this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 173 points 22 hours ago (53 children)

Man, after decades, why does GIMP still have a marketing problem?

Just visit https://www.gimp.org/ and compare it to https://www.adobe.com/ca/products/photoshop.html

Just assume both did exactly the same thing and cost the exact same amount (free or otherwise). Which would you choose based on their website?

Why does GIMP (and pretty much all FOSS) have to be so secretive about their product? Why no screenshots? Why not showcase the software on their website?

It's so damn frustrating that every FOSS app appears to be command line software, or assumed that the user knows everything about it already.

Devs, you might have a killer piece of software, but screenshots go a long way to help with gaining interest and adoption.

[–] Hadriscus@lemm.ee 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I don't know man, I think the Photoshop homepage reeks of corpo crap, whereas the Gimp homepage does a good job at cleanly presenting the program in a quick way. Maybe I'm just used to FOSS, or already too allergic to corporate software, but going by the homepage design, my preference is obvious, there's not even a contest

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 hour ago

I think my point was missed. I wasn't saying that GIMP should copy what Adobe does (I can't stand Adobe and their “business model” spyware bullshit.

My point was more to show that Adobe showcases the features of the software, so a potential user knows what it does without needing to go through the trouble of downloading it. It may not be what the user wants, and that's ok, at least they know!

But GIMP is so vague in their description and offers no insight to what the app does or looks like. There's no need to be mysterious.

[–] AuroraB@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 3 hours ago

the gimp one displays normally, while the adobe one shows a blank white page.

the choice is obvious

[–] menemen@lemmy.ml 7 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I mean, tastes are different, but I really did not like the photshop page design.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Taste aside, you can easily see what features Photoshop has, rather than guessing, right?

I should have used a FOSS example, since Adobe is just bad in general (users saying the page has pop-ups, etc.).

[–] menemen@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

All I see is "Ooooh look, we use AI!" which actually repels me quite a lot. The page leaves the impression that photoshop is a toy, not a tool.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 5 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Ok, let's get off Adobe for a second... here's a FOSS example: https://www.rawtherapee.com/

Easy to understand exactly what it does, screenshots are excellent. Surely, you can agree that this is better than how GIMP presents itself, right?

[–] newfoundlandsteak@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

Great updated example and I look forward to hearing the arguments against this just like Adobe.

[–] pHr34kY@lemmy.world 6 points 6 hours ago

The photoshop page doesn't even have a download link.

0/10 would not download.

[–] Leeuk@feddit.uk 15 points 11 hours ago

Agree, however on clicking the photoshop link was first hit with 2 popups before I could see the page.

[–] socialjusticewizard@sh.itjust.works 12 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

Unless 3.0 has solved it, the gimp has a steep UI problem and a learning curve such that mass appeal on the website would be inappropriate anyway. I love it but I love it because I've been using it my whole life and know it very well. Foss in general struggles with useability due to a lot of hard to overcome problems - mainly, that by the time someone is ready to contribute to any given foss project, they're already intimately familiar with its foibles and probably have strong opinions about what UX elements are sacred cows and should not be fixed.

[–] Hadriscus@lemm.ee 3 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

Well, it has solved it in large part, yes. Tablet pen buttons are correctly recognized on Windows at last, GTK3 allows panels to be dockable pretty much anywhere, the interface looks generally sleek.

Now perhaps you could specify what aspect of the UI you find problematic, otherwise it's hard to respond to such a vague statement. Imagine you're a developer, and you read a piece of feedback that says "the gimp has a steep UI problem". Where do you go from there ?

[–] socialjusticewizard@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I mean, I could make a list of things I think are problems, but I've been using it since a bit after 9/11 so I dont think my guesses would represent new user experiences. I am mostly going off what people tell me when they try to learn it.

otherwise it's hard to respond to such a vague statement

I wasn't writing advice for the devs, I was making a general statement about why foss stuff doesn't tend to suit glitzy, highly marketable front facing stuff, using gimp as an example

[–] Hadriscus@lemm.ee 2 points 3 hours ago

I'm not involved with Gimp development, I've been watching it from the side, so I can't tell if there's an actual lack of contributions related to UX design -but so far I have only seen the public respond with the same sort of vague feedback : "the UI needs work". Unfortunately that's as unhelpful as it gets. Spending some time designing interface mockups, or writing up descriptions of how such and such feature should work, now that's helpful, and is something pretty much any user can do.

I was making a general statement about why foss stuff doesn’t tend to suit glitzy, highly marketable front facing stuff, using gimp as an example

Yea, I believe that's true. And it is always a resource problem, because with limited resources, developers focus on making the thing work first, look nice second

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 60 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (3 children)

Krita.org does a nice job of showing off their work and so does Blender

They're not flashy, but they definitely make me want to download them and check them out.

[–] anomnom@sh.itjust.works 4 points 4 hours ago (3 children)

How is Krita? I’m on a Mac and my biggest problem with Gimp and Inkscape has always been lack of MacOS integration. Mostly with the UI but even shortcuts were wrong when I tried it. And the mouse/trackpad gestures were the dealbreaker.

I use Pixelmator, which hopefully continues to be a well developed pay once app, even though Apple just bought them. That and Sketch get me all the design tools I need for 2D and web.

[–] Hadriscus@lemm.ee 5 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Your first problem is you're using a Mac. But beyond the obvious trolling, Krita excels at painting and is getting better at text as well -so far text tools have left to be desired but they've been working on a revamp for some years now, probably coming rather soon. What I find lacking as a daily user (I do illustration in Krita, animation in Blender) is the general image manipulation tools. Transforming, snapping, transform masks... are often either lacking in flexibility or poorly performing. I use Affinity Publisher on the side for compositing my illustrations with text for print or web, I wouldn't be able to rely on just Krita for that. But for painting, it's absolutely fantastic -performance wise, usability-wise, the shortcuts are so well thought out it's a joy to use. It's really made with painting in mind. If you like using filters, they have a good G'mic integration with hundreds of builtin filters. I can't comment on their mac builds though, you'd have to try them yourself.

[–] Broken@lemmy.ml 1 points 4 hours ago

Have you checked out Affinity? They support Mac and iPad, and are comparable with the core Adobe suite. Its a buy once scenario (per major version release). My only problem is they don't support Linux.

Of note, they were purchased last year by Canva, but it has been stated they will keep the Affinity products separate for purchase.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 hours ago

It's more of a paint program, and it's great if you have a pen and tablet. I haven't tried out gimp for while, but it was more of a photoshop alternative at that time. I think Apple's version of Krita would be Procreate, but Krita is free.

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[–] piconaut@sh.itjust.works 42 points 21 hours ago (4 children)

I actually like the GIMP website homepage more than the one for photoshop.

Its simple and efficient. If I want to know more I would go to documentation or tutorials.

The photoshop site just looks like a random squarespace template with a bunch of stock photos.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 30 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

If I want to know more I would go to documentation or tutorials.

See, that's not normal, though. You shouldn't need to "dig deeper" to find out what a product is or what it does.

The well-designed homepage should simply tell you that within seconds of visiting. Any additional clicks should only be to "learn more", but not to learn about.

If this was an analogy, imagine a street lined with restaurants.

On one side you've got "Vinny's Italian Pizzeria", "Joe's Burgers and Fries", and "Mary's Bakery and Treats". Each has posters of what they sell posted on the windows, and a QR code to their online menu.

On the other you have "Sal's Food", "Frank's More Food", "Sal's". The windows are either covered in brown paper, or have stock images of "food", but nothing specific about what they actually make. To learn more, you have to go inside, ask someone for a menu, wait for that menu, then have a look. But the menu lacks photos! You either have to know what they are describing to you in the menu, or you would have to have already dined there before.

Does the latter experience sound good? Because that's how too many open-source projects present themselves, and it's to the loss of the volunteer devs and their potential user base.

[–] Hadriscus@lemm.ee 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

Dig deeper ?

Homepage text :

The Free & Open Source Image Editor
This is the official website of the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP).
GIMP is a cross-platform image editor available for GNU/Linux, macOS, Windows and more operating systems. It is free software, you can change its source code and distribute your changes.
Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or scientist, GIMP provides you with sophisticated tools to get your job done. You can further enhance your productivity with GIMP thanks to many customization options and 3rd party plugins.

[–] Showroom7561@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 hour ago

Man, that text does the app no favours. "Image editor" could mean that it crops photos. But GIMP does a hell of a lot more. It's been "the open-source photoshop" for decades, and they're really selling themselves short. Screenshots would have made it so much easier to see what the software does.

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[–] Xeroxchasechase@lemmy.world 44 points 22 hours ago (16 children)

You're welcome to contribute your experties.

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