carol.gimp.org

GIMP2 basics gui

All My Docks and Tabs

Disclaimer

Having just built and installed a brand new version of TheGIMP from cvs; I have an excellent opportunity to show the different ways to change the Graphical User Interface (GUI) and how to change it to suit your needs.

This demonstration concentrates on how I change the GUI to suit my needs and might be prone to unnecessary editorial comment.

Default Desktop

The first time you open TheGIMP or the first time you open a new version of it, you will need to step through the installation dialogs. To start my new version of TheGIMP, I simply agreed to everyone of those orange coloured dialogs.

Once you are finished with the installation dialogs, the current gimp splash screen will display itself with what is a very slow process of reviewing the resources. It will only be slow the first time, TheGIMP is reviewing what is available to it and recording it in files that it will access the next time you start it up.

Eventually, TheGIMP will display itself with this default set up pictured here. There are many things I do not like about this set up; changing the default set up to what I prefer will show some of the different ways to change the GUI and it is where this demonstration begins.

TheGIMP will welcome you with a Tip of the Day. It is recommended that new users of TheGIMP leave the Tip of the Day on and read them, especially before emailing any of the gimp mail lists for help.

Personalizing the Right Side

I am using a gnu/linux operating system, xfree to draw my computer display and Xfce to determine how my windows behave and a theme (Platinum) to tell them how to look. I get all of this software from Debian testing. TheGIMP pictured and discussed here was acquired from cvs on 2005-01-10 (January 10, 2005 or 10 January 2005). This is all I can talk honestly about and get screenshots of.

Anyone who has more questions about the screenshots here, I am using a kernel that I installed myself with help from my friend who works for Oracle. What you see here would be a product of this software pyramid.

carol@treva:~$ uname -a
Linux treva 2.6.9 #1 Thu Oct 21 23:34:35 PDT 2004 i686 GNU/Linux             
carol@treva:~$

How I Got Rid of the Right Default Set-up I have asked my Window Manager to provide some buttons; the one on the far left is configured to close everything that this window contains and I use this button because I do not like the way this default window is set up. I used this button to simply close the whole widget set so that I can start over with a set up I am comfortable with. TheGIMP is nice about having me confirm that I really want it to close so many active dialogs at one time. There is another way to close dialogs also that does not require that you use a Window Manager configured like this or even similarly. Every GIMP window has a button provided by gtk+ that will closes each window individually, my theme puts an "X shape" on this button.
How I Rebuild the Right Side I start by accessing one of TheGIMP's pre-assembled "tabbed dialogs" by using the menu available through the File Menu located at the top of the Toolbox, specifically <Toolbox> -->File -->Dialogs -->Create New Dock -->Misc. Stuff This handy little window full of gimp tabs contains four individual dialogs that work well together. The memory buffer, a list of images currently open in a gimp image window, the image history and a list of image templates. All of these dialogs are new to TheGIMP since gimp-1.2.
Drop and Drag to Add Tabs I put my Undo History Dialog using this drop and drag stuff that the linux users were not used to having when I first started to use TheGIMP. Use the mouse and click on the title of the dialog and drag it away from its window. It turns into a little icon and title, continue to drag this to the window containing the docks you wish to add this tab to. The dock should tell you when it recognizes the new tab by displaying a bolder line around its tabs. (You can see this by comparing the two different screen shots shown here.) Dropping the dragged dialog should install the new tab into the dock.
Add Tabs with a Menu Button To the left of the gtk close button is another button; my theme uses a little arrow to mark this button. Clicking this button will display several menu options. You can effect the way this dialog works, access the dialog functions and also, add tabs. I added the Error Console dialog to this bunch of docks. I used this method to add the rest of the tabs to this dialog that I prefer to have here. There are several things about my work flow that make this area a little hard to get to. I am right handed, I read from left to right. I put dialogs that I use but not so often at the upper right of my work area.
Adding the Tools Dialog finishes the upper right dock full of tabs that suit the way I work. It contains dialogs that were not found in gimp-1.0 or in gimp-1.2; a fact that revealed itself to me once I started writing this tutorial. Once again, it is a personal layout and I show it here only to demonstrate the techniques of starting docks and adding tabs.

Adding a Dock to a Dock

A long time user of TheGIMP, I was familiar and comfortable with a window full of "Layers, Channels and Paths". Docking these dialogs to the dock I have constructed here in this tutorial suits my needs and turns out to be a nice way to keep my old gimp habits and enjoy its new features in a way that makes sense for me. The method to add a dock to a dock is the same where ever you want to put yours.

Use the same drag and drop method as demonstrated when I added the first tab to the existing dock, only this time, aim the drop at the bottom of the dock. My theme and window manager show that the window is ready to receive a new dock by presenting a bold dark blue line where the dock will be placed.

I could have built this dock in the opposite direction as this same docking area appears at the upper part and the lower part of every one of TheGIMP's dockable, tabable windows. The result should be the same no matter how you build it. There is no special reason that I constructed it the way I did for this tutorial. The demonstration is intended to show the different ways to build your own GUI so that you and TheGIMP can work together better.

I continued to fill the new dock with tabs using the little button on the window until I got to the place that I wanted to put my gradient editor tab. There is not an entry for this dockable dialog in the Dialog Menu, at this point in the development of TheGIMP (gimp-2.2) you can only access this editor via the gradient palette by touching the Edit button or by right clicking on the active gradient. This lack of access via the Dialog Menu exists for the Palette Editor and Brush Editor as well.

The last thing I did was too make these tools wider by pulling on either the left edge or the right edge of the docked tabs.

Personalizing the Left Side

I keep my toolbox on the left side of my desktop when working with TheGIMP. The way TheGIMP opens the first time is almost the way I like things. However, for this tutorial I will be starting with only the toolbox.

Adding a Dock to the Toolbox

TheGIMP Toolbox is a dockable window just like all of the rest with two exceptions: it does not allow docking above it and it doesn't share its window with other tabs.

I started to build this dock with the Tool Options Dialog (the same way the default gimp shows itself the first time).

The Tool Options Dialog is different than the other dialogs as well: you can bring it up or focus it by double clicking on the tool button in the tool box and the title as well as the options contained within the dialog will change depending on the tool that is active at that time. Beyond these differences, it works the same when docking or adding as a tab.