From time to time, I receive an email from someone interested in translating one of the freeware RW applications. Unfortunately, translating RealWorld applications is not an easy task. There is a lot of text and due to the plug-in based architecture, making a list of strings to translate is quite difficult. But things are about [...]
A couple of years ago, the decision was made to adopt the so called “multiple single document interface” used for example by Microsoft Word 2000, where each open document gets its own top-level window. Has the time come to change this approach?
After 18 months of development, RealWorld Photos is finally released. The applications targets two main scenarios: retouching of photographs and batch image processing. In both areas it has a couple of unique features to offer.
RealWorld Photos (to be released next week) is going to get a freeware sibling called RealWorld Paint.COM, a lightweight, easy-to-use, general purpose image editor with some notable features. Why Paint.COM? A combination of a word with a .xxx tl-domains seems to be trendy in this decade. And it is build upon COM technology.
The topic of color management is a one of those ugly untamed beasts. Many graphic applications choose to pretend it lives on another continent, but in reality it sits right next to you. No, the first release of RealWorld Photos will not be fully color managed. Instead, it will provide a simple solution for the most important scenario: sRGB profile.
And guess what: it even beats Photoshop in this area.
The beta version of RealWorld Photos has been publicly available for almost a year. A good portion of the year was spent improving the application and the final build is getting near. If you have used the beta version, please spend a moment and answer a few questions. Your opinion matters.
In the recent survey, users’ opinion indicate that a color picker is one of the most important user interface elements in a simple image editor. While users expressed satisfaction with the current color picker, I feel there is still room for improvement. This article summarizes the plans for color selection improvements.
With RealWorld Icon Editor released, the development focus will be on RealWorld Photos for a while. Every serious photo editor should have layers, right? Maybe. Layers are a powerful, but controversial feature. They can help an application, but they can also harm an application if not handled with care.
No matter how serious an application is, it should always have at least one nifty feature. Something not terribly useful, but something that is just fun to use. The nifty features of RealWorld Photos are going to be the BUBBLE and STYLIZE meta-tools.
Batch processing in RealWorld Photos will get a couple of improvements in the final version. Since the power and the customizability of the batch processor is already quite high, most of the new improvements will affect its user interface.