Pixelmator is a very good Photoshop alternative for Mac. It doesn't contain all the features of Photoshop, but for the price it does a lot and does it well. Pixelmator is very easy to learn, especially for anyone who has used Photoshop before. It contains many of the tools from Photoshop. One of Photoshops very useful tools, the magnetic lasso, is missing from Pixelmator. Pixelmator opens and saves as Photoshop documents so it is compatible with Photoshop. Pixelmator has a very nice interface and works well, but also has a few bugs. Another thing I would like to see in Pixelmator that Photoshop has is the history palette. Overall, Pixelmator is a very great piece of software at a very great price!

Indeed, the program lacks some basic functionality....

I've been watching Pixelmator for a while and it's really starting to mature into a useful product. That said, if this app aims to appeal to web designers it's in desperate need of layer groups, layer effects and vector shapes. It also sorely needs some sort of sane palette management. Although it's a good looking app, it seriously has one of the most cluttered interfaces I've ever seen.

Pixelmator 1.5 has gained a couple of badly missed features and is now finally mature enough that I don't miss Photoshop all the time.

I like this app, but it DESPERATELY needs Layer folders. The app has progressed to to a point where most of my psds look great in it. I'd much rather open them in Pixelmator than Photoshop. But all the layer folders are jacked, so I cant really work with it.

I really, really hope they fix this. I'd even purchase it again

Would like to sell my license for $30. Contact me at rbrimhall [at] gmail [dot] com.

LOVE this too! So elegant and smooth in launch and operation. I agree with the above poster, it's what PE for Mac should be!

I really wanted to like this app... but it's buggy and slow. And EVERY single time I try to use the eraser tool, it crashes.

One thing this application need:

A Unified interface: one window for everything. (At the very least, an effort to consolidate as many windows as possible, to a maximum of 2-3 windows.) Plus, utilizing folding tabs and perhaps some window border snapping on top of that.

Appearingly, Pixelmator shows the ambition of being trendy, "delicious", as well as staying current with the latest and greatest. My impression is that recent usability trends are leaning more towards UIs providing single-window operation. Which makes me wonder why the Pixelmator developers seems to spend too much time perfecting unimportant cosmetics (interface icons and likewise), when the whole shebang has been wrapped in a very ineffective, unglorifying, spread out interface, with windows of different sizes all over. No matter how georgeous the blackish, semi transparent HUD windows and the stylish buttons may be, I've always felt disturbed having to toss around the many windows when they keep in the way of things. Plus, it makes me involved in something that really doesn't have anything with the creative process to do; where do I want this window to be? Oops, I moved it a bit, now I have to drag it back to the very pixel I once had it arranged at. And so forth.

Point of thought:

Think of a painting. It has a frame. Within it, you create your picture. For obvious reasons, you don't want any obstructing objects to stay in the way between you and your picture when creating. Not in reality, nor in a virtual computer environment.

Whereas the digital domain facilitates some unimaginable, almost surreal opportunities to surpass and alter the restrictions of its real life equivalents in many respects - empowering the creator with unlimited undos to begin with, plus all kinds of operations you simply can't do in reality - it falls natural that you can just as easily make the creative experience a lot more restrictive than standing in front of a real, physical canvas.

One example of this, is the role of the canvas in Pixelmator, where I think it's been demoted to a subordinate role in the whole application, in which it often gets covered by interface objects.

Ponder this potential UI design rule: no interface element will be able to cover (any substantial part of) the canvas.

Think of it for a moment. Quite simple, but pretty intriguing UI design goal. Granted, a few exceptions may have to be overlooked. (As they say, there's always room for exceptions.) But I definitely mean to suggest, taking a serious consideration of the current UI situation in Pixelmator. At least, decide upon some kind of UI design motto, instead of right now, where I get the feeling no substantial thoughts were really dedicated to the foundation of the interface itself.

Why not make a digital equivalent of a painting's frame resemble the actual interface? I.e. tools, options, parameter settings, layers - anything - goes onto a surrounding frame on the sides of the canvas. (Of course, styled in a fashion appropriate to the demands of the "delicious generation".)

By and large, I think simplicity-geared programs will generate more food for thought and more creative stimulance, than feature-packed monster apps larded up with gorgeousness galore. Well, to be fair, the latter might not necessarily apply to Pixelmator in its entirety, but in essence, that's towards which tendencies lean.

Just to name one of the more successful apps incorporating something in the vein of what I'm trying to describe, is Skitch. Imagine how that app would feel, if it had just one more tiny window thrown in there, somewhere...

To wrap this excessively long comment up, here's my honest thought:

Pixelmator is still very likable and I think many people (with me) are still crossing their fingers for its success. But... There's a definite need to get its UI clutterness sorted.

All this ranting aside: Pixelmator is a very positive addition to the Mac-soft market, showing great potential. And, I wish to pay reverence to the efforts of the developers. I only think it would mean such a pity if they rely on users being pleased with the current interface, as is.

Overhaul time!

Henrik Cederblad, M.F.A.

@tice

Actually, Pixelmator phones home with update checking turned off. I e-mailed the developers and asked them about it but never received a response. They won't get any money from me and I'm sticking to Acorn.