[Gimp-user] Set default Save As folder?

[scott092707 aol com]

> When explaining pretty much anything like this online its best to assume the
> reader has little or no knowledge of what you're trying to say. Otherwise more
> often than not it won't make sense.
...
> Half explained information isn't really of much use.


One apparently has to walk a thin line here...

One either assumes that the user has some basic knowledge at his/her disposal, and 
thereby infuriates him/her when he/she does not have that knowledge,

or

One assumes that the user knows nothing at all, and insults his/her intelligence when
he/she perfectly well knows 95 percent of the things needed to solve the problem.

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In the current case, 

> This is confusing. Firstly, where and what is the file chooser?  Secondly what
> parent directory and what left pane?


It seems perfectly reasonable to me, that you must have loaded or saved a file at some time in your
life, and that you therefore are familiar with the window that pops up when you do, that usually
shows some directories vertically on the left, and a list of files to the right.

Perhaps you were unaware that the windows that pop up for Open or Save are similar enough that people 
generally
refer to either one as a File Chooser, or that sections of a computer window might also be referred to by 
their
physical window equivalents: panes.  "Panel" I think is also used.

A directory (or folder) that holds another directory (or folder) is generally referred to as its parent. so 
when:
> Go to the parent of the directory you would like to add to the file chooser.
was written, the writer was telling you how to add the directory in which your file resides to the left pane.
Since to use the "+" button in the left pane, the directory to be added to the left pane must be visible in 
the center
part of the file chooser window, you must go up one directory level from the current level (the level in 
which you can
see your file in the center part of the window).
To do this may depend on the file chooser: What I have showing in GIMP right now (in Lubuntu Linux) is 
a series of buttons with text above the left and center panes: Data  Scott  Photos  Abstract.  I want to add 
Abstract to the left
pane, but I can't, because I am already displaying files in Abstract.  I click on Photos, the parent of 
Abstract.
As it happens, when I do this, Abstact is not only listed in the center now (with lots of other stuff), but 
it is also selected
(hightlighted).  I can now click on the "+" in the left pane, and add it to the list of directories listed in 
the left pane.
Instead of a series of buttons above the left and center panes, you might just have a text description of the 
path to your
file: In my case, it might be  /Data/Scott/Photos/Abstract,  with a button containing an arrow pointing up.  
If this is the case,
then click on the up-arrow, and your text probably would then say /Data/Scott/Photos.
If when you have gone up one level, and displayed the parent directory's contents, your directory is not 
selected, select it.
Then click on the "+" on the left.

What you could also do, instead of adding a directory to the left pane, is to first click on "Recently Used" 
from the File->Open (it may
already be selected), and then click on the last file you edited with GIMP, finally clicking on "OK". When 
you next open or save a file, the
directory in which the file resides (its parent) will now be the Default directory (until you close down GIMP 
again).

[I have already broached the suggestion that the parent directory of the last file edited by GIMP be 
automatically added to rhe Recently Used list (not just the file itself), but I don't remember if it was 
being considered for the next version or not...
This way, that directory could be set/accessed in one click (two if Recently Used was not already selected on 
the left), without the necessity of actually loading a file one does not want to edit, just to set the 
directory...]

[May I now suggest, that the "+" and "-" buttons be made more visible?  In my setup  (GIMP 2.8.20 under 
Lubuntu Linux -Default Theme), the Plus and Minus seem to be dark grey on what appears to be a medium grey 
gradient (would that be a greydient?). 
I don't think I ever knew that they were there...]