3 ms·

In 1997, me and my beige box PC spent about a day building the GIMP alpha, excited for a Photoshop killer. Now it's 2012, fifteen years later, and we're high-f

by gamache 15y ago

In 1997, me and my beige box PC spent about a day building the GIMP alpha, excited for a Photoshop killer. Now it's 2012, fifteen years later, and we're high-fiving GIMP for the single window interface.

nicubunu 15y ago
the single-window interface is overrated, i tried it in one early development releases and returned back to multi-windows
- libraryatnight 15y ago
  I don't understand the appeal of the multi-windows. I use GIMP at home and I often have multiple images open and find the tool windows disappear on me. It's frustrating. What's overrated about the single window interface and what draws you to multi window mode?
  - cygx 15y ago
    The fact that I can use the window manager of my choice to manage the windows.
  - axiak 15y ago
    I guess the question is whether or not you're using a powerful window manager or not. Most window managers in linux support easy always-on-top and layers, so the multi-window UI really shines.
    - libraryatnight 15y ago
      Ah, this makes sense now :) I haven't tried with a window manager. I'm typically in Windows at home and not always on Linux so I'll have to experiment.
- skore 15y ago
  I don't even get how people can claim that there is a big difference anyhow - If we were brutally honest here, Photoshop is really only multi-windowed, too - with the main window maximized in the background and carrying the main menu.
stiff 15y ago
Many people do not mind the multi-window interface and the reason there wasn't a single-window one isn't some stagnation in progress but probably either opposition by the past maintainers to the idea of switching to a single-window one or not caring about it at all. Those fifteen years are hardly a measure of how Gimp fares in comparison to other image editors.
- kentosi 15y ago
  Can someone please explain to me the advantage of NOT having a single window display in an application such as this? I'm being serious here by the way ... I remember when I tried GIMP many years ago. I had many little windows scattered across my desktop, and as soon as I misclicked on my background I'd suddenly lose focus of the app and all the sub-windows (toolbar, layers, etc) would disappear. I either had to run my mouse back to the image's window or alt-tab back to the app to regain focus. I found this incredibly terrible as a UI approach, but found no resources explaining why this is a good thing.
  - elehack 15y ago
    Partly - the Unix philosophy. Since you can swap out your window manager on X11, you can have your windows managed in any of a wide number of ways. If an application tries to manage subwindows on its own, there is a very good chance that it will do so differently than your global window manager. Assuming that there is a reason you picked the global WM that you did, it's rather disconcerting to be forced to use an inferior WM to manage Gimp's windows. Add to that the multi-desktop, multi-monitor aspects (although detachable docking panes can help a lot with that).
  - ori_b 15y ago
    It's useful to be able to put your tools on one monitor, and maximize the image on the other.
    - read_wharf 15y ago
      Would be cool to have a single window of image, and a separate single window of tools.
oneplusone 15y ago
For an app meant for the creative types, GIMP sure is ugly. I also thought we were over mystery meat navigation, but it seems to be going strong at GIMP. Not only does having icons for each tab make it look incredibly busy, but it also makes it harder to learn and wastes a ton of screen space. I can't see a single benefit other than it doesn't look like Photoshop. I wonder how hard it would be to redo the entire interface from scratch. I would love to design it, but no way do I want to navigate their bureaucracy.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- sciurus 15y ago
  Apparently it's not hard, as long as you don't care about your work being merged upstream. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMPshop http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMPshop
- stuaxo 15y ago
  I doubt theres much bureacracy, there are not that many core developers - probably going onto the mailinglist and providing some patches might be a start.
SourPatch 15y ago
And it still has garbage like the pepper brush.

by gamache 15y ago

nicubunu 15y ago

the single-window interface is overrated, i tried it in one early development releases and returned back to multi-windows

libraryatnight 15y ago
I don't understand the appeal of the multi-windows. I use GIMP at home and I often have multiple images open and find the tool windows disappear on me. It's frustrating. What's overrated about the single window interface and what draws you to multi window mode?
- cygx 15y ago
  The fact that I can use the window manager of my choice to manage the windows.
- axiak 15y ago
  I guess the question is whether or not you're using a powerful window manager or not. Most window managers in linux support easy always-on-top and layers, so the multi-window UI really shines.
  - libraryatnight 15y ago
    Ah, this makes sense now :) I haven't tried with a window manager. I'm typically in Windows at home and not always on Linux so I'll have to experiment.
skore 15y ago
I don't even get how people can claim that there is a big difference anyhow - If we were brutally honest here, Photoshop is really only multi-windowed, too - with the main window maximized in the background and carrying the main menu.

stiff 15y ago

Many people do not mind the multi-window interface and the reason there wasn't a single-window one isn't some stagnation in progress but probably either opposition by the past maintainers to the idea of switching to a single-window one or not caring about it at all. Those fifteen years are hardly a measure of how Gimp fares in comparison to other image editors.

kentosi 15y ago
Can someone please explain to me the advantage of NOT having a single window display in an application such as this? I'm being serious here by the way ... I remember when I tried GIMP many years ago. I had many little windows scattered across my desktop, and as soon as I misclicked on my background I'd suddenly lose focus of the app and all the sub-windows (toolbar, layers, etc) would disappear. I either had to run my mouse back to the image's window or alt-tab back to the app to regain focus. I found this incredibly terrible as a UI approach, but found no resources explaining why this is a good thing.
- elehack 15y ago
  Partly - the Unix philosophy. Since you can swap out your window manager on X11, you can have your windows managed in any of a wide number of ways. If an application tries to manage subwindows on its own, there is a very good chance that it will do so differently than your global window manager. Assuming that there is a reason you picked the global WM that you did, it's rather disconcerting to be forced to use an inferior WM to manage Gimp's windows. Add to that the multi-desktop, multi-monitor aspects (although detachable docking panes can help a lot with that).
- ori_b 15y ago
  It's useful to be able to put your tools on one monitor, and maximize the image on the other.
  - read_wharf 15y ago
    Would be cool to have a single window of image, and a separate single window of tools.

oneplusone 15y ago

For an app meant for the creative types, GIMP sure is ugly. I also thought we were over mystery meat navigation, but it seems to be going strong at GIMP. Not only does having icons for each tab make it look incredibly busy, but it also makes it harder to learn and wastes a ton of screen space. I can't see a single benefit other than it doesn't look like Photoshop. I wonder how hard it would be to redo the entire interface from scratch. I would love to design it, but no way do I want to navigate their bureaucracy.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
sciurus 15y ago
Apparently it's not hard, as long as you don't care about your work being merged upstream. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMPshop http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIMPshop
stuaxo 15y ago
I doubt theres much bureacracy, there are not that many core developers - probably going onto the mailinglist and providing some patches might be a start.

SourPatch 15y ago

And it still has garbage like the pepper brush.