online help for gimp 2.6
One of the new features for GIMP 2.6, that I have been working on lately, is support for reading the user manual online. So far the user experience with the GIMP help system has sometimes been somewhat disappointing. The user asks for help and all she gets is an error message telling her that the user manual is not installed. It’s not too difficult to install the user manual, but it’s a large download and the exact procedure differs on each platform/distribution. So we have added the possibility to read the user manual online. Where GIMP 2.4 used to show an error message, this dialog will be shown instead:
My main grief with this is that I implemented the download of the help index using GIO. From a programming point of view this works nicely for local and online help. And in fact it does work nicely on a system that has the HTTP backend installed. But I only just realized that there is very little chance to get this to work on the Windows platform. It appears that only local file I/O is implemented for Win32. That renders GIO/GVFS pretty much useless for a cross-platform application like GIMP. Is there any hope that this could work in time for the 2.6 release? Or do I really have to go through the hassle of adding extra code for Win32, probably using libcurl?
July 7th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Can this dialog go away? Can we just use the online version automatically under these circumstances?
July 7th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
I don’t see how it could work nicely without this dialog. We need to ask the user to install the user manual package as that will be much more comfortable in the long run. And not every user has a permanent internet connection.
Note that you will only ever see this dialog once. If you decide not to download the extra package and to use the online version, then the online version will be used from now on. Of course if you later change your mind, you can still do that in the Preferences dialog.
July 7th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
nice!
July 7th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
If the URI plugin still has libcurl support, couldn’t it just go through that?
July 7th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
The only thing is that the cancel button getting a lot of attention by his symbol while the nacked online button isn’ really focused. What about adding a web symbol to the online button so people didn’t hit only cancel there is so much attention there?
July 7th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
ah and what about “Read online” instead of “Use Online Version” to get the message of the button more compact and easier focused
July 7th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
Thanks for the feedback. I have changed the button label and added an icon as you suggested.
Ari, using the URI plug-in would be about as much work as adding libcurl support. What I really want is GIO/GVFS to work on Win32 though. Not only the GIMP help system would benefit from that.
July 10th, 2008 at 12:00 am
How about an ‘Always use online version, don’t ask me again’ checkbox?
July 10th, 2008 at 8:40 am
No need for such a check-box, this is the default behavior of this dialog. As already explained in the comments, you are only going to see this dialog once. After switching to online help, you are not going to be bothered with this question again.
July 10th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
[...] Svenfoo añade que dispondrá de manual online [...]
July 17th, 2008 at 9:39 pm
Hi I am testing Gimp-2.5.2 compiled with webkit and I have a different error message :
Il y a un problème avec les fichiers d’aide de GIMP. -> There is a problem with GIMP help files
Cannot determine location of gimp-help.xml from ‘http://docs.gimp.org/2.5′
Vérifiez votre installation. -> Check your installation
What’s wrong ?
July 17th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Zigomar, I don’t know what you are testing, but this error message doesn’t exist in GIMP 2.5.2 any longer. Looks like your installation picks up plug-ins from the 2.4 tree.
July 18th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
I removed gimp-2.4 package and now I have the new message. But still no online version for the same reason that here : https://lists.xcf.berkeley.edu/lists/gimp-docs/2008-July/001230.html. I am running Zenwalk and I will check gvfs as suggested.
August 14th, 2008 at 8:47 am
Yesterday http support for Windows landed in glib/gio trunk. Thanks to Tor Lillqvist for making online help work for Windows users. Now we just need to make sure that GIMP 2.6 is shipped with the (yet to be released) glib 2.18.
August 17th, 2008 at 11:28 am
The problem is some people (at least me) are moving around, and sometimes they do have an internet connection, sometimes they dont.
I would rather prefer to be able to chose between on-line and on-disk help documentation at any time, rather than at installation time.
my 2 cents
August 17th, 2008 at 11:35 am
… and if you decide to keep that dialog during installation, i find the buttons a bit confusing. I propose:
- instead of “cancel” —> “install manual”
- instead of “use online version” —> “use online version only”
(thnx for the good job by the way!)
August 17th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Nick, you can always change this easily in the Preferences dialog. And if you are without an internet connection frequently, then why don’t you just go ahead, install the user manual and always use the local version?
If we could easily provide an “Install manual” button, then we would do that. But we can’t easily deal with all the different supported platforms that have different ways to install the manual.
You also seem to have misunderstood me, this dialog is not shown during installation.
August 17th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
pfhm.. right! Now i feel so embarrassed..
It s me, failing to read the initial post..
sorry for the noise, and once again, thanx for your effords!
October 6th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
I installed GIMP 2.6 AND the help package on Windows XP (SP2) – I still get the message “The GIMP help browser plug-in appears to be missing from your installation. You may instead use the web browser for reading the help pages.”
Is there a trick to connect GIMP with the Help browser?
October 6th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Mike, the trick is to compile and install the help-browser plug-in. As far as I can see the default installer for Windows does not include it. Probably because webkit is difficult to compile on Windows.
But you should be able to read the user manual with your default web-browser.
October 6th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Thanks – the web browser works fine.
November 11th, 2008 at 4:59 am
I had 2.4.2 installed with no probs. Upgraded to 2.6 and the local help would not load. I re-installed the help again but still no joy. After further investigation I noticed that the helpbrowser.exe was not installed for some reason with the upgrade. I finally extrated a copy from the old 2.4 installer and placed it in the 2.6 plug-in directory and it fired right up.
The odd part is I did the same upgrade on my laptop a few days ago without a hitch so I have no idea why it works sometimes but not others. I noticed quite a few posts about the issue while investigating on Google. If anyone else is planning on upgrading I would suggest saving a copy of helpbrowser.exe just in case as mine dissapeared.
Cheers
November 11th, 2008 at 9:34 am
That is not surprising. The help-browser has been completely redone for GIMP 2.6 and is now based on Webkit. Unfortunately it appears to be problematic to get Webkit to build and run on Windows. So the GIMP 2.6 installer for Windows does not include a help-browser plug-in until someone spends some of his/her time to investigate and solve the build problems.
But you should be able to read the user manual with your default web-browser.
December 12th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
My Mac OS X is Version 10.4.11. with 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor.
I downloaded GIMP 2.6.3 for Tiger/Intel today but it says X11. I then downloaded X11 but then it says it is for OSX 10.5 or higher.
Is there X11 for my MAC version 10.4.11?
How else can I get started?
Thanks in advance
December 13th, 2008 at 3:02 am
I have searched the net for answers for the X11 and I finally found it on the “Install Disc 1″ Utility files.
I have now installed the extra bundled programs and X code files. I now have an X11 folder showing on my desk top.
Unfortunately, when I click on the Gimp Icon, It still has the message showing that it requires Apple’s X11. Can someone tell me how to get Gimp to work?
Thanks
December 13th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
I finally did it myself.
I went back to Install Disc 1 and found the Optional Install package. I installed the X11 application file from there,
Thanks anyway. It’s working now.
January 9th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Can anyone tell me how to install the help package locally in GIMP 2.6.3? Thanks in Adv.
January 9th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
That depends on your operating system. Please ask such questions on the gimp-user mailing-list. There are lots of people there who can help you and others will also benefit from the answers.
March 7th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
this is ridiculous. i’ve wasted hour of my time to come and read this here after some 100′s off web searches for this information. why don’t you people just say that the HELP PACKAGE CANNOT BE INSTALLED LOCALLY ON WINDOWS MACHINES and be done with it. everything from the website to this blog are misleading windows users to believe it is possible to read it locally through the GIMP software. it is not.
March 9th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
What you are claiming there is wrong. Of course you can install and use the GIMP user manual locally on a windows machine. And you can use the context-sensitive Help in GIMP. You just can’t use the help-browser plug-in because no one compiled it for your platform (yet). But you can use your system web-browser to read the user manual. You might not realize that, but a web-browser can display local HTML files just fine.
March 18th, 2009 at 1:31 am
I’ve just installed gimp 2.6.4 on windows vista and i am asking for help to
install and use the GIMP user manual locally on a windows machine. And to use the context-sensitive Help in GIMP.
As I am a final user, i would luv fool proov explications.
thank for your time
March 18th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Sorry, lawrence, this is not a help forum. If you have problems downloading and installing the GIMP User Manual from http://downloads.sourceforge.net/gimp-win/gimp-help-2-2.4.0-setup.exe, then please ask in one of the many GIMP user forums or on the gimp-user mailing-list.
April 10th, 2009 at 10:46 pm
My Windows Gimp offline help system also did not work
I have Googled myself silly to find help on the Web to get the Gimp Windows help working Fortunately Neo got himself so far as to provide a link to the Gimp-help-2-2.4.0-setup.exe file even though this is not – as he says – a help forum.
I was on the verge of discarding my Win Gimp installation out of frustration in not finding the answer I was looking for.
The Window binary download page does mention such a file but there is no link provided leading to it.
The Web is full of sods like me struggling to get offline help working in Windows, I wonder how many of those have turned their back on Gimp. Whenever I see a blind person attempting to cross a busy highway I will assist him because out of gratitude for not being in his shoes.
August 16th, 2009 at 2:37 am
I totally sympathise with those poor GIMP users who complain (above) about how difficult it is to get the offline help system working in Windows. I have also wasted a huge amount of time and effort locating the GIMP-help setup executable. I have finally found it — ALLELUIA, CHOIRS OF ANGELS!!! — and installed it. Then there’s this irritating issue with the Help-Browser plugin! After worrying about it for days, and searching in vain for the damn thing, I finally discover here that I don’t need it because I can browse the HTML help pages with Internet Explorer of any other browser. Why don’t the developers write clear, prominent instructions for Windows users on how to install and browse the help files locally on their PCs. These instructions should be clearly visible on the main download pages, not tucked away in some obscure svenfoo blog. Help files are ESSENTIAL to any software package. You developers need to get your heads out of your nerdy rear ends and meditate long and hard on the meaning of the words TRANSPARENCY and USER-FRIENDLINESS. In all other ways, GIMP is absolutely fab and I worshop and adore all you splendiferous developers who have the sheer, awe-inspiring intelligence to make such a complex package work at all. All power to you guys and may your path forever be strewn with lotus blossom. Here endeth the final lesson in today’s service. Now, let us pray! Almighty Developer, who art in heaven. Hallowed by the name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in cyberspace … FADE OUT and ALLELUIA chorus.
Love is all!
Roberto
August 16th, 2009 at 11:54 am
Roberto, the problem really is that there’s hardly any contributions from the community of Windows users. Windows users seem unable to contribute to an open project. Instead of helping with development, support or documentation, all they do is leaving insulting comments tucked away in obscure blogs.
I used to be a strong supporter of the Windows port of GIMP when it was done years ago. We expected to get more developers and more contributions and everyone would have benefit. In hindsight, the port has mostly hurt GIMP development. Instead of more developers, we have more bug reports and 95% of these bug reports from Windows users are completely useless and a waste of developer time. If we wouldn’t have cared so much about keeping our code portable, we would likely have a much better GIMP user experience on Linux nowadays. And that’s what I actually care about.
Windows users, you guys need to get your act together. You don’t get free software served on a silver plate. That’s not how it works. If there are problems with the Windows build or its documentation, then go ahead and improve this situation. You don’t need to be an experienced developer to do this.