Hi,
after installing Gimp 3.0.4 as an AppImage, I found out that the text tool ist still not so good. Will it possibly be improved in the near future?
Claus
Hi! We do have a GSoC student working on the text tool this summer - so improvements are on the way! However, if you can share specifics on what is not so good about the text tool, it’ll be helpful to developers and designers to troubleshoot and find solutions.
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Hi,
sure. What I would like to see improved is a) that one has to select the entire text in order to change parameters such as font, text size etc. And then the text tool is often not fully visible. There another solution like e. g. in Photoshop or PaintShop Pro would be really useful.
Another things I would like to see is, like in Photoshop, that b) at first the text is only available as a vector, and that the text will be converted into a bitmap only when necessary.
TIA,
Claus
P. S.: Thanks for giving me the chance to submit my ideas. All in all, I’m really happy with the Gimp, which I’ve been using since 2002.
Hello, click in your text, then Ctrl+A (Select all). Now you can change text size and fonts etc. on the fly. I don’t use the Text edit window for this.
P. S.: Thanks for giving me the chance to submit my ideas. All in all, I’m really happy with the Gimp, which I’ve been using since 2002.
That would be Gimp 1. something. Looking in my archive Gimp 2.0.3 from 2004 about 8 MB Windows setup file - Happy days.
Just in case any new user comes along and gets the wrong impression of Gimp.
The on canvas text editor is used for individual or groups of characters, for all the text use the tool options.
just a two minute example. https://i.imgur.com/ulbx6cF.mp4 Using the mouse wheel quickly scrolls through fonts / size …
I believe the devs are working on vector layers, so maybe text as well.
What I would like to see improved is a) that one has to select the entire text in order to change parameters such as font, text size etc
It’s already there. There are two different settings:
- a default that applies to all text and is set in the tool options dialog
- overrides specific to selected text set using the small dialog above the text
So the settings for a part of text depends if the text is subject to an override or not. If you selected all the text, then all the text use override and the tool options don’t change anything, but if you didn’t select anything then everything changes with the tool options without requiring a selection. You can remove the override using the 
icon in the on-canvas dialog.
at first the text is only available as a vector, and that the text will be converted into a bitmap only when necessary.
This is essentially the case already. As long as the text tool has the “T” icon it is kept as a text object and not as a bitmap. If you want it as vector use Layer > Text to path. Note that a “text” object s better/more abstract than a vector because sizing text is more complex than a plain scale operation. At least at small size you have to apply hinting to keep the text readable.
Sorry, but I don’t understand what you’re talking about. Selecting all of the text every time is just very, very cumbersome.
That’s the point. If you don’t select the text, you can use the tool options, instead of the mini-dialog.
I see.