The latest developer release of the GNU Image Manipulation Program, better known as simply GIMP, features a redesigned interface and some exciting, long-awaited new features.
GIMP is a free, open source alternative to Adobe Photoshop. While GIMP has failed to make serious inroads among graphics professions - for whom Photoshop is less a program than a full-fledged platform - for the casual user GIMP offers many of Photoshop's features for free.
The new preview release, which isn't stable and is intended mainly for testing, incorporates some of the community suggestions generated by last year's open call to help redesign GIMP.
Perhaps the most common complaint from those accustomed to Photoshop is that in GIMP each image gets a separate window, whereas Photoshop uses a multiple-document interface where all your images are in a single window. GIMP 2.5 moves closer, but not all the way, to the Photoshop window paradigm.
The GIMP's main-tool-palette window no longer has menu items and now behaves like the tools palette in Photoshop. The new main window, where you open your images for editing, contains all the menu items formerly found in the old tools window.
It's not quite the single window interface, which has long topped the list of GIMP suggestions, but it's definitely a sign that the project is moving in that direction. The improved interface is also a sign that the creators of GIMP are working to incorporate the Gnome project's Human-Interface Guidelines for application behavior.
Other changes in 2.5 include support for higher color depths and a completely rebuilt graphical core known as the Generic Graphics Library. Although not all the features are fully implemented in the developer release, the GEGL library paves the way for GIMP to support higher color depths, more color spaces and, at some point, nondestructive editing.
In the GIMP release cycle odd numbered releases are unstable, so this version, 2.5.0, is the first of a series of developer releases, and version 2.6.0 will mark the first stable release with the new features. We'll be sure to let you know when that's available.
Tip: If you're a Photoshop enthusiast curious about GIMP, you still may find
yourself missing that familiar Adobe-branded look and feel. To help
ease the leap, you should check out GIMPshop, a hack for GIMP which makes its menus look more like Photoshop's. The hack is only using version 2.2.x of GIMP, though, so you'll miss out on some of the newest features.
[Screenshot from the GIMP developer site. Hat tip to the various commenters on Slashdot]
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