[Gimp-user] HATE the new save vs. export behavior

[Jonathan Kamens <jik kamens us>]

I hate the new Save vs. Export behavior. It is completely non-intuitive to me, it makes my brain stumble every time I try to do just about any of the things that I do in GIMP on a regular basis, and it makes most of my workflows take more thought and more button clicks / key presses than they used to.

Here's just one use case that is completely destroyed by this change... Loading a JPG to edit and save back to JPG. Old way:

1. "gimp file.jpg".
2. Make changes.
3. Type ctrl-s periodically while working to save progress.
   
4. Type ctrl-q.
   

New way:

1. "gimp file.jpg".
2. Make changes.
3. Open File menu and select "Overwrite" (no keyboard shortcut for that!).
4. Periodically type ctrl-e to save further progress (because for some inexplicable reason, once you use the "Overwrite" command it disappears and is replaced with the "Export" command which appears to do exactly the same thing, but this one has a keyboard shortcut; how does that make sense, exactly)?
5. Type ctrl-q.
6. GIMP tells me I have unsaved changes, even though I just saved them with ctrl-e.
7. Click "Discard Changes" to really exit.

If I can't remember whether I've saved already or not and hit ctrl-e instead of using File | Overwrite, an export dialog pops up and if I just accept the file name in it, I am asked to confirm that I want to replace the file. Then I'm prompted for export settings. This is absurd.

Here's another use case that's rendered more complex by this change... Load an image, edit, and save in a different format. Old way:

1. "gimp image.fmt1".
2. Make changes.
3. ctrl-shift-s.
4. Modify extension in save dialog.
5. ctrl-q.

New way:

1. "gimp image.fmt1".
2. Make changes.
3. ctrl-shift-e. (and, mind you, I have to remember that it's shift-ctrl-e, instead of shift-ctrl-s like in every other freakin' application I use on either Linux and Windows)
4. Modify extension in save dialog.
   
5. Type ctrl-q.
6. GIMP tells me that I have unsaved changes, even though I just saved them with shift-ctrl-e.
7. Click "Discard Changes" to really exit.

But what about when I do want to load an image in a non-XCF format and then save as XCF? Well, Ctrl-shift-e won't work for that, because the export dialog doesn't let you export as XCF. I see no advantage whatsoever to this restriction. So I have to remember that in this one special case of changing the format of an image, I have to use ctrl-s instead of ctrl-shift-e.

There isn't a single thing that I use GIMP for that is made easier or faster by this interface change. Not one thing.

I understand that there is "information loss" when an image is saved as a format other than XCF. But the fact of the matter is that when all I'm doing is retouching an image, which is what I do most with gimp, I don't give a flying fig about that "information loss." I just want the image to save, nice and easy, when I'm done editing it. And I don't want to have to remember different commands for GIMP than for every other program I use. And I don't want the command I have to use the first time I save an image to be different from the command I use the next time; that just makes no sense. Because of this particular "feature," I can't even make this problem less onerous by swapping the ctrl-s/ctrl-e and shift-ctrl-s/shift-ctrl-e bindings. Brilliant!

I understand that the GIMP developers consider XCF a "special" format which deserves special treatment. Well, I don't, and I'm sure there are many, many users like me who don't either. This change is just sticking a thumb in all of our eyes.

You could have done this the LibreOffice way... When you try to save an image loaded from a format with information loss, you get a pop-up warning you and giving you the choice of whether to proceed or save as XCF (and also giving you the choice to make this warning go away in the future and just save like you told it to). This is what LibreOffice does, e.g., when you load and then try to save a DOC file.

Or you could have made this change at least a little bit less onerous by making the save dialog default to XCF but allowing the user to edit the extension to save to another format. But no, if you try to do that, it tells you, "Sorry, this dialog only saves in XCF format," and you have to cancel out of it and export instead.

In my opinion, this change is a huge, huge step backward in useability.

  Jonathan Kamens