how are layers organized in gimp?

[bobrossghost]

i just started using gimp instead of constantly making new gmail accounts to avoid purchasing photoshop, and i'm having trouble with one thing, how are layers organized? are the top layers on the top or on the bottom? when I made a new transparent layer and placed it on the bottom every layer on top of it in the list didn't appear in the image, and i'm confused as to why. can anybody help?

     when visble


     when hidden

[Ofnuts]

The layer at the top of the list is the one at the top of the stack (ie, the most visible of the lot). Layers have an "eye" icon, if the icon shows, the layer is visible. You can click the icon (or its absence) to toggle the visibility of the layer. Note that shift-click one such icons changes the status of all other layers, so shift-clicking by mistake can have surprising effects when you don't know.

Otherwise post a screenshot of your Layers list.

[bobrossghost]

i edited it

---

anyone?

[Ofnuts]

As far as I can tell, this is because your bottom layer is transparent, and the layers above it are not in "Normal" mode (this is the "Mode" selector at the top of the layers list, unfortunately you screen shot don't show that value for the upper layers since you have the bottom layer selected). Compositing mode other than "Normal" usually keep the transparency of the bottom layer.