I feel like the GiMP devs must be so fundamentally against good UX that donating towards that goal would be a waste, to be completely honest. They’ve had decades to show at least a small commitment to improving the UX. If there was an “Improve GiMP’s UX” fund I could donate to, which guaranteed the money would go towards just that, I definitely would donate.
For the average user — yes; for me — I don’t care.
Most of my work is in the terminal either way so I tend to care way more about a searchable documentation, reference, manual. Other than that I really like the textual toolbar with dropdowns plus some context menus.
I want my interface to be dense with accessible information.
There’s room for flare tho, I still need feedback on my actions: hovers, drags, clicks, etc.
UX and UI specialists is how you get the crap that is foisted on us today.
Famous example when you unleash them on a project: Windows 8.
I will admit it is a knee jerk reaction, and it seems like maybe we are turning a corner to refinement over mass changes.
One of the major issues with paid software and UX and UI designers is that in order to keep a job, they keep making changes. And nothing is worse than making changes to customary patterns.
Perhaps FOSS wouldnt have that problem, as the job is labor of love. Who knows.
This is shockingly ignorant of how design actually works. The enshitification you see today is purely because of executives demanding their designers and devs jump on every new buzzword the shareholders learn this quarter.
So many people get a bunch of artsy crap ideas and then implement them breaking simple easy to use workflows. You cannot convince me other wise.
On the other hand, I did mention that to keep their jobs there is churn, and you just mentioned one of the reasons for it, execs are a problem. Buzzwords are a problem. Trends are a problem.
But I can point to lots of projects that were given a team and time. Particularly worse if they asked users what they wanted because they are some of the biggest morons to ask in the first place.
The other person did ask me. Then you come in and start swearing and swinging insults.
You might very well be the type of person I do not want an opinion from. You contributed nothing to this conversation and had nothing to say, but boy you wanted to be loud about it.
Edit: And I have to say, look at my comments. I am open to the fact that UI and UX is maturing, that the pressures are different in FOSS projects, and I am somewhat hopeful. You have to admit there have been some rough decisions when leaving well enough alone was just fine.
ok I understand now, thanks for clarifying. My interpretation is that you had very bad past experiences, so now you now want something that just gets the job done and doesn’t ever change. Fair enough, that is absolutely a very valid posture. It just comes down to personal preference and as such, respectable.
You seem well versed in what you understand as bad design with dark patterns. However, I must ask you: do you aknowledge that there is good design in this world, capable of making people of all kind (technical and casuals) understand and enjoy more the software they chose ?
However, I must ask you: do you acknowledge that there is good design in this world, capable of making people of all kind (technical and casuals) understand and enjoy more the software they chose?
Sure. And lots of times we already have it. Then someone comes along and decides to do something like this common practice: dumb things down to the lowest common denominator and make a desktop interface that would appear to appease people who are used to mobile, which ends up alienating both desktop and mobile and is not good for either group. So many examples of this.
Of course not everyone is easy to please, which is why I like FOSS. People say “clean, modern, or dated”, and half the time it just looks like wasted space, more effort, and hidden features to me. Sometimes even removing them for the sake of “clean”.
But I can’t argue that there were people who really put in the effort to polish and make consistent (mostly) the desktop environs like Gnome and KDE, or even applications that are not easy to learn, like Blender.
And I could never argue against patterns that are necessary for accessibility.
You know what is kind of nice? The fact that I have multiple ways to view lemmy with a variety of interfaces, but the back end is the same. There is something to be said for: logic in the backend, presentation in the front end. Typical of good FOSS applications.
Yet both should learn from each other.
The FOSS world needs more UX/UI specialists.
Donate to your favorite project.
I feel like the GiMP devs must be so fundamentally against good UX that donating towards that goal would be a waste, to be completely honest. They’ve had decades to show at least a small commitment to improving the UX. If there was an “Improve GiMP’s UX” fund I could donate to, which guaranteed the money would go towards just that, I definitely would donate.
@clb92 @daggermoon We have a UX design issue tracker specifically for feedback on the user experience - feel free to share specific concerns, no donation required! https://gitlab.gnome.org/Teams/GIMP/Design/gimp-ux/-/work_items
We also now dedicate a section in our release/news post to UX improvements, to further encourage people to contribute in that area: https://www.gimp.org/news/2026/08/16/dev-update-august-2026/#user-experience-and-interface-updates
I have no complaints with GIMP’s UI.
Personally I think a lot of FOSS maintainers are burning out. If you maintain a remotely popular project you basically have a second unpaid job.
Or even just hobbyists…
For the average user — yes; for me — I don’t care.
Most of my work is in the terminal either way so I tend to care way more about a searchable documentation, reference, manual. Other than that I really like the textual toolbar with dropdowns plus some context menus.
I want my interface to be dense with accessible information.
There’s room for flare tho, I still need feedback on my actions: hovers, drags, clicks, etc.
No.
Please expand on your posture. I’m intrigued.
UX and UI specialists is how you get the crap that is foisted on us today.
Famous example when you unleash them on a project: Windows 8.
I will admit it is a knee jerk reaction, and it seems like maybe we are turning a corner to refinement over mass changes.
One of the major issues with paid software and UX and UI designers is that in order to keep a job, they keep making changes. And nothing is worse than making changes to customary patterns.
Perhaps FOSS wouldnt have that problem, as the job is labor of love. Who knows.
This is shockingly ignorant of how design actually works. The enshitification you see today is purely because of executives demanding their designers and devs jump on every new buzzword the shareholders learn this quarter.
No it is not ignorant. You are ignorant, LOL!
So many people get a bunch of artsy crap ideas and then implement them breaking simple easy to use workflows. You cannot convince me other wise.
On the other hand, I did mention that to keep their jobs there is churn, and you just mentioned one of the reasons for it, execs are a problem. Buzzwords are a problem. Trends are a problem.
But I can point to lots of projects that were given a team and time. Particularly worse if they asked users what they wanted because they are some of the biggest morons to ask in the first place.
Removed by mod
The other person did ask me. Then you come in and start swearing and swinging insults.
You might very well be the type of person I do not want an opinion from. You contributed nothing to this conversation and had nothing to say, but boy you wanted to be loud about it.
Edit: And I have to say, look at my comments. I am open to the fact that UI and UX is maturing, that the pressures are different in FOSS projects, and I am somewhat hopeful. You have to admit there have been some rough decisions when leaving well enough alone was just fine.
As for the users: did you forget this?
ok I understand now, thanks for clarifying. My interpretation is that you had very bad past experiences, so now you now want something that just gets the job done and doesn’t ever change. Fair enough, that is absolutely a very valid posture. It just comes down to personal preference and as such, respectable.
You seem well versed in what you understand as bad design with dark patterns. However, I must ask you: do you aknowledge that there is good design in this world, capable of making people of all kind (technical and casuals) understand and enjoy more the software they chose ?
Sure. And lots of times we already have it. Then someone comes along and decides to do something like this common practice: dumb things down to the lowest common denominator and make a desktop interface that would appear to appease people who are used to mobile, which ends up alienating both desktop and mobile and is not good for either group. So many examples of this.
Of course not everyone is easy to please, which is why I like FOSS. People say “clean, modern, or dated”, and half the time it just looks like wasted space, more effort, and hidden features to me. Sometimes even removing them for the sake of “clean”.
But I can’t argue that there were people who really put in the effort to polish and make consistent (mostly) the desktop environs like Gnome and KDE, or even applications that are not easy to learn, like Blender.
And I could never argue against patterns that are necessary for accessibility.
You know what is kind of nice? The fact that I have multiple ways to view lemmy with a variety of interfaces, but the back end is the same. There is something to be said for: logic in the backend, presentation in the front end. Typical of good FOSS applications.