Difference between revisions of "Text-Handling in GIMP"
From GIMP GUI Redesign
(→Introduction) |
(→Evaluation) |
||
| (83 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown) | |||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
== Vision == | == Vision == | ||
'''Text handling in GIMP''' | '''Text handling in GIMP''' | ||
| Line 30: | Line 25: | ||
=== Quick plain text === | === Quick plain text === | ||
*the full-functionality text-tool is not obligatory | *the full-functionality text-tool is not obligatory | ||
| − | *simple annotations are supported | + | *simple annotations are supported |
*can be inserted in an easy way | *can be inserted in an easy way | ||
=== Effects === | === Effects === | ||
| − | *stroke text | + | *stroke text |
| − | *fill text | + | *fill text |
*all effects and filter can be applied on the text itself (see "Corrections") | *all effects and filter can be applied on the text itself (see "Corrections") | ||
| Line 60: | Line 55: | ||
'''Character level''' | '''Character level''' | ||
| − | *Font family | + | *Font family |
| − | *Font variant | + | *Font variant |
| − | *size | + | *size |
| − | *Color | + | *Color |
| − | *Hinting | + | *Hinting |
| − | *Kerning ( | + | *Kerning (M+OT) |
| − | *faux bold+italics | + | *faux bold+italics |
| − | *underline | + | *underline |
| − | *through-line | + | *through-line |
| − | *baseline shift | + | *baseline shift |
| − | *language | + | *language |
| − | |||
+ [[OpenType features]] | + [[OpenType features]] | ||
| − | *?glyph scaling (vertical and horizontal | + | *?glyph scaling (vertical and horizontal) |
'''line and paragraph level''' | '''line and paragraph level''' | ||
| − | *leading ( | + | *leading (Line Spacing) |
| − | *tracking | + | *tracking |
| − | *Indent | + | *Indent |
| − | * | + | *justification |
| − | *inter-paragraph spacing | + | *inter-paragraph spacing |
| − | *text-flow | + | *text-flow |
<!-- | <!-- | ||
| Line 106: | Line 100: | ||
*add text information to image | *add text information to image | ||
**no effects, basic font+style+size | **no effects, basic font+style+size | ||
| − | * | + | * |
=== Creating Original Art === | === Creating Original Art === | ||
| + | |||
==== "text as graphics" ==== | ==== "text as graphics" ==== | ||
* [no-text work] | * [no-text work] | ||
| − | * freely define text-box-shape | + | * freely define text-box-shape (draw it) |
| − | * | + | * type text |
* experiment with font-family/variant/size/color | * experiment with font-family/variant/size/color | ||
* apply effects on all text elements | * apply effects on all text elements | ||
* apply overall effect (let text "interact" with other parts of the composition) | * apply overall effect (let text "interact" with other parts of the composition) | ||
| − | * | + | * transform text-box |
| − | * fine-tune text | + | * transform text (-> perspective, 3-D, along path) |
| − | * apply more effects | + | * fine-tune text (make use of advanced typography) |
| + | * manually alter advanced typo: manual kerning, individual glyph replacement,… | ||
| + | * do further brushwork | ||
| + | * apply more effects | ||
* change wording | * change wording | ||
| + | |||
| + | |||
==== text as information ==== | ==== text as information ==== | ||
| + | |||
* create several text-boxes (e.g. info) | * create several text-boxes (e.g. info) | ||
** define overflow direction | ** define overflow direction | ||
| − | * | + | * paste text (formatted or plain) |
* work on typography | * work on typography | ||
| − | ** | + | ** chose font family + variant |
| − | ** set | + | ** chose size + color |
| − | ** fine-tune text, | + | ** set alignment, justification, hyphenation |
| + | ** use advanced open type features | ||
| + | ** manually fine-tune text layout (kerning, tracking, glyph replacement) | ||
* move, resize, reshape, reorder boxes | * move, resize, reshape, reorder boxes | ||
| + | |||
* save/export/print | * save/export/print | ||
| − | * return | + | |
| + | '''later''' | ||
| + | * return - load file | ||
* change wording/correct text | * change wording/correct text | ||
** maybe change font (other computer) | ** maybe change font (other computer) | ||
** adjust typography | ** adjust typography | ||
* save/export/print | * save/export/print | ||
| + | |||
=== Icon Design === | === Icon Design === | ||
| Line 155: | Line 162: | ||
** see how use of text in different parts works together - adjust typography accordingly | ** see how use of text in different parts works together - adjust typography accordingly | ||
* Export parts in optimised web format | * Export parts in optimised web format | ||
| + | |||
== Evaluation == | == Evaluation == | ||
| Line 162: | Line 170: | ||
=== text placement === | === text placement === | ||
| − | one-click | + | one-click or define frame first |
* + gives most flexibility | * + gives most flexibility | ||
* + is easy to handle with one button | * + is easy to handle with one button | ||
* + feels real. You can grab a pen, place it and start writing right away | * + feels real. You can grab a pen, place it and start writing right away | ||
| − | |||
| + | * forced frame-drawing | ||
| + | * - may disturb the work-flow | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
=== family and style/variant selection === | === family and style/variant selection === | ||
| − | all-in-one (Inkscape, | + | all-in-one (Inkscape, |
* + only one selector needs less menu space | * + only one selector needs less menu space | ||
* + immediate overview of all available font options | * + immediate overview of all available font options | ||
* + 1 click selection | * + 1 click selection | ||
* - list grows in length by a considerable amount | * - list grows in length by a considerable amount | ||
| − | |||
| + | two-step selection (variant as a sub-selector) | ||
| + | * + only one selector needs less menu space | ||
| + | * + Good overview of families | ||
| + | * + browsing feels quick | ||
| + | * - user don't see what variants exist (Mouseover helps) | ||
| − | two separate selectors | + | two separate selectors: |
* + Good overview of families | * + Good overview of families | ||
| + | * + one click selection | ||
* - users don't see what variants exist, but have to actually select a font to get this information. This takes time when browsing through (Open Type) fonts. | * - users don't see what variants exist, but have to actually select a font to get this information. This takes time when browsing through (Open Type) fonts. | ||
* - | * - | ||
| + | A preview in the font selection tool comes handy and saves time as users can omit unnecessary tryout clicks. | ||
| + | An icon showing the font's type (TTF, OT, etc) helps (also visually) when browsing the font list. | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
=== native font variant versus variant toggling (?faux) === | === native font variant versus variant toggling (?faux) === | ||
no faux bold/italics, only font-integrated options available (Scribus) | no faux bold/italics, only font-integrated options available (Scribus) | ||
| + | * | ||
faux bold/italics toggles | faux bold/italics toggles | ||
| − | if implemented an automatic switch to pre-designed (Inkscape) applies a change not in the place where user sets it. | + | if implemented an automatic switch to pre-designed (Inkscape) applies a change not in the place where user sets it. An explicit '''faux''' b./i. switch (Photoshop) seems more intuitive and gives more control to the user (double bold). |
| − | An explicit '''faux''' b./i. switch (Photoshop) seems more intuitive and gives more control to the user (double bold). | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
=== placement of tool options === | === placement of tool options === | ||
| Line 239: | Line 231: | ||
GIMP | GIMP | ||
| − | Gimp currently uses a combination of toolbox, extra window and | + | Gimp currently uses a combination of toolbox, extra window and hover menu |
| − | + | * - in none of the three, can ALL options be found | |
| − | |||
| − | * - in none of the three, ALL options be found | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | + | tool presets/saved styles | |
| − | |||
Revision as of 19:19, 13 February 2012
Vision
Text handling in GIMP
- Text in GIMP is always part of the composition - (unless it is an annotation)
- There is no such thing as paging in gimp
- Text in gimp has form and symbolic meaning, but meta levels of information in text are not supported
Users get:
- Complete control over typography and the layout of text on the canvas
- unicode supported localisation of text tools
- editable text until they decide otherwise
- super-fast workflow, when they are experienced
Functionality
Internationalization
- full support of all Unicode content
- support for all OpenType features
- multiple writing systems in the same text-box
- right to left and top-down textflow
Corrections
- the text content is always accessible and editable
- all applied effects are kept
Quick plain text
- the full-functionality text-tool is not obligatory
- simple annotations are supported
- can be inserted in an easy way
Effects
- stroke text
- fill text
- all effects and filter can be applied on the text itself (see "Corrections")
Layout
- full control to the user on every level
- all this is done in the context of the overall work:
- the canvas
- the applied effects
Positioning
- freely positionable on the canvas
- text boxes of any shape
- (rectangular) box fixed or dynamic
- text overflow from box to box
- text along path
- transformation tools
- combinations of above functions
- ?grid (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_%28page_layout%29 )
Typography
- fine grained-control
- presets can be saved
- manual access (M) to open type (OT) features: Glyph palette
Character level
- Font family
- Font variant
- size
- Color
- Hinting
- Kerning (M+OT)
- faux bold+italics
- underline
- through-line
- baseline shift
- language
- ?glyph scaling (vertical and horizontal)
line and paragraph level
- leading (Line Spacing)
- tracking
- Indent
- justification
- inter-paragraph spacing
- text-flow
User scenarios
Photographer (Annotations)
(see Scenario 1a)
- open file
- apply changes
- add text information to image
- no effects, basic font+style+size
Creating Original Art
"text as graphics"
- [no-text work]
- freely define text-box-shape (draw it)
- type text
- experiment with font-family/variant/size/color
- apply effects on all text elements
- apply overall effect (let text "interact" with other parts of the composition)
- transform text-box
- transform text (-> perspective, 3-D, along path)
- fine-tune text (make use of advanced typography)
- manually alter advanced typo: manual kerning, individual glyph replacement,…
- do further brushwork
- apply more effects
- change wording
text as information
- create several text-boxes (e.g. info)
- define overflow direction
- paste text (formatted or plain)
- work on typography
- chose font family + variant
- chose size + color
- set alignment, justification, hyphenation
- use advanced open type features
- manually fine-tune text layout (kerning, tracking, glyph replacement)
- move, resize, reshape, reorder boxes
- save/export/print
later
- return - load file
- change wording/correct text
- maybe change font (other computer)
- adjust typography
- save/export/print
Icon Design
- Open/hot link to vector image
- Polish & refine the icon
- add very small amount of text
- manually pick a glyph
- deform text (vector-based)
- apply pixel-based effects
- Review icon & make changes to vector image (& edit text in GIMP). Go back to the 2nd bullet, and repeat.
- Save Icon
Web Images - Production
text use mostly in buttons etc.
- insert text, where it needs to be graphically altered or integrated with the pixel level
- replacement of text for production of multiple instances of the same design element
- Make sets of image elements, see how they work together
- see how use of text in different parts works together - adjust typography accordingly
- Export parts in optimised web format
Evaluation
evaluated tools: GIMP (2.7.4), Inkscape, Scribus, InDesign, Photoshop
text placement
one-click or define frame first
- + gives most flexibility
- + is easy to handle with one button
- + feels real. You can grab a pen, place it and start writing right away
- forced frame-drawing
- - may disturb the work-flow
family and style/variant selection
all-in-one (Inkscape,
- + only one selector needs less menu space
- + immediate overview of all available font options
- + 1 click selection
- - list grows in length by a considerable amount
two-step selection (variant as a sub-selector)
- + only one selector needs less menu space
- + Good overview of families
- + browsing feels quick
- - user don't see what variants exist (Mouseover helps)
two separate selectors:
- + Good overview of families
- + one click selection
- - users don't see what variants exist, but have to actually select a font to get this information. This takes time when browsing through (Open Type) fonts.
- -
A preview in the font selection tool comes handy and saves time as users can omit unnecessary tryout clicks. An icon showing the font's type (TTF, OT, etc) helps (also visually) when browsing the font list.
native font variant versus variant toggling (?faux)
no faux bold/italics, only font-integrated options available (Scribus)
faux bold/italics toggles if implemented an automatic switch to pre-designed (Inkscape) applies a change not in the place where user sets it. An explicit faux b./i. switch (Photoshop) seems more intuitive and gives more control to the user (double bold).
placement of tool options
toolbox/toolbar
- + more (all) options on screen
- + no extra dialog
- + users can do many changes with one-click
- - uses space
- - the options need to be divided, some features (e.g. OpenType features, advanced functions) are put in a menu
extra window (text editor, options)
- + all of the functionality in one place (at least that's possible)
- + good overview
- + focus on textwork makes it especially fast to work with
- + comes handy in cases where effects/layouting disturb editing.
- - Having some of the formatting options only available in external dialog (Inkscape) is bad for the workflow.
- - Changes are not in the context of the work
GIMP Gimp currently uses a combination of toolbox, extra window and hover menu
- - in none of the three, can ALL options be found
tool presets/saved styles
