If you are not already familiar with Adobe applications, the user interface (UI) might seem intimidating. Even users of previous versions will find this introduction useful because some UI elements have changed in the past several versions. In fact, anyone who is upgrading from version CS2 or earlier will be unfamiliar with the OWL (Object Widget Library) interface that was introduced in CS3 and enhanced in CS4 and CS5. 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). Users 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 point 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. You can access nested tools by clicking the primary tool and holding down the mouse button, or by Control/right-clicking the primary tool to open the menu of nested options. If a tool has a defined shortcut, pressing that key activates the associated tool. Most nested tools have the same shortcut as the default tool. By default, you have to press Shift plus the shortcut key to access the nested variations. You can change this behavior in the General pane of the Preferences dialog box by unchecking the Use Shift Key for Tool Switch option. When this option is off, you can simply press the shortcut key multiple times to cycle through the variations. Finally, if you press and hold a tool ’s keyboard shortcut, you can temporarily call the appropriate tool (called spring-loaded keys ); after releasing the shortcut key, you return to the tool you were using previously. As you become more familiar with the application, you should start to remember keyboard shortcuts for various tools; this can significantly increase your productivity. (The keyboard shortcuts are listed on Page 8.)
The Control panel (also called the Options bar) appears by default at the top of the workspace. You can toggle it on or off by choosing Window>Options. This panel is context sensitive, which means it provides access to different options depending on which tool is active.
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 color correction day, so I need A and B panels. Tomorrow I’ll be building composite ads, so I need X, Y, and Z panels.”) Warn students that calling a saved workspace in Photoshop restores the last-used state of the workspace. This might confuse anyone who uses Illustrator, where calling a saved workspace calls the saved state of that workspace.
You can change the view percentage of the active file, and change the visible portion of the image within the document window. There are several methods for accomplishing these tasks; you should become familiar with each so you can determine which best suits your work habits. (Review the information on Page 20 for complete details.)
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), and easily switch to another file. 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 screen modes can be useful for previewing an image without the distraction of UI elements. You can also use the Screen Mode button (in the Application/Menu bar) 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 — 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.
Keep in mind: On Windows, closing the Application frame closes all open documents and quits the application. On Macintosh, closing the Application frame closes all open files but does not quit 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 accidentally saving changes that you didn’t mean to make.
The Undo command (Edit>Undo or Command/Control-Z) only steps back to the last single action you completed; after you use the Undo command, it toggles to Redo. You can also use the Step Backward command (Edit>Step Backward or Command-Option-Z/Control-Alt-Z) to move back in the history one step at a time, or use the History panel to navigate back to earlier stages of your work. Every action you take is recorded as a state in the History panel. You can click any state to return to that particular point in the document progression. You can also delete specific states or create a new document from a particular state using the buttons at the bottom of the panel. By default, the History panel stores the last 20 states; older states are automatically deleted. You can change that setting in the Performance pane of the Preferences dialog box. Keep in mind, however, that storing a larger number of states will increase the memory required to work with a specific file. More detailed information about the History panel is explained on Page 22.
