WordPress has done us no favors this week with their changes to our image handling. And they seem to have turned a blind eye to the still-growing thread of complaints. I suspect they’ve left the thread open just so people would have a place to ventilate. But in any case, I’m not holding my breath waiting for them to renege on their changes.
On the subject of images, however, I’ve been meaning to share a little discovery of mine. I may be the last person in the world to have discovered it, but just in case …
I’ve tried a number of image editors over the years. After all, who can afford PhotoShop? Gimp is free and does a lot, but it’s more complex than I need, and I haven’t used it lately. I was, however, particularly fond of its filter that made any image “tileable.” I was into that for a while.
Then some time after acquiring a Mac laptop, I bought Pixelmator and learned how to do a few things with it. But the last update changed the GUI quite a bit and I haven’t taken the time to learn it; I just get frustrated.
But, to get to the point. A couple of weeks ago I saw a mention of Pixlr. It’s a free online photo editor, part of a suite of three apps (I’ve yet to explore the other two). So far it has done everything I’ve wanted to do, simply and efficiently. But the main reason I like it is that is starts up fast. I can open it and finish a quick little editing job before either of those other two programs is ready to go. It also proved very easy to use to create my current header.
Anyway, just thought I’d pass that along. You might want to give it a try if you’re looking for a new image editor.
But I withdraw my like if this is only for Macs …. ❗
It runs in your browser and is happy on Mac, PC, and Linux.
I now realize that what I miss MOST – and probably ONLY – from the previous image editor are two things:
(1) the ability to tick a box to have the image open in a separate tab, and
(2) the ability to append a link to an image, ditto …
You can still have links on images, unless I’m misunderstanding your meaning.
Hold the phone, Susan: I may have slipped up there … IBB …
I don’t know what I’m missing here, but I haven’t noticed any changes. :/
Once you’ve inserted an image, try clicking on it to change the size, border, etc. You’ll see an entirely new interface. With your normal presentation, however, you probably don’t need to do that very often.
Pixlr doesn’t address that problem, however. I probably confused the issue by mentioning the WP changes.
“If you let people vent, then they go away, and we can just leave stuff as it is”…that’s the current mode of operation for many things now.
Interested in Pixlr. Easy and fast sounds encouraging
That’s exactly what I think they’re thinking.
What WordPress did is wrong. My comment on the new text and image editing still awaits moderation. I think I need to find a new posting option.
Which thread did you post in? The one I linked in my post is still open and growing. (Of course, there’s no way of knowing how many comments they might be holding in moderation … ) But when I mentioned in another post that one of my comments was still in moderation, it magically appeared — about 36 hours after I submitted it.
Obviously they think they have a valid reason for this change. What infuriates and puzzles me is their apparent unwillingness to explain it. Not that they are obligated to or that it would make any difference. The only way they can make me happy is to return the old system or give us one that’s even better, which the current one certainly is not.
I commented on the WordPress “News” post concerning the changes. My problem is the time and money invested in wordpress. Both hosted by them and self hosted. To so suddenly feel the need to change the basic guts of the day to day editing functions, without allowing an opt out, or in, of changes reeks of Facebook caprice.
The difference being I’m not paying Zuckerberg any jake. And as the aforementioned thread hints, many are not pleased with a decision that subtracts usability with, what appears to be, a dumb-downed one size fits all. Maybe they, WordPress, are trying to make it easier on their back end. I have, for years suggested WordPress is the best CMS platform on the planet. Today I think they’re but another “My Space” full of hubris… soon to be chock full of ugly, motley sites.
My comment that was held in moderation (mentioned above and in a previous post) was also on their “News” post. It eventually appeared. Certainly makes you wonder if they are or were withholding a flood of negative comments. I don’t doubt it, since they actually edited one of my comments once. They published the first paragraph, which was complimentary, and deleted the second, which was negative.
I and many others suspect that what they are doing is trying to better accommodate mobile users with a GUI more suited to small screens and fat fingers. And it’s been apparent for several years that they are trying to become more like competing social networks, with all their Liking and Sharing and Reblogging. I have less than zero interest in such platforms.