Re: [Gimp-gui] Paths should be visible by default

[Jehan <jehan girinstud io>]

Hi,

On 2016-09-28 17:52, Liam R. E. Quin wrote:
> On Wed, 2016-09-28 at 15:44 +0200, Jehan wrote:
> >
> [...]
> > I also remember I encountered the problem that the bug reporter had: 
> > paths "disappearing" after creating them
>
> Yes, I admit I don't often use paths in GIMP, and realise now that this
> is a large part of why - I have a perception that they are unreliable,
> buggy, flaky and hard to control, tht they vanish randomly when you
> don't expect it! But really they're wrking as designed. I hardly ever
> remember to click on the eye because there is no eye - it's invisible
> in most themes until you click on it. Inkscape does that better with a
> closed eye and an open eye - there's no indication that if you click
> the blank area the path will appear. The weird empty space in the paths
> dialogue also adds to the perception of bugginess.

I agree. And I see that someone opened a bug report the same day 
(probably acted upon this email?): 
https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=772135
Funny thing is that I think I remember that Klaus, our icon guy, did 
propose something along this line but Mitch didn't agree at the time 
(unless I'm mistaken). But that's good if this can be reviewed.

> Note, I'm not saying there are any bugs, or that the paths are
> especially hard to use, but only that I had that perception because
> they kept vanishing.

Yep same here, same in the bug report, and apparently we are not alone.

> > > That could he a preference. or maybe a better solution would be a
> > > menu
> > > entry "View>Show active path", and a hot key with that.
> "Always show active path" might make sense in the tool options for
> paths.
>
> [...]
> > - I have to double-click the selected path to actually have its
> > contents visible again and be able to edit it.
> I had no idea - double clicking switches to "edit mode"?
>
> For sure there's room for some improvement in the UI here.
>
> I agree it'd help to make them visible by default on creation, just
> like layers.

That would be a very good solution IMO. Now there has been some 
discusion about this on IRC yesterday, and nomis in particular was not 
into this (for information, nomis is the main author of all things 
paths-related in GIMP! You can say thank you).
His main problem with making paths visible by default is that his main 
workflow is to make a path very temporarily, for instance to stroke it, 
then forget about it. So typically he doesn't want them in the way of 
the image as soon as he is done with it. That makes sense too, 
especially since GIMP is not a vector editor. So vector usage often 
stays simple.

Now playing more with the paths, I realize the main problem is that when 
you come back on the path tool, you don't get back control on the paths 
you were editing just now. It feels like once made, paths are forever 
gone or non-editable.
Actually they are editable, but you have to double-click on the small 
preview image in the paths dock! This is like completely hidden 
non-discoverable feature, counter-intuitive and worse it makes path 
creation non consistent (since clicking the same way on the canvas has 
different behavior over time). So I think we can get rid of this 
behavior while still keeping paths invisible by default, and that could 
satisfy everyone. Here is the proposition:

- When no paths exist, the first time you click the canvas with the 
Paths tool, a path is created. But that's the only time where a path is 
automatically created.
- When paths exist and if the Paths tool is selected, the last active 
path is shown and editable. Clicking on canvas allows to create new 
paths points, move points, etc. No new path is created.
- To start a new path, you have to explicitly click the "new path" in 
the dock. This new path gets selected, and you can start editing it 
directly with the Paths tool.

This way, you never have the feeling to "lose" paths since you see at 
least and always the active one (in the "edit" wireframe way) as soon as 
you select the Paths tool. But in the same time, as soon as you select 
another tool, the path preview gets out of your way (unless you set a 
path visible, which is still not on by default). It feels like a good 
in-between of all worlds.

Of course that's just a proposition which popped-up in my mind during 
the discussion. It feels good to me right now, but I may miss things and 
I may be wrong. Counter-propositions are welcome.

Jehan

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