No image open specification

intro

This is the specification for the state of GIMP when no image is open. It is still based on a multiple document interface model.

the OS-X exception

On OS-X, with its fixed menubar at the top of the screen, there is no need to have windows open to keep the application instance alive. Therefore the OS-X version of GIMP shall not perform all the stunts spec'ed below and run happily with no window open.

overall goals

1. get the menubar out of the toolbox;
2. keep the application instance alive by always having a window with menubar open, even when no image is open;

supporting the activity

From the understanding of the activities undertaken when GIMP is used within the scope of the product vision, the following requirements can be distilled:

1. with no image open, GIMP is ready for whatever users want to do next (new image, generate new image, open image, open oodles of images, not use GIMP for the next 12 hours), in whatever way possible—from within GIMP, from the desktop/file browser or from other applications than GIMP (e.g. a photo asset manager);
2. the 'no image' window should be the digital equivalent of a no-nonsense clean tabletop in the atelier: ready to accept the next canvas for further graphics creation;
3. a 'no image' window cannot be mistaken for a window with an empty canvas in any way;
4. minimum disruption when opening a first image (go from no image open to a single image open) or closing the last image (go from a single image open to no image open).

no gimmicks

The following gimmicks shall explicitly not be part of the 'no image' window:

• a 'welcome to GIMP' text, in any font size;
• any splash-screen-like graphics or interaction, or GIMP contributor credits;
• any 'what would you like to do today' type of interaction, including 'recently open images';
• an empty canvas;
• anything that looks like an empty page, piece of paper, wooden tabletop;
• anything that is based on assumptions of 'what users usually want to do next…';
• anything distracting.

inside the 'no image' window

The 'no image' window shall contain the menubar and none of the gimmicks listed above. Also it shall not contain any of the following normal GIMP window content:

• rulers or scrollbars;
• canvas, boundaries, guides or grid;
• icons for image menu, zoom image toggle, navigate image, quick mask;
• status bar.