[Gimp-gui] What is your opinion on on-canvas dialogs?

[Jehan <jehan girinstud io>]

Hello!

This is mostly a discussion for people who have tried, and better are 
already using regularly, GIMP 2.9.x, since on-canvas dialogs mostly 
don't exist (or very scarcely) in GIMP 2.8.

First a definition: the on-canvas dialogs are the dialogs which appear 
on the canvas (with some kind of semi-transparency) instead of in their 
own dedicated window. In GIMP 2.9.x, all transform tool (rotation, 
scale, shear, perspective, unified transform, etc.), as well as 
color-picker and Measure tools information appear as on-canvas dialogs. 
You can still detach them (second button to the top right), but that's 
not the default.

It looks fancy and all, but with time, it feels like many people are 
more bothered by this dialog being on the canvas than anything else, and 
the first thing many want to do is to detach it.

So what's your opinion?

Is the on-canvas dialog simply not featureful enough (maybe if it could 
be moved as well, it would help a lot)? Or maybe it should just stay as 
a pop-up?
Myself have often thought that the data in there could also make it as a 
window which could be dockable.
Akkana Peck even proposed it could just go in the tool options (cf. bug 
791797).

Is there anyone who like the on-canvas GUIs?

Jehan

P.S.: note that for 2.10, there will only be 2 likely outcomes: either 
we keep them as-is or we may disable them (especially since their code 
also have some serious stability issues). But improvements can happen as 
a longer-term solution after 2.10.

--
ZeMarmot open animation film
http://film.zemarmot.net
Liberapay: https://liberapay.com/ZeMarmot/
Patreon: https://patreon.com/zemarmot
Tipeee: https://www.tipeee.com/zemarmot