The GIMP interface needs to be more intuitive, cleaner, easier to manage and less convoluted

Registered by Brett Alton

The GIMP at it's present state (2.2.15/2.3.18 - 2007-06-13) is a powerful image manipulation program. However, The GIMP's interface is, as the name of the program, a gimp (or disability) in making the program the most powerful image manipulation program yet. Following the Ubuntu them of "Linux for Human Beings", I think these issues should be reviewed:

Problems for new users
-----------------------------
* Lack of intuitive names (what do these mean to the average user?):
*** Script-fu
*** Xtns
+ if the Script-Fu menu contains pre-defined effects, why is it not under an 'effects' menu? Script-fu can still be used for the Script-fu console and used by advanced users

* Multiple windows/panels/dialogues cause a strain on multi-tasking users.
*** Jane has the following open: a music player, a browser, a chat client and two folders containing pictures and documents. She notices that one of her images is rotated incorrectly and opens the image in Gimp. The Gimp opens 4 more panels and makes her desktop extremely hard to navigate. She is unaware of plug-ins (because she figures the program should "just work", and doesn't use multiple desktops)

* Menus on too many panels
*** There should be one main menu "File, Edit, Select, View, Script-fu, etc." in the entire program. Why does the toolbar have one menu and the image holder has another. Can these be merged so that it changes for each image?

* Editing fonts is limited
*** Bold, italic, underline... all features that are non-existent or hard to find. You can't do desktop publishing in a program that doesn't support simple features such as those.
*** The "Tools Options" dialogue featuring the "add text to the image" tool is separate from the "Fonts" dialogue. When I open the "Fonts" dialogue I expect to be able to edit the text, but instead I can only choose the font, but I can already do this in "Tools Options". Why have this ambiguity?

* Tools should be on a separate dialogue and always present
*** The main tools in the main "The GIMP" dialogue should always be visible. Since it's a separate window, it disappears quite often, and the user constantly has to bring it back to focus (as well as EVERY OTHER PANEL THAT MINIMIZED). This limits productivity and should be included in my "The GIMP in one window argument"

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