I've been thinking a little more about this idea, and while some modules might be better moved to other tabs (or a new set of tabs) like perhaps 'color reconstruction', the current setup still seems to make more sense in some ways too. For example:
1. I prefer the idea of the 'effects' tab (like watermark and framing) to be separate from other things like perspective correction or spot removal. Those things that are sometimes useful or interesting like split toning seem to be genuinely different than correcting spots. 2. I don't think the base tab should have tonemap in it. It is a more advanced tone module that belongs more in a separate tone group. One of the arguments made in this thread is that there have been many usability requests in the past, and therefore that there is a huge demand to improve the software. These requests only imply that there is a subset of people who have trouble using darktable. Changing darktable to be more aligned with their style might make darktable easier to use for them, but in turn it might make it more cumbersome to use for others. Now, I'm not saying that these ideas are bad, but because people who want darktable to change are going to be naturally more vocal than people who like it as it is, we need to be careful that we don't make it worse for many users by changing the UI for a few. For example, Aurelien's modifications are designed with a certain workflow in mind. But for a different type of workflow, the new design might actually be worse. For example, I like the idea of having the modules grouped by what they do, not what order they come in during the workflow. That's just the way my mind works. I suspect that some people will prefer a more chronological ordering, and some people will prefer an ordering based on their similarities in algorithm. darktable isn't exactly like that now because of the basic tab, but aside from the basic tab, it mostly is like that. Another thing we have to be careful with is the 'simplified' scheme where a simplified panel is presented but where more advanced modifications can be made if necessary. If this ever were to happen (like a Lightroom style panel), there should be an option to disable it and hide it completely because it would just get in my way. It does sound like a good idea for some people, but again, that's just a mindset and style of doing things that doesn't apply to everyone. I prefer for example to see exactly what is going on and get into the details right away. I also like the way the modules currently are displayed. I have most of the modules activated (though not on a single picture) and I just have the 'one open at at time' option, and I find the interface intuitive in terms of switching and editing settings. Again, if others think differently about how that works I would love there to be a setting for them too, but the point is, drastic modifications at this point should probably be an option unless it is crystal clear that it benefits everyone. Part of the appeal of darktable at least to me is that it just lays all of its options plain and clear without trying to force a specific editing style on the user. I would hate for darktable to become muddled like lightroom with a 'clarity' slider or other sliders with ambiguous labels that do things under the hood without my knowledge of exactly what they are doing. Or even worse, something like https://skylum.com/luminar, which aims to make the defaults something 95% of people will be happy with....takes the fun out of raw editing in my opinion - I am one of those that enjoys raw editing almost as much as photography itself. Can the UI of darktable be improved? I am sure there are some improvements to be made (like the middle-mouse click for new module that was recently introdced - thanks devs!). On the other hand, I am sure a lot of people (including myself) already find darktable to be pretty intuitive and snappy to use, and we should be cautious of making changes to it lest it upset the greatness it has achieved so far. Jason On 2018-10-08 12:59 AM, Dominik Markiewicz wrote: > Hi, > I've also my workflow, but it's a bit different then yours (crop is one > of basic corrections for me, I almost never do noise removal as a one of > first steps). I'm not a big fan of arbitrary change here. Agree with > Jochen that custom tabs could be quite nice. > > To achieve something similar I just enable modules, add them as > `favorite` and save this as a preset. Then add shortcuts for each of > presets and I can easily switch between my groups of modules. > > Regards, > Dominik ___________________________________________________________________________ darktable developer mailing list to unsubscribe send a mail to darktable-dev+unsubscr...@lists.darktable.org
