Re: [Gimp-developer] present xcf as what it is, a gimp project file format

[Nicolas Robidoux <nicolas robidoux gmail com>]

> - what you see inside a GIMP window is always, always, always in
> GIMP format, even if the only thing you did was open (= import, as
> it shows in the interaction) a png file and nothing more.
>
> - it is 100% impossible to arrange it for popular non-GIMP files
> (png/jpeg/tiff) there would be a mode where one could Open one,
> make edits within the limits of the file format, and write the
> bits straight back to a file in the same format.

Peter:

I think you misunderstood what gg is suggesting:

He is not suggesting direct manipulation in non GIMP-native format.

He is suggesting that there be a top-level "straight arrow" workflow
where it is understood that the final product should be in the same
format as the initial one, without saving in .xcf or having to "jump
through hoops" to save in the original format.

And he is suggesting terminology to label the interactions (or
non-interactions) between the two workflows (since somebody will often
"switch" midstream), and to make things clearer.

Terminology matters.

A lot.

> - I would be yanking the chain of one million users if I specced
> that the only way to get a non-GIMP file into GIMP is by File->Import...

I just don't understand this statement. If it is yanking their chain,
when actually this is what is being done, there is cognitive
dissonance. If "open" actually imports, call it import.

In addition: If your target users are happy with "export", they are
happy with "import".

What would appear to me to be reasonable "compromise" is that "Open"
be used to signal that you intend to save in the same format as the
original, and "Import" to signal that XCF is to be used when saving.

"Save as" could then be used to change the preferred save type,
however, in effect allowing one to switch mode between "XCF is saved"
and "PNG-TIFF-JPG is saved", since really this has to do, strictly,
with indicating what kind of object "save" is supposed to save.

> also drag and drop behaviour of ‘start a new file from a non-GIMP file’
> would come into question (at minimum, it would have become a curve ball).

Indeed, this complicates non-menu/shortcut interaction, because you
need two types of open/import instead of one.

> - all we can do is make sure that every bit of interaction in GIMP
> communicates that there are no png/jpeg/tiff/etc files inside GIMP.
> anything that is not on-message? let me know, it is a bug.

Again, this is not an "inside GIMP" issue: This has to do with
specifying what is "saved" by default: XCF or the original format of
the most significant piece?