GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 124040
Hidden features in all paint tools should be visible in the UI
Last modified: 2006-08-05 08:24:41 UTC
As mentioned in bug #51108, the paint tools (brush, pencil, airbrush) and the eraser provide some features through modifier keys and these features are not visible in the user interface. It is possible to draw a straight line with these tools (using Shift), to draw a straight line at constrained angles (15 degrees) or to switch temporarily to the color picker, but these features are not visible. So for most users, they do not exist.
Bumping to 2.2, as indicated in the comment of bug #51108. Dave.
Moving back to 2.0, as indicated by following comment in bug #51108.
Following the comments in bug #120424, I thought about submitting a separate bug report about the status bar, but I think that it would be more appropriate to discuss this here. Although this proposed solution would apply to all tools, it is more important for the paint tools discussed here (because they have more options) and for the path tool (which has already solved the problem). In another informal usability test of the latest GIMP with some colleagues of mine, similar to the one I did in October last year, I saw that they liked the help messages displayed by the new path tool. Thanks Simon for fixing bug #124025. One of them asked why this is not done in all tools, and I think that it would be a good idea to do it. So basically, the status bar would be used for: - Help messages for the current tool (depending on the tool and its state). This would be the default contents of the status bar. - Transient messages pushed on the status bar only while something more important is happening, such as moving a layer (offsets displayed), creating a selection (size displayed), etc. This would make the GIMP easier to use. The drawback is that it would not be possible anymore to display other indications in the status bar, similar to what is displayed in the title bar: image name, size, etc. The help messages would be the new default contents. Doing this could solve this bug and reduce the need for displaying the modifier keys in the tool options dialog, so this would also help solving bug #51108. But before I dig deeper and create a suggested list of help messages for all tools (and maybe a largeish patch), I would like to know what others think about this way of making the GIMP easier to use and if the removal of the other indicators is acceptable (leaving them only in the title, or maybe in a separate area of the status bar or in the image info dialog).
Before you start doing such a patch, we need to fix the statusbar API. IIRC there's a bug report on this already.
That would be bug #120175, I suppose.
Bumping this to the 2.2 milestone. It's too late to fix this now and it would mean a lot of strings being added. Let's target this for 2.2.
It's quite late to get this into 2.2 still even though the statusbar is fixed for quite a while already. So unless someone shows up with the patch until the end of the week, this will have to be postponed for after the 2.2 release.
Raphael, I don't understand this bug report. Are you suggesting that the status area for paint tools should constantly show a message saying "press shift to draw a line, or ctrl to pick colors from the image"? Or what?
It does say "Press Shift to draw a straight line" now. This is probably not perfect but it's a start that we can improve on.
I am going to mark this as NEEDINFO because there is no definite idea here -- the bug report simply says "it should be better" as far as I can tell, and that is not useful.
I thought that the summary of this bug report was clear enough: "Hidden features in all paint tools should be visible in the UI". This is the problem and the reason why this bug report was created. Finding the best solution to this problem is another issue. I don't think that NEEDINFO is appropriate if the problem is clear, so I am reopening this bug. Regarding the question in comment #8, I would say yes, this is what I suggested in comment #3: use the status bar to make these hidden features visible. There may be other ways to solve this problem, but I currently think that it would be the best one. This solution is already used by several other applications dealing with drawing, painting or 3D modelling. As Sven mentioned in comment #9, the status bar already says "Press Shift to draw a straight line" once a first point has been drawn. It could also suggest using Ctrl to pick a color (even before anything is drawn). While Shift is pressed, it could suggest using Ctrl to have constrained angles. These suggestions could be similar to what Simon has done for the path tool (bug #124025): add "(try <modifier>)" to the description of the current tool mode in the status bar.
Quick proposal for some suggested texts for the paint tools: - When nothing has been drawn yet: "Click to paint, or press Ctrl to pick a color" - After the first brush stroke: "Press Shift to draw a straight line (try Ctrl)" - While drawing a line (Shift pressed): "<dX, dY> Click to draw the line, press Ctrl for constrained angles" - While drawing a constrained line (Shift and Ctrl pressed): "<dX, dY> Click to draw the line" - While picking a color (Ctrl pressed): "Click in an image to pick the foreground color" The first one may sound a bit stupid, but may be useful anyway. The third one is a bit longer, but hopefully still short enough for most images. The last one could also be used for the color picker. The color picker could also suggest using Ctrl for toggling between foreground and background selection. Note that it would be nice to decide on "Shift" vs. "SHIFT" in the status bar and to be consistent accross all tools (including the path tool).
I would agree with the idea of making the hidden features visible in one way or another. I don't use GIMP enough to remember many of the key modifiers so I would find this suggestion helpful. That second item in comment #12 is confusing. It says to use Shift but ends off with "try Ctrl"? It could leave someone not knowing if they are supposed to use Shift or Ctrl. It would be better to leave off the "(try Ctrl)" part. I created a new window to look for messages in the status bar. It revealed another (minor) problem. You can't read the full comment if the window isn't wide enough. My default window size is currently 377x233 and all I saw in the status bar was "Press shift to draw a strai...".
I have just posted a message to the gimp-developer list about the status bar messages. It should explain the logic behind the "(try Ctrl)" suggestion. Also, the messages should be reasonably short but it is not a big issue if they are clipped for some narrow image windows: it is always possible to make the window larger if the user really wants to read the message.
I have updated the messages for the paint tools and selection tools, although these messages should still be improved: use better verbs than "paint" or "draw" for the eraser or convolve tool, suggest Ctrl for the dodge/burn, convolve and clone tools, etc. These improvements and the messages for the other tools will follow in a few days, so I am keeping this bug report open. 2006-07-30 Raphaël Quinet <raphael@gimp.org> * app/tools/gimppainttool.c * app/tools/gimpvectortool.c * app/tools/gimpselectiontool.c: Update the status bar messages. Work in progress, partial fix for bug #124040.
With the additional changes from the last days, I consider this bug to be fixed (for the paint tools). Other tools such as the selection, transform tools, etc. will be fixed in the next days (bug #51108).