Re: [Gimp-user] Tool Options alternative

[Gary Aitken <gimp dreamchaser org>]

On 12/06/13 01:43, scl wrote:
> On 6.12.2013 at 9:30 AM josephbupe wrote:
>
> > My question is about the Tool Options which currently consume alot of space,
> > whether docked under the Tool box, side-by-side, left or right of the working
> > space. Could you consider a horizontal Tool Options above the Tool box with a
> > possibility of the user to switch to either the native Tool Options verticle
> > arrangement or a horizontal arrangement?
>
> Hi josephbupe,
>
> there were already considerations to improve the tool handling,
> but thank you much for your proposal.
>
> The following reading might be interesting for you:
> - UI wiki article 'Rethinking GIMP tool options':
> http://gui.gimp.org/index.php/Rethinking_GIMP_Tool_Options
>
> - The GIMP UI brainstorm, especially on the Tool Options:
> http://gimp-brainstorm.blogspot.de/search/label/tool%20options
>
> In most cases image editing monitors use landscape orientation.
> Thus vertical screen space is more precious than horizontal space.
> This could get less important if we manage to allow GIMP for the
> getting-more-important tablet computers, but this is another story.
> Every pixel counts. A solution should take this into account.
>
> Kind regards,
>
> Sven

Thanks for posting the links.
Some observations from my usage perspective:

An ability to pop up the options for the current tool over the image
would be useful.  I find it cumbersome to constantly move the mouse back 
and forth between the image and the toolbox when switching tools or 
tweaking options.  One possibility would be some kind of modulated popup, 
where a modifier key pops up the toolbox under the pointer and holds it 
there until the key is released.  Another modifier key could pop up only 
the options for the current tool until released.  The advantages of this 
is that it minimizes having to mouse around to bring up and dismiss 
the dialog, and the pointer stays over the focus of work.  I think this 
comes under the "peripheral vs. central" paragraph in the "Rethinking GIMP 
Tool Options" blurb.  I know there are a limited number of modifier keys,
and all are taken in the default configuration; however it is possible
to configure otherwise.  Alternately, one could map a particular shortcut
for the purpose and have it bound to all visible gimp windows including the
image windows.  It would require two keystrokes, but still work pretty well.
An advantage of the shortcut approach is that it makes typing into dialog
fields easier, instead of just mouse interactions (It's kinda awkward to
type while holding down a modifier key, and the modifier has to be ignored
internally).  If this is already possible, I would (almost) kill to get 
someone to give me a hint for how to configure it.

A related issue is that switching layers, paths, and channels (or any other
dockable dialog, although I find it particularly a problem with those three)
changes the focus so that normal tool selection shortcuts no longer work.  
That's understandable given the need to type into some of the dialogs, but
despite years of working with it (albeit not in any particular expert 
capacity), I am still constantly screwing up by hitting a shortcut and doing 
something crazy or not knowing at all what I have just done and wondering 
why the desired action is not happening because the focus was still on the
layers / paths / channel dialog.  I don't have a suggestion for how to 
overcome this, but it is worth thinking about if it is a common problem.
Is it possible to bind a shortcut for all gimp windows to mean "return focus
to the last image window"?  At the moment I accomplish this using my window
manager's process switch (e.g. ctl-alt-tab), but that is somewhat awkward
because depending on what you've been doing the image window may not be the
immediately previous one.

While I concede that vertical screen space is often more important
than horizontal space when considering the whole image, this is not 
always the case for any particular task or image.  It would be great if the 
toolbox and the tool options (Maybe all dialogs since a general 
implementation is usually to be preferred) could be docked under the image 
window toolbar.  This would be particularly useful if it were possible to 
somehow specify or turn on shifting the tool options to a horizontal toolbar 
in the image window when going to full-screen mode, although it would be 
unnecessary if the modulated pop-up idea above were implemented.

Aside:
One thing which slows down my use is the ordering of options for some of the
tools.  I assume they are optimized in a reasonable default manner.  However, 
each particular user's activity patterns, skill and knowledge level gives 
their own relative importance to the different options.  It would be great if 
it were possible to reorder the layout.  For example, I find it frustrating 
to have to scroll down to check the hard edge option for erase; my personal 
usage pattern would move that higher up so I don't have to scroll.

Gary