Shortcuts requests & Color Fill vs. Fill Color?!?

What features would you like to see in Pixelmator Pro?
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2020-09-12 07:22:35

1) SHORTCUTS:
Way back, I had requested that, as in the classic Pixelmator, Pixelmator Pro adds in the shortcut letters next to the items in the toolbar. I cannot understate how helpful this was with efficiency in using the app. Seems like the simplest of features to add.

2) COLOR FILL vs. FILL COLOR craziness
If I want to draw something with one of the select tools and fill it with a solid color, the Color Fill in the toolbar is the wrong fill option since I have to "paint" the color in (if there's anything behind the selection on the same layer). The right tool is Fill Color, which is in Format -> Effects -> Fill -> Color! That's crazy-convoluted. The latter absolutely should be an option under the Color Fill option in the toolbar. I know you can use the shortcut keys, but that's irrelevant. The option should be in the toolbar. Just keeping COLOR FILL and FILL COLOR separate in my head is inefficient. At the very least, it would help to understand why the team has these 2 set up the way they are.

Thank you!
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2020-09-14 11:38:20

by adamjd 2020-09-12 07:22:35 1) SHORTCUTS:
Way back, I had requested that, as in the classic Pixelmator, Pixelmator Pro adds in the shortcut letters next to the items in the toolbar. I cannot understate how helpful this was with efficiency in using the app. Seems like the simplest of features to add.
This would, absolutely, be a relatively simple feature to add — the issue is probably more one of design. It's quite usual to display keyboard shortcuts in those little tooltips that appear, but this is the permanent name of the tool in the interface rather than a temporary label and, I think, has the potential to look a little messy. If I recall correctly, that's the conclusion we came to when considering this previously.
by adamjd 2020-09-12 07:22:35 2) COLOR FILL vs. FILL COLOR craziness
If I want to draw something with one of the select tools and fill it with a solid color, the Color Fill in the toolbar is the wrong fill option since I have to "paint" the color in (if there's anything behind the selection on the same layer). The right tool is Fill Color, which is in Format -> Effects -> Fill -> Color! That's crazy-convoluted. The latter absolutely should be an option under the Color Fill option in the toolbar. I know you can use the shortcut keys, but that's irrelevant. The option should be in the toolbar. Just keeping COLOR FILL and FILL COLOR separate in my head is inefficient. At the very least, it would help to understand why the team has these 2 set up the way they are.
I won't argue that this isn't a little convoluted — it is. As for the reasoning:

• The Color Fill tool is a destructive painting tool. That's why it's listed as a tool in the Tools menu and in the toolbar. It's the same category of tool as the paint tool and, in other apps, may also be known as the paint bucket tool.
• The Color Fill effect is a nondestructive effect. It nondestructively fills layers with colors and that's why it's in the Format > Effects menu.

Now, when applied to selections, effects are destructive. Otherwise, after clearing the selection, the effect would spill over to the rest of the layer to which it is applied and that would, no doubt, cause quite a lot of confusion. For that reason, deselecting a selection after applying an effect flattens the effect. For you, the end result is that both tools, in your case, give you similar results. But the reason why the Color Fill effect isn't in the toolbar is that the toolbar lists the different tools, and the Color Fill effect is an effect that is part of the Effects tool.
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2020-09-17 05:09:42

Got it...it's helpful knowing where the development team is coming from on this one. What you're saying makes sense from a developer p.o.v.. As a user, having both "tools" in one place makes getting my work done faster and more intuitive. "Fill" doesn't sound or feel like an "effect." Further, the effects tab in the UI doesn't even show the word "Fill" next to "color," "gradient," etc. All of this makes PMP hard to learn.

As far as the shortcuts, again, from a developer perspective, it makes sense to keep things nice, but it's also less efficient and intuitive as a user than having the shortcut letter there. It could at least be something we could toggle since the UI has gotten more confusing.

I'm looking for ways to make the PMP easier to use. The title bar menu system is just more confusing than the old Pixelmator with Simple "View" commands to pull up detached tools or effects. Finding the tools or effects is unintuitive. Like Fill, many items are redundant (or at least labeled with redundant names). Seeing "Color Adjustments" as it's own submenu under Format and under in the Effects submenu under Format really makes things convoluted. Why is the word "Format" even used for the main menu?

Just giving my feeling about it as a long-time user now that the app really is running great. I'm trying to expand my understanding of PMP. I still recommend Pixelmator Pro (like I did Pixelmator), but I do think twice now because I don't want to recommend something that's unintuitive for people to the point that I'll get stuck having to give tech support for it.

Hope this gives some helpful feedback. I wouldn't take the time if I didn't appreciate the support or the app. Thank you for listening and the work!
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2020-09-18 13:15:43

by adamjd I'm looking for ways to make the PMP easier to use. The title bar menu system is just more confusing than the old Pixelmator with Simple "View" commands to pull up detached tools or effects. Finding the tools or effects is unintuitive. Like Fill, many items are redundant (or at least labeled with redundant names). Seeing "Color Adjustments" as it's own submenu under Format and under in the Effects submenu under Format really makes things convoluted. Why is the word "Format" even used for the main menu?
This was included to make it easier to create effect presets that also contain color adjustments. Again, not a great excuse, but that was the logic behind the decision...

As for the Format menu, the inspiration for that was taken from Keynote and it formats individual layers, hence why all the nondestructive things are located there. But we can certainly think about making it easier to understand...
by adamjd Just giving my feeling about it as a long-time user now that the app really is running great. I'm trying to expand my understanding of PMP. I still recommend Pixelmator Pro (like I did Pixelmator), but I do think twice now because I don't want to recommend something that's unintuitive for people to the point that I'll get stuck having to give tech support for it.

Hope this gives some helpful feedback. I wouldn't take the time if I didn't appreciate the support or the app. Thank you for listening and the work!
Hey, feedback is always always appreciated!
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2020-09-18 13:32:13

P.S. You're totally right about the fill effect UI! That's an easy one to improve at least a little. :wink: