[Gimp-user] Masking for Contrast Control - Can this be done in Gimp?

[saulgoode at flashingtwelve.brickfilms.com]

Quoting Alec Burgess <buralex at gmail.com>:

> For improved discoverablity suggest that the '+' sign s/b added to
> drag-drop anywhere its legal to drop and in particular only be removed
> in the Channels dialog when cursor is over the components section but
> reappear when cursor is *anywhere* below the line. ...

What you describe is how GIMP _should_ work, and how it _does_ work on  
my machines (GNU/Linux, GIMP 2.6.7). I have also tested on a friend's  
Windows machine running GIMP 2.4.6 and the behavior is as you describe.

> ... I *think* but not
> sure about this, that '+' sign should appear when cursor is over the
> "Channels " icon allowing drop there - which should automatically drop
> it in the same place that a new channel would be created if user keyed
> Shift+[New] button.

This is not how GIMP currently behaves, but might be a reasonable  
enhancement request. Personally, I don't think it would be that  
beneficial (no offense) and should require examination of other  
drag-n-drop functionality from a UI perspective (e.g., if a color is  
dropped on the Text Tool Options tab, does the text color change). In  
any event, this should not currently be considered a bug.

I believe that you should post the anomalous behavior you are  
experiencing to the developer's mailing list, or submit a bug report.  
You should be able to drop a channel _anywhere_ within the channel  
list frame of the Channels Dialog and your inability to do so would  
seem a regression.

If you could install an older version of GIMP to verify my findings  
with 2.4.6 on Windows, that should prove helpful. (If you go much  
older than 2.4.6 then you will need to have the Layers Dialog and the  
Channels Dialog in different docks; because the "auto-raise tab"  
functionality had not yet been implemented.)