balgair 7y ago
    Ok, I just tried this in gimp and crtl+C and ctrl+V do not work for me. When I right click on the other window with all the layers listed, it sees that there is another layer in there with another picture, but it will not show up in the resultant image. I'm going to be honest, I'm not a daily gimp user. Even the terms you've used here (flatten, anchor, export, tabbing over, temporary, move tool, permanent) will require me to google those terms. I'm sure that the shortcuts that I've used 'work' for you. However they do not 'work' for me. Like, I'm honestly going out of my way here to test this out and trying to follow what you've written there. I'm spending my own time to try this. I know what AWS is, I know Python and pandas fairly well, I've gone to talks by Stallman, etc. I'm not grandma. And I have no idea what to do here or what you're trying to tell me. Gimp, for me, a semi-tech-literate person, is gobbly-gook and requires loads of training to get up to speed.
    - 7y ago