Re: Gimp-style menus

["Guillermo S. Romero / Familia Romero" <famrom idecnet com>]

kevincu orci com (2001-04-15 at 0855.01 -0600):
> Gimp, from my point of view, has overblown the use of contextual menus
> and detracts from the "true" menu system, to lead a user to the actions
> they want to perform.  In fact, I would venture to say that comparing
> the Gimp and Adobe's Photoshop that Photoshop users are more productive
> via how they've laid out their system than people using the Gimp. If
> that is the case, other than cost, why would a user want to switch to
> the Gimp if it takes me longer to accomplish a average task in the Gimp
> than Photoshop?  There has to be a strong, new benefit for someone to
> switch to the Gimp, and contextual menus are not one of them (I'm
> guessing).

Wrong, you have not used Gimp enough. Open the menus and keep them
open, like with Window Maker. OOOhhh! Now you do not need to navigate
menus again and again. The problem is that you mind is PS trained. I
have used a bit of PS like apps, and at the same time I started using
Gimp. I ended liking Gimp cos I do not need to renavigate nor waste
time creating paletes of tools that I will use a few times. The main
problem I see in some cases is that "as Foo does thing this way, and
Bar not, then Bar sucks and is slower".

So if somebody is going to blame Gimp, please do it based in "the menu
tear off is not obvious (and the user does not read the tool tips)"
instead of "PS works this way". IOW compare a Gimp user using Gimp vs
a PS user using PS. The major slowdown I find as Gimp user is the
computer and the layout of the entries in menus, not the system used.
Examples are: why Script-fu and Plugins are separated if they work
similar from user POV? Or why Stroke is under Edit (it is Stroke the
Selection, it will match better under Selection, IMHO).

Maybe for all the PS fans, it is just making Gimp start with the main
menu open as default, not only the toolbox.

OK, my point: once you discover where menu is, and how you can use it
(that includes tear off, tab hiding... better open the tip of the day
window under <Toolbox> / Help / Tips and read all of them in one pass
;] ), what are your Gimp problems (commenting your PS predisposition
if it applies, please)?

GSR