Photoshop for tech comm
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Photoshop can be used as a tool in technical communication workflows for many popular programs. It allows editing graphics and images for use in FrameMaker, RoboHelp, Captivate, InDesign, and Acrobat. Photoshop has functions for color modes, resolution, layers, and screen captures that can save time for technical communicators compared to other programs.
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Photoshop for tech comm
- 1. Photoshop for TechComm* *how Photoshop saved my life and gave me time with my wife and kids Matt Sullivan | matt@mattrsullivan.com | @mattrsullivan | mattrsullivan.com
- 2. Photoshop GET OVER JPEG Color modes Resolution Adjustment and other layers
- 3. FrameMaker Place PSD when possible Double-click or right-click on a PSD to launch Photoshop Screen captures Multiple versions for use with Conditional Text
- 4. RoboHelp Edit skin elements Process graphics
- 7. = = Use Illustrator as a can-opener for small PDF corrections
- 8. Acrobat Set bitmap editor to Photoshop Set vector editor to Photoshop
- 9. Matt Sullivan Helping with publishing workflows matt@mattrsullivan.com www.mattrsullivan.com @mattrsullivan Contac t info Training | Consulting | Development | Mentoring
Editor's Notes
- How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,Photoshop is a great tool, and one that I was lucky enough to use even before it was released. Along with being one of my main tools throughout careers in commercial printing, tech comm and teaching, Photoshop is also fun to use, and creates amazing results.
- Know how your images will be used. Web and other electronic formats will benefit from the larger color range and smaller file size of RGB images, while print output will look best when created from CMYK images. Compression (jpg, et al.) often dramatically reduces file size, without a visible reduction of quality, but again, be aware of usage requirements. Compressed (and downsampled) images are smaller for a reason: They contain less data. If you wish to print quality output, compressed images are not your friend.Two good rules of thumb:Size your electronic outputs to 75 ppi at final size (a 2” square image should be about 150 pixels across). Some say more, some say less, but 75 is easy to remember and not likely to cause issues.Size your print images to 300 ppi at final size (that 2” image should be at least 600 pixels across). For those that insist on *exactly* the proper resolution, look up the linescreen of your output, and multiply it by 1.7 for the minimum required PPI. Don’t know what linescreen is or what your printer’s linescreen is? Then use 300 ppi. ‘Nuff said!Learn to use layers, selections, masks and adjustment layers.JPEG is bad! I should know, because I used to own jpegisbad.com, and that makes it official. OK, bad is a strong word, but overused certainly is not too strong. Large files are not inherently bad, they’re just large. If you need quality, deal with it.
- Placing native files (PSD, AI) is a fantasiticly useful feature. If not an option, PDF runs a close second.For screen captures, PNG and BMP are great choices.I use either Windows screen capture (PrtScrn and Alt-PrtScrn), Windows Snipping Tool, Mac OS keys, or RoboScreenCapture. I don’t use SnagIt, because I have other “free to me” options.Use conditional text to maintain both print and online versions of the file within the same Fm document.