GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 307968
Linking layers don't include the one currently worked on, unless selected
Last modified: 2012-01-08 16:19:39 UTC
If you want to link layers to the one you are currently working on, you'd have to click the link function on the other layers AS WELL AS the layer you are currently working on. Gimp does not automatically include the selected current working layer with the other linked layers.
Should it?
I see two use cases here: A) Users who want to include the current layer when linking layers (they need to select it manually, an extra click) B) Users who don't want to include the current layer (they don't need the extra click to deselect the current layer.) Which case is more common? The behavior of commercial software such as Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Fireworks suggest that case A is more common; not sure if some usability tests should be done to verify their assumption. If case A is more common, then it should not require the extra click - the extra click should be required for case B if it is more of an edge case. I am not well-versed in the GIMP's development philosophy and goals, so please forgive any false assumptions I make here. Diana and I would both like to see more professional computer artists take up the gimp, and it seems as if emulating minor behaviors such as this would make user migration a lot easier. It's not just that the extra click is a pain in the ass - requiring that extra click clashes with the mental models of users who are coming from other graphics software. If neither A or B seems a particularly compelling case to support, it seems smart to emulate the standard.
If we wanted to change this behaviour, we would first have to check whether this isn't an incompatible API change. I am afraid that this is the case, which would mean that we can't do this change even if we decided that it is the preferred behaviour.
I think we should definitely consider doing this change but it might need some discussion. Perhaps someone wants to bring up the issue on the gimp-user mailing-list?
I think the question rather is if we A: see the linked layers/channels/paths as a group that belongs together or B: as a set of things that gets transformed whenever the currently active layer/channel/path get moved/transformed. I think we should keep the current behavior, because implementing B would mean that we change that group the user defined as "belonging together" whenever we change the active layer/channel/path. There is no logical reasoning behind having a group that belongs to whatever is currently active except that it saves one click and the "standard" (whatever this is) behaves this way. I vote for WONTFIX.
Behaviour B appears to be the behaviour expected by most people. But of course I cannot back up this claim. Perhaps someone should do a survey on this.
Well people often expect gimp to do what photoshop does, no matter if it's logical or not.
Based on the comments, I am going to finally confirm this bug report. I agree that the change it requests would be a good one, but I think it should be done in the context of other changes that make linking easier to use. (If you think of linking as creating a "vector selection", then it's pretty obvious that the active layer should be linked.)
This issue will never be resolved by sitting in bugzilla, if there is any interest, please raise the issue on the developer mailing list. I'm getting rid of this bug now.