Category list

THE HELP CENTER

Although we try to answer every question you have in this book, there's a great information option within the program: the Adobe Help Center. This resource contains complete information on all the features of all the applications in the Creative Suite, including step-by-step instructions for many tasks (see Figure 1.21).

Figure 1.21. The Help Center is your first line of defense for assistance with any part of the Creative Suite.

To access the Help Center from InDesign for example, select Help, InDesign Help. The Help Center browser opens.

The left pane of the browser window contains selections for the help contents, many hidden in pop-up arrows. Scroll through the pane and click a specific subject for help. The right pane contains the actual Help information.

Tabs at the top of the left pane take you to the alphabetical Index and Bookmarks, respectively.

The Bookmarks tab is empty when you first open the Help Center. If you find yourself returning to certain information over and over, or if there is a subject of particular interest to you, click the Add Bookmark button in the second line of buttons at the top of the screen (see Figure 1.22). These bookmarks are accessible in all programs, so if you add a bookmark about layer comps in Photoshop, for example, and want to access that information while you're working with a layered Photoshop document you've placed in InDesign, you can use the bookmark to jump quickly to the PSD layer comp information.

Figure 1.22. Create bookmarks to help you quickly return to commonly accessed Help topics.

Rearrange bookmarks using the arrow buttons at the bottom-left of the pane. Rename a bookmark by selecting it and clicking the Rename button, or delete a bookmark by selecting it and clicking the Delete button.

To help navigate the Help Center, buttons above the left pane enable you to move forward or back through pages you visited or to return to the Help Center home page. Also at the top of the browser window is a button to print the contents of the right Help pane.

Select the program for which you'd like to view Help from the Help for pop-up menu. Search for the topic of your choice by entering your terms in the search box and clicking the Search button.

Expert Support is another option available in the Help Center. Expert Support is a subscription-based support option through which, using an Internet connection, you can submit support questions to experts at Adobe. There are several support subscription options depending on the level of support desired and the money you want to spend .

Finally, the More Resources button gives you links to Adobe's website that will prove helpful as you work with the software.

Part I: PHOTOSHOP AND IMAGEREADY

IN THIS PART

2 Working with Photoshop

3 Using the Photoshop Toolbox

4 Understanding Photoshop Menus and Palettes

5 Working with Images and Color in Photoshop

6 Working with Layers in Photoshop

7 Using Selections, Paths, and Transforms in Photoshop

8 Working with Type in Photoshop

9 Creative Imaging in Photoshop

10 Creating a Power Workflow in Photoshop

11 Working with ImageReady

12 Building Web Graphics in ImageReady

Chapter 2. WORKING WITH PHOTOSHOP

IN THIS CHAPTER

Best Practices 30

File Formats 31

Understanding the Photoshop CS2 Interface 33

Photoshop Help Center 37

Grids and Guides 38

Creating a New Photoshop Document 40

If this is your first experience with Photoshop and ImageReady, I would like to bid you welcome. I am more than honored to be your first tour guide of this wonderful program. I would expect that you've heard a few things about Photoshop prior to buying the Adobe Creative Suite 2. Photoshop is always called Adobe's flagship program. Go into any bookstore and it's easy to see how popular the program is. In the computer book section you will likely find more Photoshop books than any other computer book.

There are three things that I hope you get out of your experience with Photoshop. Number one, the realization that you can't master this program without having a playful spirit. The only way you can absorb all of Photoshop is by having fun with it.

The second thing is that you realize that you are limited only by your imagination with this program. You can't say that about a lot of software, but it's definitely true here. If you can dream it and you can experiment, it can be done.

The third and most important thing to know is that even the masters of Photoshop will admit that they still have tons to learn. We are all at different levels of experience with programs. I can't count how many times in training sessions I've seen someone sit down to Photoshop for the first time and find some new control or command that does something so totally fresh and unknown that even the instructor is surprised. Enjoy your time with this software and remember this rule after you discover something new: You must share with others what you learn.

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Smick M., Bauer P., Moniz S

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