Usability enhancement requests (for the fantastic Pixelmator Photo)

Discuss Photomator and photo editing.
User avatar

2021-12-23 09:45:13

Firstly, I love Pixelmator Photo! It’s a great app, and it’s a key part of my photo editing workflow 🙂

I have a couple of small requests for usability enhancements that would make things nicer and quicker when reviewing a bunch of photos in the photo browser (they’re actually things that worked before, but have changed recently).

1. The ability to use the arrow keys to move backwards and forwards through photos. I use the Magic Keyboard with my iPad Pro, and previously, you could use the arrow keys to move through your photos, but this no longer works (I assume this stopped working because of a change in iOS, but it can be worked-around). This is really useful when looking through photos to decide which to keep and which to delete - especially when comparing two very similar photos.

2. Re-instating the ⌘⌫ keyboard shortcut to delete a photo. Again, this is useful when looking through photos and deleting unwanted ones. This shortcut used to exist, but it has been remapped to Cancel in the latest version. Without this, you have to use the Select menu in the photo browser, or the More menu when viewing a photo, to delete a photo - both involve a few taps to do, making them much slower to use. Incidentally, ⌘. already seems to work for Cancel.

Thanks!
User avatar

2021-12-27 08:26:35

Definitely agree with that, I also sometimes use an external keyboard.

If I could add a couple more under this heading.

The histogram, and of course all the editing tools, have curved corners. This chops off the corner of the histogram, so you can’t see exactly where the graph ends. Seems a bit of a silly one to me.

Also, when selecting a new editing tool to add the the panel, they slide upwards to show the adjustment sliders. Except for the Levels tool, this doesn’t slide up, so you have to drag the panel up manually to see the sliders.

You do seem to have ‘fixed’ a few things that weren’t broken.

Regards

Andy.
User avatar

2022-01-13 16:10:52

Hey Joe, thanks for the feedback!
by Joe Fryer 2021-12-23 07:45:13 The ability to use the arrow keys to move backwards and forwards through photos.
Yep, this one's on us. Should be fixed in the upcoming Pixelmator Photo version. :pray:
by Joe Fryer 2021-12-23 07:45:13 Re-instating the ⌘⌫ keyboard shortcut to delete a photo.
Makes sense! We'll look into this one, too. Probably in later releases, though.

P.S. We're glad you're enjoying Pixelmator Photo! And, hopefully, your editing will become even more enjoyable once we iron the above issues out. :raised_hands:
User avatar

2022-01-13 16:14:16

Andy's got some good points, too — all forwarded to the team. :pray: Thanks!
User avatar

2022-01-14 03:55:40

Yes to more keyboard support!!! I’m using my magic keyboard quite too!
User avatar

2022-01-14 10:16:12

by Aurelija Hey Joe, thanks for the feedback!



Yep, this one's on us. Should be fixed in the upcoming Pixelmator Photo version. :pray:



Makes sense! We'll look into this one, too. Probably in later releases, though.

P.S. We're glad you're enjoying Pixelmator Photo! And, hopefully, your editing will become even more enjoyable once we iron the above issues out. :raised_hands:
Thanks for the reply, Aurelija. That sounds great! Looking forward to the updates 😄
User avatar

2022-02-01 21:00:35

I’m really enjoying the latest update with back/forward key support. Thanks! 😄

Another small possible usability improvement I’d like to suggest: when viewing an individual photo, it would be great if tapping the photo took it to full-screen (hiding the nav bar and photo browser). I know you can do this from the More menu, but having it more easily accessible would be nice.
User avatar

2022-02-03 15:57:44

by Joe Fryer 2022-02-01 19:00:35 I’m really enjoying the latest update with back/forward key support. Thanks! 😄

Another small possible usability improvement I’d like to suggest: when viewing an individual photo, it would be great if tapping the photo took it to full-screen (hiding the nav bar and photo browser). I know you can do this from the More menu, but having it more easily accessible would be nice.
No problem, it wouldn't make sense if it didn't work that way, really! :) As for your suggestion — Pixelmator Photo used to work that way before. We must have removed this functionality at some point, although I don't recall that being done explicitly. :thinking: We'll double-check this with the team!
User avatar

2022-02-03 17:08:45

by Aurelija 2022-02-03 14:57:44
No problem, it wouldn't make sense if it didn't work that way, really! :) As for your suggestion — Pixelmator Photo used to work that way before. We must have removed this functionality at some point, although I don't recall that being done explicitly. :thinking: We'll double-check this with the team!
Thanks Aurelija! 😄
User avatar

2022-02-09 11:04:19

by Joe Fryer 2022-02-03 15:08:45
Thanks Aurelija! 😄
So it looks like we've removed this functionality because of a not-so-great user experience. It was quite easy to hide the interface by accident. That's not to say it's gone forever, though. If we come up with a more elegant and transparent solution, we'd love to bring it back. :)