I don't get everyone's complaints about the interface. I've been using it for years, once you learn where things are I can get what I need done. The learning curve (finding where functions are, the right tools for each job, etc.) wasn't much different from other software like Blender or Darktable (or even Davinci Resolve).
The panels concept might be the most intuitive part of it, but Blender also has different panels and modes. And the tools being combined into few buttons is similar to CAD programs I've used.
Anyone enlighten me on actual usability problems (and not pedantry like "the spacing of these buttons is uneven"?) Perhaps I've gotten used to using unintuitive software.
Export and Save As should be the same menu item with an option in the dialog.
There are many many more but start with the app having the overbearing assumption that it thinks you want save to its file format rather than make an ad hoc edit.
That “overbearing assumption” is made by practically every other X-media editing app, for good reason — you can save your work and continue/revert stuff later. If all you’ve ever used is MS paint then I guess it’s an unexpected thing, but any other image/video editing app, digital audio workstation, 3D modeling software, etc… work exactly the same way. It would be unexpected to me if “save as” exported a flat file.
Gimp doesn't save undo history in the XCF.
The difference between exporting and saving is extremely important, and is something the user must understand in order to prevent data loss.
And Gimp users are not more likely to know that? It adds up to extra clicks for 90% of the images I load.
how does the save/export distinction result in extra clicks? they are in the same menu right below each other. pick the right one. if you don't know you may pick the wrong one the first time, but after that you know. i find it faster than having to choose the format i want from a "save as" dialog
The learning curve certainly is a lot steeper than Photoshop or similar tools, and the GUI is very much counter intuitive compared to other graphics tools. Add that it lacked tons of nondestructive editing, smart objects etc. The poping out of different panels also get annoying super quick.
Plus, it almost does not change between releases, so you need to learn it only once.
The few times when I tried to use a recent version of Photoshop, however, I could not figure out even basic stuff like layer masks,
I'm a fairly casual / infrequent user, but they've already addressed most of the things I found infuriating in the past.
The big remaining thing I can think of is the "layer boundary" thing, which (it seems to me) is very confusing for new users and inconvenient for all users.
I also have a vibes-based feeling that when I used to use Photoshop twenty-five years ago I was a lot more productive than I'm able to be in GIMP, but I can't be sure if that's just because I used to do more graphic stuff back then and I've never picked it up to the same degree. I find myself having to hunt for things in menus a lot, but that might be a me problem. Photoshop also took a while to get used to.
Edit: I basically agree with the people complaining about Save and Export being unexpectedly separate, although also it's not that hard to press Ctrl+E instead of Ctrl+S.
>I don't get everyone's complaints about the interface. I've been using it for years
This made me chuckle.
>"I don't get everyone's complaints about the interface. I've been using it for years..."
That's the problem, you have a bias because you've already learned the tribal knowledge. Having to learn it from scratch, GIMP's UI is sorely lacking. While it does have the tools, the organization of them is all over the place.
I have used Photosohop for almost 20 years, and then Affinity, Krita, and Gimp here and there. In my opinion, it's a bit of both. At first I thought I was just used to Photoshop and I had to just accept losing productivity to make the switch. But there something about Gimp UX that I can't get over, even though I can't really explain what is it. Of course fighting the muscle memory for all the features is a pain, but there's more. I can't find logic in the shortcuts, the menu organisation... I have not struggled as much for Krita or Affinity when I tried it.
Are you sure that the problem isn't just that you have learned a different tribal knowledge (e.g. Photoshop) and now expect every image application to work that way?
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For decades, the tools panels floated separately from the image window, and the authors resolutely refused to put them in a single window.
Then one day, they did it. They put the tools on the same window as the image, as Deluxe Paint did in 1985. FINALLY.
... but at the same time, they introduced the absolute bollocks that is "if you hit save we're going to spam you indefinitely into using our format".
In any other tool, if you _open_ a file (e.g. a PNG, JPEG, or in say LibreOffice's case, a CSV or XLSX), and then hit "save", it can nag you once that you're not using the tool's preferred file format, and _may_ be missing some important feature that only its preferred format supports... but you should just be able to click "fuck that, save it as the format I loaded it as" and not hear that again.
Not GIMP. It fucking well refuses to let you save as the format you opened. You have to cancel your "save" of the file you opened, and instead "export" to the file you opened... at which point it warns you you'll overwrite THE FILE YOU WANT TO SAVE. And after you've done that, and try to close the image, it'll warn you you haven't saved THE FUCKING FILE IT JUST FORCED YOU TO USE "EXPORT" TO SAVE because you didn't save it in its preferred format ABSOLUTELY GO FUCK YOURSELF, GIMP, I AM NOT GOING TO SAVE AS XCF A JPEG I AM CROPPING AND WILL NEVER EVER EDIT AGAIN
This is why I completely gave up on GIMP and will never open it again. I would like to line up all the GIMP authors in a row, and run down the line slapping them all in the face with a wet trout.
If anyone from GIMP is listening:
Honestly, this is fair.
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Calling people who are okay with different programs having different behavior _bootlickers_ is obnoxious
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