GIMP menus overhaul
A first patch has landed in CVS. Thanks to Akkana we have finally started to do some changes to the GIMP menus that have been discussed for quite a while already. As a first step the Script-Fu and Python scripts have been merged into the Filters menu:
June 18th, 2005 at 3:54 am
Which is not really a great idea because it creates impossibly long menus. Usability studies have shown that more than 12 items per menu is a very bad idea. Ask Havoc.
June 18th, 2005 at 4:07 am
Doesn’t seem much longer then the current Filters menu. Keeping menus short is a good thing, but it should be done by function, not by language.
June 18th, 2005 at 4:21 am
>Doesn’t seem much longer then the current Filters menu.
And who said that the current filters menu is a good one?
Maybe items that can grow long after the user installs more of these (like filters, plugins, scripts etc) they should never be placed in the main menubar in the first place. Maybe a seperate window should be created for them.
June 18th, 2005 at 6:35 am
That would create a usability nightmare for managing windows while working on images, however. You don’t want a seperate window for controls that are used often, but you only use one at a time and then close it, it creates way too much clutter. While long menus may not be the best for usablity, sometimes they are better then everything else out there to keep the program from being annoying by being “overly usable”.
June 18th, 2005 at 2:32 pm
I think I said that this is a first step only, didn’t I? The idea of this post was to spread the word that the menus are being reorganized now and that it’s a good time to give some helpful feedback. Stating the obvious (such as that a short menu is better than a long one) doesn’t really count as being helpful…
June 18th, 2005 at 2:48 pm
Usability studies show that long menus are bad, they also show that deep hierarchies are bad. When you have as many filters as Gimp, you’ll have to balance between the two. Relying on usability studies should give some hints as to where exactly is the sweet spot. Or not.
I use Gimp fairly seldom and I always get a bit lost in the menus, simply because there are so many options, I don’t think any flat vs. deep menu hierarchy reorganization can help that. The only thing that could really effectively help me (with the expense of others) would be to drastically remove options. I’m not going to suggest that, though.
OTOH usually when I use filters I end up using a *very* limited set of them. I would probably benefit from having a ‘Frequently Used’ submenu of filters that would be intelligently filled. (Usually I have to try few options first to see if it does what I meant; filter, undo, filter, undo, … Only the last one applied was really what I meant.)
June 18th, 2005 at 4:07 pm
I think this version of the menus is an improvement over the last one.
It does not say “Script-Fu” which will make people shiver, and the hierarchy does not have 3-rd level items.
Still, there is space for improvements. For example,
1. some of the names of the filters and plugins are the codename of the project, which may not be intuitive.
2. is there distinction between script-fu and python plugins? There should not be.
3. put them alphabetically?
I suppose someone can easily sketch another suggestion using “glade”, by making a project and a simply menu arrangement.
June 20th, 2005 at 9:39 am
Nice! That’s a great first step in the right direction. I detach several menus in my photography workflow and this will make it easier to select the filter I want.
I’d throw my lot in with Tommi above and suggest a “most frquently used” menu, or even some sort of personalised menu that items can be dragged to. I for one would drag the following: Levels, Curves, rotate tools, and unsharp filter to such a menu if it were there.
June 20th, 2005 at 9:45 am
[...] 0th, 2005
GIMP menus overhaul - GIMP
GIMP menus are going to be reorganized! Finally, no more Script-Fu, or Pytho [...]
June 20th, 2005 at 10:09 am
>3. put them alphabetically?
No! pleeeaaaase. Alphabetically is a mess for many reasons:
First it does not translate to alien languages.
Second, It creates a hierarchy based on a non pertinent criterion. Look at the Gnome menu. Ii is painful to have to go to the bottom of it to actually access the applications you need and have the easily accessible (wrt Fitt’s law) used for accessories, games and stuff you nearly never use, just because “Office” starts with a “O”. The menu should better stay as it is, i.e. based on functionnality, with separators for category.
By the way, for every person using the “usability study” hammer argument, I think a worth reading is:
http://interfacethis.com/pub/index.php?itemid=56
June 20th, 2005 at 6:50 pm
Anyone interested, please review the current proposals for the next step, in the bug, http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=116145
Most of it’s not very controversial. Two items that might be include making a new top-level Colors menu, and integrating Generic+Alchemy+Toys (and what to call the result; I’ve never understood “Alchemy” in this context but everyone else seems to like it so that’s probably what it will be).
June 23rd, 2005 at 8:46 pm
Akkana I think the Alchemy tools may have originally intended for Metallic effects (turning Lead into Gold) but it no longer makes any sense to me.
Simos:
> 1. some of the names of the filters and plugins are the codename of the project, which may not be intuitive.
I agree. To an ordinary users it is not obvious for example that Gfig is a line drawing tool.
I find the Plugin browser is a huge help when it comes to finding what I need, I crudely hacked my version so that it would appear in the Filters menu (although if I hadn’t messed around the menus I might not have so much trouble finding things
It would certainly be interesting track your own usage and be able to see what filters are used most often but I wonder how well a list of recently used Filters would work in practice.
September 30th, 2005 at 6:22 pm
Keeping menus short is a good thing