Re: Alt Key

[Scott <scotbicknel@xxxxxxx>]

On Thursday 20 December 2007 11:17:17 am JC Dill wrote:

> > Is there any way to restore the Alt key to its old usage in
> > 2.4? I can't drag selections anymore because it requires Alt
> > and mouse at the same time, which is a problem on Linux. How
> > do I tell Gimp to use another shift-type key for that
> > action?
>
> The behavior and use of the Alt key changed between 2.2 and
> 2.4, without providing any way for users to select or
> configure the older behavior in Gimp.  That is showing
> disregard for your established user base.

You already said you are not among that user base, "I'm a 
typical 'potential Gimp user'". Why are you acting all hurt over 
this change; it doesn't affect you?

> you should provide a way (within the software itself) for the 
> user to configure the older behavior... This is basic backwards
> compatibility.

Backward compatibility is not the holy grail of interface design. 
If it were, we would all still be using the command-line... or 
punch cards for that matter.

> The fact that few outside the programmer community
> use Gimp

I don't think this is a given. I, for one, am not a programmer. 
There is a thriving non-programmer GIMP user community forum at 
http://gimptalk.com/. GIMP's user base may not be as large as 
Photoshop's, but it is not a given that it is largely 
programmers using it. I also personally know at least two 
professional photographers (they make their living doing 
photography) who use GIMP for all their digital image processing 
who are not programmers, either. I had a conversation with one 
of them less than a month ago. He said that GIMP provides all 
the necessary tools a professional photographer needs.

You say:
> it's not suitable for a non-programmer...

And then:
> Try taking any
> PS tutorial (especially one about programming an action) and
> applying to to Gimp.  This is impossible for most users!  So
> those resources aren't available to Gimp users.

Without dwelling on the obvious contradiction in your remarks, 
GIMP does not attempt to clone Photoshop. I would not expect 
macros written for any program to work in any other that was not 
intended to clone that product. But if you insist, your argument 
could as easily be turned around and applied to making PS do 
what a tutorial or macro does in GIMP. Would it be easy to 
achieve the same results in PS without significantly reworking 
the examples? Probably not. Should we heap shame on PS for its 
poor compatibility with GIMP solutions? I don't think so.

> You can learn from my feedback, or you can attack the
> messenger again, as you wish.

Or, we can also point out the flaws in your argument. What tools 
does Photoshop provide to professional photographers that is not 
only lacking in GIMP, but that have escaped the notice of my 
professional photographer acquaintances?
-- 
Scott
Linux user #: 246504
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