this post was submitted on 24 Apr 2025
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The thing preventing me from using Gimp is the terrible UI and UX. And that situation hasn't really changed very much in the last 15 years, either. I'm getting the feeling that Gimp is stuck as it is because the devs and current users want it like that.
I don't do much editing (certainly not fancy stuff with heavy use of all the tools), but there is a pretty good mod/patch PhotoGIMP that makes it present similar to Photoshop. It isn't that old GIMP-shop one that might have malware. Doesn't fix the missing stuff that power-users need, so no go for many of them. But the UI is much better than the main version of GIMP. Just have to apply the mod/patch after installing GIMP.
PhotoGIMP is the same jank, just taped together in different locations instead. It's very slightly better, but the actual tools and how you use them are the same. The problem seems to be that Gimp (and all the tools in it) is designed by developers.
Good to know that you actually give options a try (every now and then I try Photoshop to see how it works and new things). So many people will just hate on things just because they just hear that they are bad. One of my friends does photography and hates how Photoshop being a subscription costs so much. But refuses to bother checking-in on GIMP or other options. Even Lightroom alts are deemed not worth it just from muscle memory it seems. Which I do at least understand, but even just checking on options can mean having fall-backs if suddenly needing them. I doubt Adobe will just go away, but they can always make costs higher and higher which price people out.
It would be good if more UI/UX minded folks that actually use Photoshop/Lightroom but hate Adobe's sub models were to help out. Even just giving good input and follow-up with why or how those things could work is a starting point. Devs and creatives need each other for making projects/products like GIMP into options that more people would use for real.
I'm cheap and have used GIMP, Scribus, Inkscape and Paint.NET for professional work at my job (where I'm basically our one-man marketing and web department). So I've had to "make do" with a wide range of free software for a long time. And I may or may not have used a cracked Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator at home, also.
But man, I gotta say the quality and efficiency of my work has improved 10-fold after I bought the Affinity suite (no subscription, and its license allows me to use it commercially too, even though I bought it personally - I love that!)
Have you tried 3.0? Genuine question because I haven't and the UI looked a lot better than earlier versions. But if it's still janky...
I haven't actually used 3.0 yet, but from all the screenshots I've seen, it looks basically the same.
Anyone who has, I have a question: Can you draw simple primitive shapes non-destructively yet (without having to open another plugin panel, select something in a very long dropdown, and filling in a bunch of parameter fields)?
PhotoGimp is the same jank, just taped together in different locations instead. The problem seems to be that Gimp (and all the tools in it) is designed by developers.