GIMP Portable Background Window

THIS COMPONENT IS NO LONGER USED OR NEEDED BY GIMP PORTABLE 2.7 AND LATER AS A SINGLE WINDOW MODE IS NOW BUILT IN. USERS WISHING TO OBTAIN IT FOR OUTDATED VERSIONS MAY STILL OBTAIN IT BELOW.

GIMP Portable Background Window is an add-on for GIMP Portable that allows GIMP to exist within a single container window rather than the multiple windows that GIMP normally uses. This plugin contains some known bugs and is not supported, but can be easily installed and uninstalled without affecting GIMP Portable for those wishing to try it out.

- Support PortableApps.com's development and hosting

Features

As seen in the screenshot, the GIMP Portable Background Window allows GIMP to exist within one container window. The main GIMP window, secondary dock windows and any open image windows all appear within that container window. All open windows appear within the Windows submenu. The background color is also selectable. The screenshot also shows the GIMP Portable Photoshop Layout add-on which adjusts the right-hand toolbox to more closely resemble the layout of Adobe Photoshop.

Known Issues

The GIMP Portable Background Window has known issues that affect use. The most common are:

• GIMP Crash On Exit: GIMP may crash on exit if you attempt to use the window close button in the upper right. The workaround is to exit GIMP by selecting File - Quit from the main GIMP window.
• GIMP File Windows Stuck on Resize/Minimize: GIMP's open and save file windows will become stuck visible if you resize or minimize the GIMP background window after doing a file operation. To remedy this, you must restart GIMP. If the file window is blocking the main GIMP window, it can be moved even though it is not fully visible. The workaround is to get GIMP's background window positioned as you'd like it before performing any file operations and then leave it as it is.
• Background Window Settings Not Saved/Used: The GIMP Backgroud Window's settings (background color, window position) are only loaded and saved when you are logged into Windows with admin rights.
• GIMP Windows Get Taller: GIMP's main and dock windows will expand by a few pixels on each launch. There is no workaround.

There may be additional bugs in addition to the ones mentioned above. This plugin is provided in the hopes that some will find it useful in its current state. If there are any developers that would like to contribute to the plugin's continued development, please post a note in the PortableApps.com Forums or contact us directly.

Support

Here are a few tips for getting the GIMP Portable Background Window up and running:

• Installing: The plugin is installed just like any other portable app. Just select your GIMPPortable directory (which the installer should find automatically) and let it do the rest.
• Uninstalling: To remove the plugin, simply run the uninstaller (linked just below the download button). Or delete gimpportablebgwindow.dll and gimpportablebgwindow.exe from the GIMPPortable\App\gimp\lib\gimp\2.0\plug-ins directory
• Configuration: All configuration options are within the menus.

Please note that this plugin is NOT SUPPORTED. If you have any other issues with it beyond installing and uninstalling, you're on your own.

Download Details

• File size: 0.1MB (download), 0.3MB (installed)
• Publisher: PortableApps.com (John T. Haller) and the GIMP team
• Date updated: 2012-02-20
• System Requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista
• License: Free / Open Source (GPL)
  
• Source Code: Installer (included), Uninstaller source, GIMP Background Window Source
• MD5 Hash (for the geeks): 58e0430c29eadeee7131768972138750