6 ms·

Just look at the spacing and button layout, nothing is aligned, buttons are touching, the plus button is wider than the minus button, sizing is all over the pla

by dsego 1mo ago

Just look at the spacing and button layout, nothing is aligned, buttons are touching, the plus button is wider than the minus button, sizing is all over the place.

voidUpdate 1mo ago
> "Nothing is aligned" The first two items in each row are aligned, and each item is aligned to one of two columns > "Buttons are touching" The only buttons that are touching are the + and - buttons which are part of the number input, as they are one connected part, and the units dropdown which is also part of the number selection in one item
- crote 1mo ago
  Looking at the toolbar: - The icon theming is inconsistent. There's a group of black-and-white icons, a group of blue icons, and a group of colored icons. They are jumbled together and don't seem to indicate any kind of function. - Tools are not functionally grouped in way which (to me) makes sense. Why is there no separation between "Select", "Adjust", and "Create" tools? Why is the color pipette not part of the color select thingy? Tool options: - Why does the Font selector have its label on top and to the right, rather than to the left? - Why is there no spacing between the "+" of Size and the unit dropdown, like with the labels and the text selector right above? - Why are window openers in the middle of text properties? - Why do some options randomly have bold labels? - Why are Hinting/Color/Style more to the right than the Justify options? - Why does Color have a weird not-quite-rectangle with grey gaps, rather than reusing the design of the color selector in the toolbox? - Why are there radio buttons for Justify, but dropdowns for Hinting, Style, and Box - despite them all having about the same number of options? - Why do the options below Justify have icons rather than labels? Why is the first one using a different look and not visually centered with the other two? - Why is the label for "Language" above the input field, rather than to the left of it? Edit dialog on the screen: - Why is the spacing between "backspace" and "bold" different from that between "bold"/"italic"/"underline"/"strikethrough"? - Why is the spacing different from that between the font name and size? - Why is there no spacing between font size and unit? Or, if they are a connected control, why are they not properly connected like -/+? - Why is "reset to initial"(?) not a proper button? - Why is the text size number field a different length than the other two? Do we expect people to enter 5-digit font sizes? - Why does the gap to the right of "strikethrough" not match with anything? So yes, I would say it is indeed a bit sloppy. There's probably another discussion to be had about its higher-level UX design, but (as a backend designer) this is the kind of stuff a backend developer ends up creating as a quick-and-dirty proof-of-concept before any of the front-end designers get involved. It is functional, but definitely not enough effort went into making it good.
  - cmyk_student 1mo ago
    The icon clash is unique to me - I prefer the colorful Legacy icon so I set it to that. It's not the "default" view, it's just a screenshot I grabbed from my own development build. I appreciate the annotated screenshot! I'll compare with our default view and see what's applicable and fixable. We also have a pending merge request to do a more thorough redesign of the Text tool options if you're interested in looking at that: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gimp/-/merge_requests/2374 https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gimp/-/merge_requests/2374
    - crote 1mo ago
      Just FYI, the screenshot was a separate post by dsego, not mine. > It's not the "default" view, it's just a screenshot I grabbed from my own development build. Prooobably best to avoid that in release notes. It is official communication, so people expect that the final release will also look like that. I know the default UI is now the Dark Mode (as it is on my machine), but besides the colors it isn't immediately obvious to a casual reader what else is theming versus UI design.
      - cmyk_student 29d ago
        Ah, gotcha - thanks for the heads-up! We're normally more selective with screenshots in actual release notes, but since this was a (even more) informal development update post, I used what photos were available (for instance, the spectral blending video and native file chooser dialogue picture use a different theme). Thanks again, and I'll see what we can do about both of your design feedback!
        crote 29d ago
        Thank you for engaging here! Being critical of someone else's work safely from behind a keyboard is trivial, but seeing your baby being torn to shreds is never fun. The fact that you are taking it in stride and are this open to constructive feedback leaves me hopeful for GIMP's future. As we've seen with Blender: all it takes is a few handful of people who really care about the UX to turn a project from a developer-focused "I guess it technically has all the parts?" into a user-focused "It is actually a pleasure to use and it is free - why haven't you switched yet?".
- dsego 1mo ago
  Easier to answer with a screenshot, I added some annotations where things look messy. https://imgur.com/a/95j7tgQ https://imgur.com/a/95j7tgQ

by dsego 1mo ago

Just look at the spacing and button layout, nothing is aligned, buttons are touching, the plus button is wider than the minus button, sizing is all over the place.

voidUpdate 1mo ago

> "Nothing is aligned" The first two items in each row are aligned, and each item is aligned to one of two columns > "Buttons are touching" The only buttons that are touching are the + and - buttons which are part of the number input, as they are one connected part, and the units dropdown which is also part of the number selection in one item

crote 1mo ago
Looking at the toolbar: - The icon theming is inconsistent. There's a group of black-and-white icons, a group of blue icons, and a group of colored icons. They are jumbled together and don't seem to indicate any kind of function. - Tools are not functionally grouped in way which (to me) makes sense. Why is there no separation between "Select", "Adjust", and "Create" tools? Why is the color pipette not part of the color select thingy? Tool options: - Why does the Font selector have its label on top and to the right, rather than to the left? - Why is there no spacing between the "+" of Size and the unit dropdown, like with the labels and the text selector right above? - Why are window openers in the middle of text properties? - Why do some options randomly have bold labels? - Why are Hinting/Color/Style more to the right than the Justify options? - Why does Color have a weird not-quite-rectangle with grey gaps, rather than reusing the design of the color selector in the toolbox? - Why are there radio buttons for Justify, but dropdowns for Hinting, Style, and Box - despite them all having about the same number of options? - Why do the options below Justify have icons rather than labels? Why is the first one using a different look and not visually centered with the other two? - Why is the label for "Language" above the input field, rather than to the left of it? Edit dialog on the screen: - Why is the spacing between "backspace" and "bold" different from that between "bold"/"italic"/"underline"/"strikethrough"? - Why is the spacing different from that between the font name and size? - Why is there no spacing between font size and unit? Or, if they are a connected control, why are they not properly connected like -/+? - Why is "reset to initial"(?) not a proper button? - Why is the text size number field a different length than the other two? Do we expect people to enter 5-digit font sizes? - Why does the gap to the right of "strikethrough" not match with anything? So yes, I would say it is indeed a bit sloppy. There's probably another discussion to be had about its higher-level UX design, but (as a backend designer) this is the kind of stuff a backend developer ends up creating as a quick-and-dirty proof-of-concept before any of the front-end designers get involved. It is functional, but definitely not enough effort went into making it good.
- cmyk_student 1mo ago
  The icon clash is unique to me - I prefer the colorful Legacy icon so I set it to that. It's not the "default" view, it's just a screenshot I grabbed from my own development build. I appreciate the annotated screenshot! I'll compare with our default view and see what's applicable and fixable. We also have a pending merge request to do a more thorough redesign of the Text tool options if you're interested in looking at that: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gimp/-/merge_requests/2374 https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gimp/-/merge_requests/2374
  - crote 1mo ago
    Just FYI, the screenshot was a separate post by dsego, not mine. > It's not the "default" view, it's just a screenshot I grabbed from my own development build. Prooobably best to avoid that in release notes. It is official communication, so people expect that the final release will also look like that. I know the default UI is now the Dark Mode (as it is on my machine), but besides the colors it isn't immediately obvious to a casual reader what else is theming versus UI design.
    - cmyk_student 29d ago
      Ah, gotcha - thanks for the heads-up! We're normally more selective with screenshots in actual release notes, but since this was a (even more) informal development update post, I used what photos were available (for instance, the spectral blending video and native file chooser dialogue picture use a different theme). Thanks again, and I'll see what we can do about both of your design feedback!
      - crote 29d ago
        Thank you for engaging here! Being critical of someone else's work safely from behind a keyboard is trivial, but seeing your baby being torn to shreds is never fun. The fact that you are taking it in stride and are this open to constructive feedback leaves me hopeful for GIMP's future. As we've seen with Blender: all it takes is a few handful of people who really care about the UX to turn a project from a developer-focused "I guess it technically has all the parts?" into a user-focused "It is actually a pleasure to use and it is free - why haven't you switched yet?".
dsego 1mo ago
Easier to answer with a screenshot, I added some annotations where things look messy. https://imgur.com/a/95j7tgQ https://imgur.com/a/95j7tgQ