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Adding a second UI to the codebase (with a friendlier, less conflict inducing name) would be a fantastic addition to the project. Something along the lines of

Adding a second UI to the codebase (with a friendlier, less conflict inducing name) would be a fantastic addition to the project. Something along the lines of a cooperative fork, I suppose, focused on exposing a minimal set of features but keeping the underlying image processing models. Fewer buttons. Distilled UI. Having a single rapid workflow for saving an edited PNG. [...and this is almost exactly what Glimpse is, thank you other commenters!: https://glimpse-editor.github.io/ https://glimpse-editor.github.io/ ]

kazinator 6y ago
> Having a single rapid workflow for saving an edited PNG. You mean instead of two rapid workflows? 1. File -> Overwrite Existing <whatever>.png. First time it is used, there is prompting. After that, no prompting. Has no hotkey. 2. Or use Export As, which has a Shift-Ctrl-E hotkey. The first time you use Export As, there is prompting. But after the first use, the "Overwrite Existing <whatever>.png" menu item (for workflow 1) disappears from the File menu and is replaced by "Export To <whatever>.png". This action has no prompting at all, and has Ctrl-E as the hot key. Workflow 1 has less initial prompting than 2; it goes straight to the Export dialog (for setting parameters) without prompting for a filename or overwrite confirmation; it's good if you're editing many images and saving just once.
- gorgoiler 6y ago
  Thanks. I feel stupid now. I guess I would have expected this to be called “save”?
  - noir_lord 6y ago
    Not same thing, Save implies you want to save the work in progress, so xcf typically (thats the gimp project format, so you can do things like undo stuff etc). Export is well export "Take this project and make it <Foo> format with <Bar> quality" settings. It's the way many print/graphics packages split it conceptually.
  - shawnz 6y ago
    "Save" and "Export" used to be under the same function many versions ago. I am guessing they changed it to avoid data loss. Consider if someone "saved" into a format that does not actually support all the features of Gimp, like PNG. They might be surprised when they open their file and things like layers are missing.
    - jobigoud 6y ago
      Paint.NET solved this by prompting the user when this particular kind of destructive save happen: This format requires all layers to be merged, are you sure you want to merge all layers? yes/cancel.
      - kazinator 6y ago
        But with GIMP's export, you can export a JPEG without merging all your layers. They are merged in the image only. Your default filename (like "myproject.xcf") is not affected; Ctrl-S save continues to save that. GIMP's export is smart enough not to keep prompting you. You are prompted once to set the parameters, like compression and others. Then you can repeat the export operation with no prompting. You have a Ctrl-E hotkey to do that instantly, and Ctrl-S continues to save your project to the .xcf file.
  - kazinator 6y ago
    You just have to read the whole File menu (of every program you use, not just GIMP!) In GIMP, saving refers to persisting the project in the native .xcf format. Everything else is exporting. Exporting loses information, that's why it's not called saving. It can use lossy compression, first of all. And then, the target format might not support all the semantics. For instance, it might not support layers, or not support layers with all their GIMP nuances, like layer masks and whatnot. If you're working on a PNG or JPEG and want to close GIMP and continue later without any loss of data or disruption, you have to save the project as an .XCF.
    - hakfoo 6y ago
      I feel like this was a behaviour shift at some point within the last 25 years. There was a time when you'd open a PNG, and the default "save" just gave you a flattened PNG. Or maybe it did so but complained about the risk. Either way, it felt off to make XCF default ONCE you specified a file type (either by opening a PNG/JPG/etc.) or trying to save as such once. You've decided you want to save only a final output, not something with the intermediary magic.
prokoudine 6y ago
Glimpse is GIMP minus one brush, one menu item, and GIMP branding, plus Photoshop shortcuts, plus a few popular plugins. That is all it is at the moment.

kazinator 6y ago

> Having a single rapid workflow for saving an edited PNG. You mean instead of two rapid workflows? 1. File -> Overwrite Existing <whatever>.png. First time it is used, there is prompting. After that, no prompting. Has no hotkey. 2. Or use Export As, which has a Shift-Ctrl-E hotkey. The first time you use Export As, there is prompting. But after the first use, the "Overwrite Existing <whatever>.png" menu item (for workflow 1) disappears from the File menu and is replaced by "Export To <whatever>.png". This action has no prompting at all, and has Ctrl-E as the hot key. Workflow 1 has less initial prompting than 2; it goes straight to the Export dialog (for setting parameters) without prompting for a filename or overwrite confirmation; it's good if you're editing many images and saving just once.

gorgoiler 6y ago
Thanks. I feel stupid now. I guess I would have expected this to be called “save”?
- noir_lord 6y ago
  Not same thing, Save implies you want to save the work in progress, so xcf typically (thats the gimp project format, so you can do things like undo stuff etc). Export is well export "Take this project and make it <Foo> format with <Bar> quality" settings. It's the way many print/graphics packages split it conceptually.
- shawnz 6y ago
  "Save" and "Export" used to be under the same function many versions ago. I am guessing they changed it to avoid data loss. Consider if someone "saved" into a format that does not actually support all the features of Gimp, like PNG. They might be surprised when they open their file and things like layers are missing.
  - jobigoud 6y ago
    Paint.NET solved this by prompting the user when this particular kind of destructive save happen: This format requires all layers to be merged, are you sure you want to merge all layers? yes/cancel.
    - kazinator 6y ago
      But with GIMP's export, you can export a JPEG without merging all your layers. They are merged in the image only. Your default filename (like "myproject.xcf") is not affected; Ctrl-S save continues to save that. GIMP's export is smart enough not to keep prompting you. You are prompted once to set the parameters, like compression and others. Then you can repeat the export operation with no prompting. You have a Ctrl-E hotkey to do that instantly, and Ctrl-S continues to save your project to the .xcf file.
- kazinator 6y ago
  You just have to read the whole File menu (of every program you use, not just GIMP!) In GIMP, saving refers to persisting the project in the native .xcf format. Everything else is exporting. Exporting loses information, that's why it's not called saving. It can use lossy compression, first of all. And then, the target format might not support all the semantics. For instance, it might not support layers, or not support layers with all their GIMP nuances, like layer masks and whatnot. If you're working on a PNG or JPEG and want to close GIMP and continue later without any loss of data or disruption, you have to save the project as an .XCF.
  - hakfoo 6y ago
    I feel like this was a behaviour shift at some point within the last 25 years. There was a time when you'd open a PNG, and the default "save" just gave you a flattened PNG. Or maybe it did so but complained about the risk. Either way, it felt off to make XCF default ONCE you specified a file type (either by opening a PNG/JPG/etc.) or trying to save as such once. You've decided you want to save only a final output, not something with the intermediary magic.

prokoudine 6y ago

Glimpse is GIMP minus one brush, one menu item, and GIMP branding, plus Photoshop shortcuts, plus a few popular plugins. That is all it is at the moment.