[Gimp-developer] lgm 07, top???5 GIMP user requests...

[Guillermo Espertino]

gg at catking.net wrote:
>> A great tool for designers would be a CSS layout importer (able to 
>> import divs containers and place them as layers with guides in the 
>> right plces). Sort of CSS-to-template.
>> But imo, it should be a plugin, not a core function.
>>
> That would seem like a good idea for plugin. Could you point to some 
> definative info on this use of CSS "div containers"?  It would have to 
> be a well defined structure in order to be able to formalise it as a 
> plugin.
>
> /gg
The correct way to design a webpage using XHTML+CSS is separating 
contents and presentation.
Contents are divided in blocks (usually divs) and line elements that are 
styled in a separate stylesheet.
The interfase wireframe is defined by those divs, following the W3C 
visual formatting model.
My idea for that plugin consists in importing those divs (which have 
with, height and a relative or absolute position in the document 
structure, and background color), into solid color layers.
Once the XHTML+CSS wireframe is designed, the design of graphic elements 
for incusion in the DIV (images, div backgrounds or dummy texts) would 
be very fast to achieve, letting the designer to create a mockup in a 
breeze. And that fast editable mockup would be ready for exporting the 
slices (I know, I said slices are a bad idea, but i mean "slices" as 
"image blocks") for the final webpage.
Slices as they are meant in Photoshop are bad because you tend to design 
the whole page using the incorrect application. A webpage isn't bitmap 
images sliced. Is hypertextual content with bitmap decorations. 
Photoshop makes unexperienced people think that anyone can design a 
website, when in reality that's not true.
If we focus in the right way, we'll be focusing in creating the bitmap 
decorations for a specific html element instead of creating the whole 
mockup and automagically export it to a html page.
It's ok to listen to users feature requests, but if Gimp is going to be 
a professional application, IMO the un-professional features shouldn't 
be included.