Re: [Gimp-gui] [GIMP Gui] User Interface Consistency

[Elle Stone <ellestone ninedegreesbelow com>]

Hi Vikash,

I agree with everything Jehan said in his response to your email, but 
wanted to add some comments and ask a couple of questions:

On 04/18/2019 02:51 PM, VIKASH SINGH via gimp-gui-list wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I am UI/UX Designer and I am interested to discuss some experience...
>
> This discussion is not only for GIMP but for Inkscape and Scribus too. If
> we visit GIMP website their is quote GIMP is best used in workflows
> involving other free software such as Scribus, Inkscape and SwatchBooker.
> And Yes It is.

It seems to me that "it" depends entirely on what a person actually uses 
GIMP for. Speaking for myself, I don't even have Inkscape, Scribus, or 
SwatchBooker installed on my computer. Instead I use GIMP for painting 
and photography, in conjunction with RawTherapee, darktable, PhotoFlow, 
Krita, Hugin, Exiftool, digiKam, etc, etc.

How would your proposed changes to GIMP cohere with workflows that don't 
involve DTP and instead center around other tasks and goals for which 
people use GIMP, such as photography/painting/HDR processing/fits/fine 
art print production/video display output/image retouching, and etc?


> Most Forums I visit, I have found biggest complain from users is not having
> good User Interface for these Applications. If we think for one second for
> only one App GIMP then the User Interface is Ok. But when it is used in
> workflows involving other free software then it is bad experience.

People who don't like a software's interface tend to complain on forums. 
People who do like the interface, tend to not feel any need to tell the 
world they like the interface.

Despite what various UI experts might want to believe, there is no "one 
size fits all" user interface. One person's "good user interface" can be 
another person's usability nightmare. Personally, I found darktable and 
Krita difficult to learn, but GIMP easy and intuitive. I've communicated 
with people who's experiences with these programs match my own, and also 
with people who report the exact opposite experiences. Also I prefer 
Gray themes and color icons, and I've communicated with some people who 
share my preferences and with other people who greatly prefer Dark 
themes and gray icons. Choice is good.


> A Graphic Designer in Industry have to used all three raster, vector and
> publishing applications. And Professional designers don't want to learn
> applications they want to work done in much less time. Today I am finding
> cases where designer don't even want to learn Adobe Illustrator they
> preferring to use modern design apps Sketch and Adobe Xd that have few
> functionalities but better experience.

If a Graphic Designer doesn't want to learn how to use 
"Illustrator/Inkscape/Whatever Else is Required to Get the Job Done", 
that seems like an excellent reason to hire someone else. Speaking 
anecdotally, while working for a small company I was asked to use a DTP 
application to put out the monthly news letter, also including preparing 
graphics and writing copy. At that point I didn't even know there was 
such a thing as "DTP", but I figured it out and never missed an issue. 
Another job required editing an Illustrator file as the person who made 
the file was no longer around. I made the requested edits even though 
I'd never used Illustrator before.

These sorts of programs aren't rocket science. Yes, they all have a 
learning curve. Any software with advanced functionalities has a 
learning curve. But learning software is just like learning anything 
else - you pick a task, or get handed a task, and figure out that task, 
and then move on to the next one. Pretty soon you are an expert.

The best advice anyone can give an aspiring Graphics Designer who only 
wants to use software with "few functionalities but better experience" 
is to get over it and "learn to learn". These people aren't the ones who 
should be dictating software choices or UIs as they simply don't have 
the experience to know good softwares or UIs from bad.


> __________________
> What is issue here ?
> __________________
>
> Not having consistency with the other two software's.
>
> 1. Different Layouts & themes
> 2. Different Icon Sets

I don't know about Scribus or Inkscape. But GIMP already provides a huge 
array of user configuration options for layouts, themes, icons, keyboard 
shortcuts, etc.

If DTP people really do want GIMP/Scribus/Inkscape to all somehow "look 
more alike", then hopefully the DTP people can come up with "look alike 
themes/icons/shortcuts/etc" to distribute for all three programs.


> 3. Different Task Flow
> 4. Different Tools Manipulators Flow(can create understanding problem)

Could you elaborate more on what you mean by "task flow" and "tools 
manipulators flow"?

It's not clear to me that a program like GIMP - which is used for such a 
hugely diverse array of editing tasks and output goals - should be or 
even could be optimized/shoe-horned into a set task flow.


> 5. One have that feature another not and etc.
> 6. (Everything that create inconsistency in these applications)

Why do you want all these programs to have the same features?

Do you want to throw away the "not in common" features? Or do you want 
to add all the features from all the programs to all the programs?


> ___________________
>
> Even I Know its hard to solve. I already chatted with Inkscape developers
> regarding this few months back that UI is so much locked. But even they
> also wanted to have some consistency.
>
> I really want to see GIMP, Inkscape & Scribus team come together to work on
> similar ideas concepts, designs and task flow to maintain consistency.

I don't know about Scribus or Inkscape. But GIMP interface is already 
highly configurable, and "DTP-oriented" configurations could be 
distributed as config files and themes/icons.

If the already available array of configuration options for GIMP isn't 
sufficient to set GIMP up for use in an envisioned seamless DTP 
workflow, then a specific list of what's missing would be a good place 
to start.

Which brings the discussion around to Jehan's awesome idea of being able 
to easily exchange files between programs. The ability to easily 
exchange files between programs is something that would make imaging 
workflows in general (not just DTP workflows) considerably easier. It 
would be awesome to have the option to easily switch back and forth 
between different applications, for example sending a flattened version 
of the current image from GIMP to Krita to RawTherapee and back to GIMP, 
etc, or from Scribus to GIMP and back, or etc.

Best,
Elle

> Thanks
> Vikash
>
>
>
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