Re: [Gimp-developer] Create New Layer Button

[Elle Stone <ellestone ninedegreesbelow com>]

On 03/28/2015 02:54 PM, Gez wrote:
> But again, since not everyone uses GIMP the same way, it is impossible
> to come up with something that makes everyone happy.
> That's when a good interface designer should "design" the best possible
> solution which of course won't make everyone happy but maybe will make
> the target users of the program more productive.


> Sure. I'm not claiming that everyone uses tools like GIMP the same way.
> But I'm pretty sure that if there were some statistics about what people
> need the most when creating a new layer it would be a transparent layer,
> since it doesn't occlude the underlaying layers.

A lot of people make statements to the effect that "Most GIMP users do 
this or that", but I've never seen anyone offer any supporting logical 
justification or hard evidence.

What studies have been done to determine what GIMP's "high end" target 
users really want in terms of useability?

The Krita devs went out and asked their target users: professional 
artists and PhotoShop users who were looking to switch away from Adobe 
products 
(http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/Features/Krita-KDE-s-Powerful-Graphics-Editor-Takes-on-Photoshop-and-GIMP). 
Krita got a lot more useable once the devs actually asked potential 
users in the target group to try using Krita.

Libre graphics is coming up. Maybe the GIMP devs could find a couple of 
would-be PhotoShop escapees who are advanced enough in their editing 
skills to make full use of all that PhotoShop has to offer, and ask them 
to try using GIMP. It would be nice if at least one such would-be 
PhotoShop escapee produces what I will call "fine art photography" for 
lack of a better word, and preferably someone who routinely edits in RGB 
working spaces other than sRGB.