Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Gimp 2.0 Pre 2 Released

Posted by timothy on from the slicker-than-teflon dept.

Paul Kucher writes "A second preview of GIMP 2.0 has been released. From gimp.org: "Lots of bugs have been fixed since the last release and you are encouraged to try the new pre-release. It is now available from ftp.gimp.org or from one of the mirrors. Plug-in authors, please consider to port your GIMP plug-in to the 2.0 API. Now is a good time to do that." I have posted some screenshots here."

4 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Not yet for Windows... by jpsowin · · Score: 3, Informative

    Since I just downloaded the pre2 release for windows and ran it, I will assume you are incorrect ;)

    All you crazy Windows users an try this out (but be prepared to be dissapointed if you think it will replace p----shop) here.

  2. Re:What I don't like about the Gimp by caseih · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is in part a design decision, and partly due to the traditional nature of the gtk widget set. Essentially there is no MDI in gtk, for good or bad. Part of the solution to address this multiple window out-of-control problem is the dock idea that they've come up with. I configure gimp to just have one window (the default is 2, but you can easily rearrange it into one) that has the tool palette and all the other things I need docked to it. It's very dynamic and customizable. Sections can be added, tabs added, etc. That one window is always on top. Then my picture windows float next to it. That way I get the best of both worlds. I don't need another application to take over my entire screen like photoshop does. I prefer the windows. Except for the fact that the dock thing can only be vertical (having it horzonal at times would be nice), I think this is superior to the photoshop-style ui.

    Besides that, I've always maintained that anyone who runs apps full screen (which you pretty much have to with MDI apps) really isn't using a windowing system to their best advantage. MDI is rapidly falling out of favor. MS no longer uses it for many applications and MacOS never ever did. Tabs work well for most things, although images are better off in windows. Anyway, the interface on gimp is light years ahead of the old interface! Now if only glade could get a similar interface makeover.

  3. Virtual desktops by myzz · · Score: 3, Informative

    The is no need for MDI, when you have virtual desktops - the virtual desktop itself is the one big window, where the Gimp windows will sit. The virtual desktop solution is also more flexible - you may put some other apps windows to the same desktop as Gimp ones, when you find it useful and the Window Manager can be configured to behave as you like. Only on Windows it is useful to have one big maximized window with small ones inside it, since it doesn't have the virtual desktops.

  4. Re:Two editing styles by IamTheRealMike · · Score: 3, Informative
    I guess I'm tired of seeing the flames. Can't the developers simply acknowldege that there is more than one way to look at the UI and add the simple option to have MDI? Or is it really not that simple? Perhaps not. Is that why the option is being avoided?

    Your problem is solved by virtual desktops. MDI is not supported by most windowing systems that Gimp is run on (X, Quartz) .. in fact only Win32 does support it. MDI is a hack that doesn't allow you to use standard windowing widgets like the window list to switch between them. It's hard to implement. It's a limitless source of bugs. It's got terrible usability - even Microsoft doesn't use it anymore.

    In short, if you want to have many windows open at once and manage them all, use virtual desktops - use many of them, if you like. Have each image you are working with on a different desktop. I've done this and found it works nicely, much better than MDI ever did.