3. Adobe Illustrator CC: The Professional Portfolio
Panels
Always accessed
in the Window
menu
Dock stores open
panels at edges of
the interface
Float panels by
dragging away
from the dock
4. Adobe Illustrator CC: The Professional Portfolio
Tools panel
Double-click title bar to
toggle between 1- and 2-
column formats
Access nested tools by
clicking and holding down
the mouse button
Tear off nested tool sets
5. Adobe Illustrator CC: The Professional Portfolio
Control panel
Context sensitive
Hot-text links to other panels
More options when screen is wider
6. Adobe Illustrator CC: The Professional Portfolio
Custom Workspaces
Automatically store
panel locations
Recall specific sets
of tools
7. Adobe Illustrator CC: The Professional Portfolio
Document Views
View menu
View Percentage field
Zoom tool
– Press Option/Alt to zoom out
Hand tool
– Click to drag document within the
window
Navigator panel
8. Adobe Illustrator CC: The Professional Portfolio
Opening Files
Shift to open multiple
contiguous files
Command/Control
to open multiple non-
contiguous files
Document tab:
– File name
– View percentage
– Color model
– Unsaved changes
9. Adobe Illustrator CC: The Professional Portfolio
Previews & Screen Modes
Outline Preview
Full Screen Mode w/ Menu
Standard Screen Mode
Full Screen Mode
10. Adobe Illustrator CC: The Professional Portfolio
Closing Files
Click the Close button on a document
tab to close that file
Close the application frame:
– Mac: closes all open files, doesn’t quit
the application
– Windows: closes all open files, quits the
application
Editor's Notes
Remind students that the point of this introduction is to simply get used to the behavior of UI elements; as they complete the projects in this book, they will learn more about the specific functions of the various elements.
If you are using a Macintosh, you can enable or disable the Application frame to control the overall environment. When enabled, the entire application (excluding the Menu bar) is contained within a single window (“frame”). In this case, the user experience is more like the Windows application model, in which each application is always contained within its own frame.
At this point, you should introduce the importance and advantages of contextual menus throughout the application. Contextual menus present options that are specific to the object or element where the menu is opened. On the Macintosh OS, users who do not have right-click capability will have to press the Command key while clicking to access the contextual menus.
The dock is the area around the screen or application frame (if enabled). You can essentially lock panels into place in the dock, making it easier to access specific panels without using the Window menu commands.
The most important issue here is that panels can be placed where they are most convenient for a specific user and/or project type.
You should become familiar with all of the different methods of controlling panels, so you can determine which best suits your personal work habits.
•Double-click dock/group title bar to iconize (collapse to icons)
•Click icon to expand iconized panel
•Double-click drop zone to collapse into title bar
•Drag tab to reposition a single panel
•Drag drop zone to reposition entire panel group
•Create multiple panel columns in the dock
•Each floating group and column can be iconized separately
The Tools panel defaults to the left side of the application space. Depending on your needs and preferences, it can be dragged to another position, or floated, just as you would any other panel in the workspace.
As you become more familiar with the application, you should start to remember keyboard shortcuts for various tools; this can significantly increase your productivity.
(Remind students that the keyboard shortcuts are listed on Page 7.)
The Control panel appears by default at the top of the workspace. It is context sensitive, which means it provides access to different options depending on which tool is active and what is selected in the document.
This panel is a subset of the most common choices for a given selection. Most of the Control panel options are duplicated in at least one other area of the workspace.
If you have a smaller monitor, some fields and buttons won’t be available in the Control panel. Based on the available horizontal space, Illustrator places hot-text links to the actual panel where the missing options can be accessed.
You can personalize the UI by saving a custom workspace to recall panels in the specific position where they were when saved.
This saves time when calling the same set of panels, which is especially useful if using a shared workstation (as is common in a classroom environment), or when working on different types of projects over time. (For example, “Today is box building day, so I need A and B panels. Tomorrow I’ll be illustrating a financial article, so I need X, Y, and Z panels.”)
Warn students that calling a saved workspace in Illustrator CC restores the last-used state of the workspace. This might confuse anyone who has used in version CS5 or earlier, in which calling a saved workspace calls the saved state of that workspace.
One goal of this introductory chapter is to show the different options for navigating an open document. There are several methods for changing the view of a file; you should become familiar with each so you can determine which best suits your work habits.
Remind students that complete details are on Page 21.
It is often necessary (or at least, more convenient) to work with multiple files open at one time.
The document tabs at the top of the document window let you know which file is active (the lighter one). You can easily switch to another file by clicking its tab. If an asterisk appears in the document tab, it means changes have been made but not yet saved.
The built-in arrangements in the Arrange Documents panel display multiple files in different “panes” within the document window. (Many of the same options are available in the Window>Arrange submenu.) You can also drag any document tab to move it to another pane.
Different previews and screen modes can be useful for different workflows.
Outline preview (View>Outline) shows the vector paths that make up an image.
You can also use the Change Screen Mode button (in the Tools panel) to change the way the document appears in relation to the application interface.
•Standard Screen Mode is what you see when you launch the application and open most files — document tabs, Application bar at the top of the screen, etc.
•Full Screen Mode with Menu Bar basically removes the document tabs, extending the document window to the full screen size behind the application interface elements (panels and so on).
•Full Screen Mode removes all interface elements so you can review the file with no surrounding distractions.
Close any single file by clicking the Close button on that document tab.
Keep in mind:
On Mac, closing the Application frame closes all open files but does not quit the application.
On Windows, closing the Application frame closes all open documents and quits the application.
If any open file has been changed, the application asks if you want to save the file before closing. This can prevent accidentally losing changes, or even accidentally saving changes that you didn’t mean to make.
