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I use Gimp from time to time, and often get frustrated with its... unique UI. It's nice to see they're hearing feedback and working on it :D A tip for others t

I use Gimp from time to time, and often get frustrated with its... unique UI. It's nice to see they're hearing feedback and working on it :D A tip for others that feel the same: if you've used Photoshop before and are used to its UI, try the free Photopea website. It's a Photoshop "clone" that works really well in web (I believe it's a solo dev doing it too). It's replaced Gimp for me lately.

Mashimo 2y ago
Yes, even though I never use photoshop and used Gimp for over 15 years it's a frustrating UI. I dislike it. Non destructive editing is a big upgrade though. I also use Photopea from time to time. Can recommend.
- GaggiX 2y ago
  If only a mad man would make a Photopea/Photoshop clone open source, then everyone (who has the skills) would be able to not only use a decent open source image editor, but one that can be fully customized to your needs.
cranberryturkey 2y ago
Have you tried Krita yet?
mfld 2y ago
I like using pinta for the "easy" cases.
0points 2y ago
I would recommend Krita instead of a website. Websites are not automatically free or opensource, they also require internet access and can sneakily copy the files you are working with. If photopea is free today, it may cost money tomorrow. Krita exists for Windows and macOS too nowadays. https://krita.org/en/ https://krita.org/en/
- burrish 2y ago
  Krita is more geared toward digital drawing than image processing, I recommend Affinity Photo
- porridgeraisin 2y ago
  > require internet access It's a PWA and works offline perfectly.
- cxr 2y ago
  > Websites[...] can sneakily copy the files you are working with You have made one of the most baffling logical errors that commonly crop up when people criticize browser-based apps. Browser-based apps execute in a sandbox. They are more constrained in what they can do in comparison to a traditional program running on your machine. Any nefarious thing a browser-based app can do, a local program can do, too, and not just that, but they can do it in a way that's much harder to detect and/or counteract. There are good reasons available if you want to criticize browser-based apps. This is not one of them.
  - em-bee 2y ago
    i can remove network access capabilities from a desktop app after it is installed. i can't easily do that with an app running in a browser. likewise monitoring and detecting network access per application is easy. tracking down which browser tab is making which network connection is a lot harder.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - cxr 2y ago
      You are either confused about something, or you're simply refusing to engage with reality. > Any nefarious thing a browser-based app can do, a local program can do, too, [or worse!]
      - em-bee 2y ago
sam_lowry_ 2y ago
> frustrated with its... unique UI It's a matter of habits. For me, Gimp is the primary image editing tool and all others feel alien.
- agumonkey 2y ago
  That's interesting. I have used and enjoyed a ton of software in different domains (from nothingreal shake to gnu ed) and so far gimp still wins the gold medals of triggering me. A rare feat.
- James_K 2y ago
  There's habits sure, but GIMP also just has a lot of bad UI. For instance if you insert text, you have to click exactly on the black region of the character to select the text. This is really awkward because it means when you click on a letter to try and move some text, sometimes your click will go through the hole in the middle of the letter and select the thing behind the text. Also worth noting that this update is the one allowing people to edit rotated text and it took 20+ years. This is really bad UI/UX.
Sloowms 2y ago
I don't use any photo editing tool but I know there is photogimp which makes gimp look like photoshop.
idoubtit 2y ago
Many years ago, I lost my work because of this "unique UI" and pledge never to use Gimp again, unless its behavior changed. When you open a non-Gimp file, for instance a PNG, and you want to update the source file, you need to "export" to PNG. And if you close the tab, Gimp warns you that your work isn't saved, because it hasn't been saved in its native xcf format. There is no way to know if the work has been saved to the original file. At least, that was the behavior at the time. So I had opened a dozen of (versioned) PNG files, modified them, then overwritten the PNG files. On closing, Gimp warned me that none of the images was saved. I ignored the warning since I didn't want to track the changes in xcf files. It turned out one the files had not been "exported" to PNG.
- flufluflufluffy 2y ago
  This is standard behavior in pretty much any kind of art/content creation app. You have a project file which can be saved and reopened in the app, saving the state of the layers/effects/etc to be edited later, and can “export” a final render to a specific format for your medium. Image/video editing, digital audio workstations, 3D-modeling programs, they all behave like this, for good reason since it usually takes a long time to export to a specific format, and when you do, you lose the ability to change anything. Think of it like source code, and each exportable file type is like a compilation target.
  - inferiorhuman 2y ago
    Think of it more like GIMP chasing non-existent users while ignoring the workflow of its actual users.
- prmoustache 2y ago
  There is literally an "overwrite file" command in the file menu. You didn't lose data because of bad UI but because you are illiterate. You just said it, it warns you. If you can't understand what "none of the images was saved" means, there is no UI that can save you except autosave. But autosave is something you clearly don't want in a photo/image editor, even smartphone apps do not autosave photo edits.
prmoustache 2y ago
I've loaded photopea, krita and gimp side by side and really there are absolutely no major differences in UI. This is the kind of dismissive posts thrown by people who haven't used gimp since 1999 and keep repeating the same lies every gimp release.

Mashimo 2y ago

Yes, even though I never use photoshop and used Gimp for over 15 years it's a frustrating UI. I dislike it. Non destructive editing is a big upgrade though. I also use Photopea from time to time. Can recommend.

GaggiX 2y ago
If only a mad man would make a Photopea/Photoshop clone open source, then everyone (who has the skills) would be able to not only use a decent open source image editor, but one that can be fully customized to your needs.

cranberryturkey 2y ago

Have you tried Krita yet?

mfld 2y ago

I like using pinta for the "easy" cases.

0points 2y ago

I would recommend Krita instead of a website. Websites are not automatically free or opensource, they also require internet access and can sneakily copy the files you are working with. If photopea is free today, it may cost money tomorrow. Krita exists for Windows and macOS too nowadays. https://krita.org/en/ https://krita.org/en/

burrish 2y ago
Krita is more geared toward digital drawing than image processing, I recommend Affinity Photo
porridgeraisin 2y ago
> require internet access It's a PWA and works offline perfectly.
cxr 2y ago
> Websites[...] can sneakily copy the files you are working with You have made one of the most baffling logical errors that commonly crop up when people criticize browser-based apps. Browser-based apps execute in a sandbox. They are more constrained in what they can do in comparison to a traditional program running on your machine. Any nefarious thing a browser-based app can do, a local program can do, too, and not just that, but they can do it in a way that's much harder to detect and/or counteract. There are good reasons available if you want to criticize browser-based apps. This is not one of them.
- em-bee 2y ago
  i can remove network access capabilities from a desktop app after it is installed. i can't easily do that with an app running in a browser. likewise monitoring and detecting network access per application is easy. tracking down which browser tab is making which network connection is a lot harder.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - cxr 2y ago
    You are either confused about something, or you're simply refusing to engage with reality. > Any nefarious thing a browser-based app can do, a local program can do, too, [or worse!]
    - em-bee 2y ago

sam_lowry_ 2y ago

> frustrated with its... unique UI It's a matter of habits. For me, Gimp is the primary image editing tool and all others feel alien.

agumonkey 2y ago
That's interesting. I have used and enjoyed a ton of software in different domains (from nothingreal shake to gnu ed) and so far gimp still wins the gold medals of triggering me. A rare feat.
James_K 2y ago
There's habits sure, but GIMP also just has a lot of bad UI. For instance if you insert text, you have to click exactly on the black region of the character to select the text. This is really awkward because it means when you click on a letter to try and move some text, sometimes your click will go through the hole in the middle of the letter and select the thing behind the text. Also worth noting that this update is the one allowing people to edit rotated text and it took 20+ years. This is really bad UI/UX.

Sloowms 2y ago

I don't use any photo editing tool but I know there is photogimp which makes gimp look like photoshop.

idoubtit 2y ago

Many years ago, I lost my work because of this "unique UI" and pledge never to use Gimp again, unless its behavior changed. When you open a non-Gimp file, for instance a PNG, and you want to update the source file, you need to "export" to PNG. And if you close the tab, Gimp warns you that your work isn't saved, because it hasn't been saved in its native xcf format. There is no way to know if the work has been saved to the original file. At least, that was the behavior at the time. So I had opened a dozen of (versioned) PNG files, modified them, then overwritten the PNG files. On closing, Gimp warned me that none of the images was saved. I ignored the warning since I didn't want to track the changes in xcf files. It turned out one the files had not been "exported" to PNG.

flufluflufluffy 2y ago
This is standard behavior in pretty much any kind of art/content creation app. You have a project file which can be saved and reopened in the app, saving the state of the layers/effects/etc to be edited later, and can “export” a final render to a specific format for your medium. Image/video editing, digital audio workstations, 3D-modeling programs, they all behave like this, for good reason since it usually takes a long time to export to a specific format, and when you do, you lose the ability to change anything. Think of it like source code, and each exportable file type is like a compilation target.
- inferiorhuman 2y ago
  Think of it more like GIMP chasing non-existent users while ignoring the workflow of its actual users.
prmoustache 2y ago
There is literally an "overwrite file" command in the file menu. You didn't lose data because of bad UI but because you are illiterate. You just said it, it warns you. If you can't understand what "none of the images was saved" means, there is no UI that can save you except autosave. But autosave is something you clearly don't want in a photo/image editor, even smartphone apps do not autosave photo edits.

prmoustache 2y ago

I've loaded photopea, krita and gimp side by side and really there are absolutely no major differences in UI. This is the kind of dismissive posts thrown by people who haven't used gimp since 1999 and keep repeating the same lies every gimp release.