For starters, its built on a volunteer basis, so there is no monetary reward for making it easier to use.
Also, some of the developers are probably actually unaware of the main concepts in UX design and even don't want the software to be user friendly because to them that is synonymous with 'dumbing-down' the system for beginners.
GIMP targets experienced users. If we acknowledge that GIMP is not (primarily) for beginners, we cut off a lot of problems such as “do we need to support that,” etc. Peter noted that a “GIMP Light” would not just have some options cut off from the menus: it would have a completely different user interface, even if it would use the same code under the hood.
Some developers work on GIMP to promote the Free Software movement and would probably not contribute if GIMP was not free. Others think that GIMP should provide fun for its developers, although our user base has grown a bit large for just doing fun experiments. We have to acknowledge that we address a user base that may be more experienced in image manipulation than we are, so the developers are partially out of the target group.
Before converging towards a definition of the GIMP target groups and GIMP vision, there were several discussions involving examples and use cases, whether GIMP should be the best image manipulation program in the universe (best for who?), whether those working on icons and those working on photos have the same needs (number of images open, relative sizes), whether people need to switch frequently between GIMP and other applications (browser or editor for web work), whether we will support painting with shapes and natural media, etc.
Eventually, a GIMP vision emerged...
What GIMP is:
GIMP is Free Software
GIMP is a high-end photo manipulation application, and supports creating original art from images;
GIMP is a high-end application for producing icons, graphical elements of web pages, and art for user interface elements;
GIMP is a platform for programming cutting edge image processing algorithms, by scientists and artists;
GIMP is user-configurable to automate repetitive tasks;
GIMP is easily user-extendable, by easy installation of plug-ins.
What GIMP is not:
GIMP is not MS Paint or Adobe Photoshop
TODO
Make it easier to perform repetitive tasks (macro recording)
Provide a UI with a low barrier to entry
GIMP should be easily extensible by the average user: one click-installation of plug-ins
Well, "a UI with a low barrier to entry" was on that TODO list at least. If they had hundreds of thousands of dollars lying around, probably someone would have been hired to focus on that one. But they have zero dollars and its not a big enough priority for most of the developers to motivate the type of changes required.
For starters, its built on a volunteer basis, so there is no monetary reward for making it easier to use.
Also, some of the developers are probably actually unaware of the main concepts in UX design and even don't want the software to be user friendly because to them that is synonymous with 'dumbing-down' the system for beginners.
>http://developer.gimp.org/gimpcon/2006/index.html
GIMP targets experienced users. If we acknowledge that GIMP is not (primarily) for beginners, we cut off a lot of problems such as “do we need to support that,” etc. Peter noted that a “GIMP Light” would not just have some options cut off from the menus: it would have a completely different user interface, even if it would use the same code under the hood.
Some developers work on GIMP to promote the Free Software movement and would probably not contribute if GIMP was not free. Others think that GIMP should provide fun for its developers, although our user base has grown a bit large for just doing fun experiments. We have to acknowledge that we address a user base that may be more experienced in image manipulation than we are, so the developers are partially out of the target group.
Before converging towards a definition of the GIMP target groups and GIMP vision, there were several discussions involving examples and use cases, whether GIMP should be the best image manipulation program in the universe (best for who?), whether those working on icons and those working on photos have the same needs (number of images open, relative sizes), whether people need to switch frequently between GIMP and other applications (browser or editor for web work), whether we will support painting with shapes and natural media, etc.
Eventually, a GIMP vision emerged...
What GIMP is:
GIMP is Free Software
GIMP is a high-end photo manipulation application, and supports creating original art from images;
GIMP is a high-end application for producing icons, graphical elements of web pages, and art for user interface elements;
GIMP is a platform for programming cutting edge image processing algorithms, by scientists and artists;
GIMP is user-configurable to automate repetitive tasks;
GIMP is easily user-extendable, by easy installation of plug-ins.
What GIMP is not:
GIMP is not MS Paint or Adobe Photoshop
TODO
Make it easier to perform repetitive tasks (macro recording)
Provide a UI with a low barrier to entry
GIMP should be easily extensible by the average user: one click-installation of plug-ins
Well, "a UI with a low barrier to entry" was on that TODO list at least. If they had hundreds of thousands of dollars lying around, probably someone would have been hired to focus on that one. But they have zero dollars and its not a big enough priority for most of the developers to motivate the type of changes required.