Re: [Gimp-gui] User Testing Report

[Elle Stone <ellestone ninedegreesbelow com>]

On 05/12/2019 04:33 PM, Alexandre Prokoudine via gimp-gui-list wrote:
> On Sun, May 12, 2019 at 3:45 PM Elle Stone wrote:

> > GIMP's current user interface is the *least* important problem when it
> > comes to actual usability. Adding still-missing critical functionalities
> > is hugely more important than revising the interface to make it simpler
> > for newbies. It's a complete shame that the switch to GTK3/4 has had to
> > take priority over adding critical missing functionalities to GIMP.
>
> There is little shameful about moving from a semi-maintained version
> of a critical component such as UI toolkit to an actually supported
> and actively developed version thereof.

Hmm, I think you misunderstand me. Linux moves in lock-step with all its 
libraries. *Any* application that refuses to move along with the 
libraries, eventually gets dropped from first a few, then eventually all 
versions of Linux.

Back in 2013, GIMP was one of the last major hold-outs for the switch 
from LCMS-1 to LCMS-2, but it had to be done.

Fast-forward to 2019, and I'm guessing that GIMP is one of the last 
major hold-outs for GTK2, and *has* to make the switch to GTK3/4 (no 
matter how much Elle Stone might abhor what she's seen of GTK3).

Well, there's the option of GIMP switching to QT, but somehow I don't 
think that's going to happen. And there'd still be periodic version 
changes to deal with.

The switch from GTK2 to GTK3/4 really does have to take priority over 
other stuff that might be hugely more desireable from a user's point of 
view, such as adjustment layers.

The "shame" in "it's a shame" is that this switching of libraries *has* 
to happen, but demands so much time and effort.

> Also, there was (and still is) a lot of technical debt in GIMP that
> has to go away to make room for new things.

What is technical debt? Does it mean we can get rid of Value Invert, 
which despite its name, has nothing to do with inverting HSV value? 
Flynn was right to point out that this is a very confusing operation. 
I've stared at the code, tried all kinds of layer manipulation to figure 
out what it really does, it's just out there on it's own as something 
someone came up with for some reason, that was added to GIMP and left 
there. Yet, no doubt a slew of people depend on that operation. Sigh.

Speaking of "get rid of", was "Colorify" actually dropped? Or just moved 
somewhere else on the menu?

Best,
Elle