[Gimp-developer] image modes and indications

[Alexandre Prokoudine <alexandre prokoudine gmail com>]

Hi,

I've just noticed yet another forum thread where someone asks a
question in the lines of "why does it not work?" and gets a reply
"image / mode / rgb".

It pops up so frequentrly that maybe we need some sort of a clever
notification/indication throughout the application about such things?
Not sure how it's going to make sense in GEGL-based GIMP where there
will be no indexed mode, though.

That, however, raises another question: we currently rely a lot on the
status bar and the sidebar for various hints (e.g. "this rectangular
selection you are making is that wide and that high" or "pick the
original sample for the clone tool, stupid"). The problem is: if we
are targeting professionals, then we are targeting people with large
displays. Judging by my own experience, the last thing you want to do
on with regards to a 24" is losing focus on canvas and  making your
eyes travel up/down and sideways.

Earlier in this dev cycle mitch introduced a new on-canvas indicator
for transformation tools which is an improvement at cost of "friggin
stop that operation" button functionality. But do we have a grand
UI/UX plan and on that and the misterious "big picture" of what we
intend to do?

Alexandre Prokoudine
http://libregraphicsworld.org