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I have been using Gimp easily for 10 years now and Inkscape for at least 5, I know them decently well, and I appreciate they at all exist and the hard work that

by stiff 13y ago

I have been using Gimp easily for 10 years now and Inkscape for at least 5, I know them decently well, and I appreciate they at all exist and the hard work that went into at all implementing the individual features. But the UX is terrible and this is objectively so, just sit a new computer user in front of Gimp and watch his agony when trying to use it. The open source "bazaar" model of software development in general isn't the best at coming up with good interfaces, you need a coherent vision of a single person with some authority for that.

philh 13y ago
> But the UX is terrible and this is objectively so, just sit a new computer user in front of Gimp and watch his agony when trying to use it. This is not the only objective measure of UX.
- cousin_it 13y ago
  Some people say a UI must be judged by experienced users, because newbies don't understand it yet. Others say a UI must be judged by newbies, because experienced users get desensitized to UI problems over time. (For example, every programmer can use their own program easily, but that doesn't mean the UI is good.) I think I trust the newbies more, because I've seen many bad UIs that experienced users like, but I haven't seen many bad UIs that newbies like.
- boomlinde 13y ago
  What are the objective measures of UX? Isn't the USER experience inherently subjective?
hnha 13y ago
So? Ever sat someone down to Photoshop? UX is mostly built upon previous experience. BTW you replied to a comment that suggested looking at alternatives to Gimp...
- bpicolo 13y ago
  Photoshop has a lot more stuff, but when I just want to draw a circle or something I can actually find where to do it. Gimp is a real mess.
  - mkr-hn 13y ago
    The brush and pen tools are right there in the toolbox.
precisioncoder 13y ago
Gimp yes, Inkscape no, everyone I sit in front of Inkscape loves it and it made me overcome my feeling of "I'm a programmer, I can't do art" thanks to it's great interface and smooth learning curve.
- kghose 13y ago
  I feel Inkscape has a great UI, too. I never used Illustrator, which seems to be the benchmark for "semi-pro" use of such vector graphics tools. The GIMP I use because I'm used to it, but I find the interface a little annoying.
- joe_the_user 13y ago
  I think Inkscape is basically the best open source graphics program there is. It's unfortunate to have it get a bunch "drive by insults". Even if someone doesn't like Inkscape, the issue of Inkscape's interface is completely different from the issue of The Gimp's interface.
deleted 13y ago
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by stiff 13y ago

philh 13y ago

> But the UX is terrible and this is objectively so, just sit a new computer user in front of Gimp and watch his agony when trying to use it. This is not the only objective measure of UX.

cousin_it 13y ago
Some people say a UI must be judged by experienced users, because newbies don't understand it yet. Others say a UI must be judged by newbies, because experienced users get desensitized to UI problems over time. (For example, every programmer can use their own program easily, but that doesn't mean the UI is good.) I think I trust the newbies more, because I've seen many bad UIs that experienced users like, but I haven't seen many bad UIs that newbies like.
boomlinde 13y ago
What are the objective measures of UX? Isn't the USER experience inherently subjective?

hnha 13y ago

So? Ever sat someone down to Photoshop? UX is mostly built upon previous experience. BTW you replied to a comment that suggested looking at alternatives to Gimp...

bpicolo 13y ago
Photoshop has a lot more stuff, but when I just want to draw a circle or something I can actually find where to do it. Gimp is a real mess.
- mkr-hn 13y ago
  The brush and pen tools are right there in the toolbox.

precisioncoder 13y ago

Gimp yes, Inkscape no, everyone I sit in front of Inkscape loves it and it made me overcome my feeling of "I'm a programmer, I can't do art" thanks to it's great interface and smooth learning curve.

kghose 13y ago
I feel Inkscape has a great UI, too. I never used Illustrator, which seems to be the benchmark for "semi-pro" use of such vector graphics tools. The GIMP I use because I'm used to it, but I find the interface a little annoying.
joe_the_user 13y ago
I think Inkscape is basically the best open source graphics program there is. It's unfortunate to have it get a bunch "drive by insults". Even if someone doesn't like Inkscape, the issue of Inkscape's interface is completely different from the issue of The Gimp's interface.

deleted 13y ago

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