GIMP 2.8 development still under control
A while back I announced the creation of a schedule for GIMP 2.8 development. I've made sure to keep this schedule up to date, and after a bunch of initial adjustments such as postponing some feature and adding others, the schedule has now stabilized a bit. The estimated date for a release candidate is still in December 2010. Tracking progress with a schedule really helps you to feel in control of development. The 2.4 development cycle which I were around in the end of, and the 2.6 development cycle which I were fully part of, were more chaotic with no commitment to a delivery date. This is perfectly fine for many, but I prefer structured development.
As far as development goes I have continued working on the UI in general and single-window mode in particular. There is now only one major thing missing before single-window mode is ready for some real usage, which is proper session management of the single-window mode. That is, it of course needs to be made possible to start up in single-window mode and the UI layout in single-window mode needs to be preserved. There are some quite big details to sort out here, so I'm basically waiting for Peter Sikking to find time to write a UI specification on how it should work.
In terms of more concrete changes I have for example added a new menu item under the Windows menu labelled Hide docks. This makes the crucial feature to hide dock windows and docks with Tab discoverable, a feature most people don't know about but wish they knew sooner when you tell them about it. I've also made the setting preserved across GIMP sessions, so if you close GIMP with the docks hidden, they will remain hidden when you start GIMP the next time. Another change is that dock windows now only have the active dockables in the title, instead of all tabs, to avoid hugely long window titles. I would also like to take the opportunity to point out that there is a Recently Closed Docks sub menu under the Windows menu, even in 2.6, which contains dock windows you have closed, something many people don't seem to be aware of.
I'll let that be the end of this general update. And sorry Fredrik for not making a post in February ;)
posted by Martin Nordholts @ 1:57 PM
27 Comments:
I like it! It would be nice if we had keyboard shortcuts like Tab, Shift+Tab (as in PS).
I can not wait for December! Since this one of tree things I never liked about GIMP.
Thanks!
Wow, my love for GIMP just increased tenfold after reading this bit about the TAB key
I like it too! But keep in mind that menu item labels should use title capitalization. "Hide dock" & "Single-window mode" should read "Hide Dock" and "Single-Window Mode".
@Anonymous #3: Thanks for pointing it out, that's the kind of things you forget to think about at times. I just fixed it:
http://git.gnome.org/browse/gimp/commit/?id=122feb0dd5a52440b11c300694ca34822da7f276
Yeah, I discovered the "tab" functionality thanks to this post ! Nice feature :-)
Is it still on the planning to release a 2.7.1 development version in the next weeks (as you said in the comments of your previous post)? That would be awesome for mere Windows users like me who don't know how to compile sources! :-)
Besides, are there other active blogs about GIMP development ?
Thanks for your work (and for keeping us informed about what is coming)!
Awesome work Martin!! I think Single-window mode will be great and it will become the favorite layout for GIMP.
@Kolimang: A 2.7.1 release would be nice but it is uncertain when we get around to do it. And yes there are other blogs, some more active than the others. I linked to them in my first blog post.
Yeah i'm also looking forward to a Windows version of 2.7.x that has the fabled Single-Window Mode. It's rather cruel for common folks to be required to compile from source in order to get a glimpse...
Thank you so much for working on the Single-Window mode -- choice is always best, IMHO, so I would love the ability to change between single and multi based on need. :)
Your work on the other awesome features and for pushing for structured development is also greatly appreciated! Makes me wish there was a donate button on your blog. :D
Awesome dude!
I have really high hopes for the next release.
Wish the best of luck to you!
It's a strange thing. When using the Gimp in the beginning, I found it difficult to use and missed a single-window mode. Now that I'm using it often, having several images open at the same time, I like the way it works and looks and would find a single-window mode awkward and space wasting.
GIMP IS AWESOME!!! Thanks for all the work, can't wait for single window mode. Its a feature that will definitely spur a higher adoption rate amongst amateur photographers who may have been previously accustomed to this windowing method in other photo editors.
I like Gimp, I also use CS2. The biggest things that concerns me most when deciding to use Gimp in a commercial environment is the SLOOOOOOOW development process (ie GIMP version releases and updates).
So I congratulate you not just for your efforts thus far, but for working to a more scheduled approach, though I'm unsure if that is GIMP-project wide?
Great job, I am looking forward to the next release!
Is it possible to add something similar to the batch jobs in Photoshop? It could be very usefull.
I am happy with GIMP as is. Better is nice but I am doing everything I need right now.
Jack H.
Nice to know that it will remember the hidden state of docks across sessions. One thing that particularly annoyed me about the docks is that they somehow apparently steal the focus when they shouldn't. It is pretty irritating to have to Alt + TAB into the working window again and again every time i use a color selector or click on a tool or change a parameter or select a layer with mouse, etc - that's in 2.6.x. Keenly looking forward to the next version and your update here thrills me :)
Thanks much for all the great work.
Gracias por desarrollar Gimp se me ha hecho de mucha utilidad! esperare con ansias la nueva versión!
The new version of Gimp promises, but is true that in version 3.0 will not be able to work with indexed images? I work doing graphics for games and app for old mobiles models. Is essential work with indexed images. If that option is removed from Gimp I will not have a profesional free alternative for linux with which to work. (Sorry for my bad English)
thanks a lot!
I use gimp with much satisfaction.
Donya
Thanks for this info, very useful
Galpones
Hey Martin, Is there any way I can test out the latest version you have on your computer? :D :D :D (I'm in Arch Linux BTW)
I've seen videos of the new single-window interface. Were those real videos? Or just mock-ups?
(continued from my previous comment) ...Because I know that the 2.7.1 download on the website doesn't reflect the latest tweaks on your computer. ;)
Looks like, we may anticipate release candidate before 1 January 2011. But what about the final one? How do you think, it will rather be march or july for example?
Thanks for your work
Hi have been using GIMP for a long time,this some nice development ,great tip
Are there any news on a schedule for GIMP 2.8 development?
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