Quote:
Maybe what you need is different Gimp profiles... For each "use case" you would have have a specific set of scripts, plugins, brushes, patterns, fonts, palettes, gradients, dynamics, default settings, window position and dock organization. You only have to start Gimp with a specific environment variable set (GIMP2_DIRECTORY) that points to the directory to use as a profile (to replace .gimp-2.8). This is simply done with a .BAT. You can create .gimp-2.8-painting, .gimp-2.8-photo, etc... and create the relevant shortcuts to start Gimp with them. You can use Edit/Preferences -> Folders (in each profile) to have them look in shared locations (for instance, the subdirectories of the regular .gimp-2.8 profile) if needed.
Exactly...
almost exactly !
suppose gimp installed on a multi-users computers where each user has very different exigences and each adapted to the most different tasks :
I could not resist to use a bit of narrative to describe each modulo , the description is not strictly needed ..but is clear, may be fun ,and some may even find them-self mirrored in my hypothetical users
but since not strictly needed for the discussion hide in a spoiler ,so may be more easily skip
i
1)User "Extended Core" I want kept it the most simple possible, he found the menu already overwhelming and doesn't want anything more only the core
Yet he agree that a very few things more should be included, as the help, Liquid Rescale, Resynthesizer, Gimp and beautify for the Plugins , and Layer Effect and a few cool Logo script from Gimpchat , and really nothing nothing more
... so is no the gimp Safe mode, but the Standard version + what should be in the basic version but is not to kept the source code most simple and compact possible
User "Mr PhotoEdit"
he use gimp mostly to edit his photo , and believe the best edit be the less visible , a effect that may even be strong but would be perceived as edited only if confronting face to face the before/after
User " Mrs Photo2paint & Special Effects"
Apparently the opposite, but the best friend of "Mr PhotoEdit", (they may often work together sharing the same tools, but in case they use same tool same tool they would use in very different ways and for different goal ) and his complement
She use gimp to turn photos in sort of digital paintings, sketch , ink drawing, or even DVD and e-book cover, and experiment the most bizarre and dramatic effects.
She is happy to transform photos of parents, friends, collegues in poster in Obama, Che Guevara , or National geographic style, or even in glass or stones mosaic, bas relief, coins, poststamp , insert them in logo of bottle
Often she doesn't even care if the image she is using are from her camera or grabbed from internet because all her interest is in the magic of transmutation
Brother Painter & Sister Comix
They use gimp mostly , almost only to paint , thye doesn't like much filters they use only the most basic and would not like more then that included,
They could not resist to collect gazillion of brushes (even if rarely use more then a dozen, usually the same dozen ) and palettes and Sister Comix is a almost pathologically compulsive collector of patterns
They pretend GPS and GimpbrushBox installed and Pantone Crayola and Websafe palettes, and some kind of CMYK support
MR Video&Animation
He use gimp to create animations, from simple gif or flash sequences to more complex video
And he want everything may be useful for both, including some a collection (mostly from Gimpchat ) of cool animated Logo effect , and of course GAP and all the other scripts and plugin for animation
And of course there is even the
Logo and Graphic GC Crew, that as you may imagine mostly use gimp to create graphic and logo, and/or to script new graphic and logo scripts
main use of gimp may be collect and play with all the cool Logo script on Gimpchat ,
In the crew many are Iniziates of knew of the esoteric mystery of the Paths and they not only use write and collect all excellent path related scripts , but they even know how to found those scripts, we are talking scripts that may be found only by Initiated to the Esoteric Practice of the Right Click on the Correct Target:
It is written that only who know how to Right Click on the Correct location will be open the contextual menu , a menu that contains the Path Scripts ...other legends tell of similar hidden scripts dedicated to Gradients and Pattern
And in the Logo and Graphic GC Crew there even who known the Reality beyond the Myths of the Hidden Path, Gradient and Pattern Scripts and they offer a guide for the Path to the Paths Scripts
Obviously they expect all that excellent scripts installed
AND LAST BUT NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN there is me , poor me , and i should at best all those multiple personalities , avoiding conflict in the same brain and in the same software.
I believe the only possibility to preserve both flexibility and usability is use a modular approach, anything else will turn in a usability nightmare
There are good similarities between Module and useprofile that may solve partially
But alas, is more complex that create different userprofiles and allow to switch from one to another:
Module are not mutually exclusive on the contrary should be possible switch on 2 or even more modules simultaneusly
and last problem is... categories Vs tags :
using categories as "Animation" " PhotoRetouch" and so on i can't not avoid overlapping items to appear in 2 or more categories and not sure how this would and could be handled
Tags instead would solve, because same item may have many tags without problems
And here i remember was a lot of discussions about a proper system to tags resources...but i don't know nothing more if is already implemented and if could help to solve
And yes what you suggest is excellent but then i should consider NOT 1 userprofile for each module BUT 1 for each possible combinations of modules , but checking also for double entries ...seems doable but in a lifetime
I must even confess a secret desire to not only create 5 prebuild modulo but even to addoa "Create a new Modulo" option ,
but if i should also consider the iterations of the new modulo with the others and create correspondent userprofiles, then without some automatism looks a hopeless scenario ...