02 GIMP Toolbox Docking

This tip only applies to GIMP 2.8 and newer versions. It is a result of the large UI refactor done for GIMP 2.8 and was probably the most anticipated feature. 

When you first install GIMP the UI is all separate windows, and this can be useful for some people, specifically people who work in a multi screen environment, but for the normal user it is rather difficult to work with.

GIMP in it's default windowing mode. 

GIMP using the new Single Window Mode.

The new Single Window Mode makes the toolbox and all of the docks part of the main window, and enables the tabbed mode for images. This works, and looks a lot cleaner for most applications. 

To enable it simply go to the Windows menu in GIMP and enable single window mode. 

The Window Menu in GIMP (Alt - W)

01 GIMP Toolbox Hiding

This tip applies to both GIMP 2.6 (last major version) GIMP 2.8 (the current version) and all future planned versions of GIMP.

You may notice that the toolboxes in GIMP can take up a fairly large part of your screen, and sometimes you want to use that area for your canvas instead. Well good news! By simply hitting the Tab key on your keyboard those toolbox windows or docks will disappear.  The same key will bring them back when you need them again.

I realise that most of you probably know this already, but I have met a number of people that don't know or use this feature of GIMP, and get frustrated with the interface being too large, so I thought I should share it. 

Welcome!

I have been thinking of starting this for a while now, and just decided that it was time. I will be attempting to keep this with posts set to publish on Monday of each week, which will cover various subjects in a very short and narrow manner. Hopefully this is helpful for some of you, and interesting to others.