Layer Styles

Layer Styles

There are a number of reasons why layer styles are so useful, not the least of which is that they can add some pretty cool effects to a layer. The reason that they are on my "most flexible" list is that layer styles change with the content of the layer and can be edited at any time. For example, if you add a Stroke effect and a Drop Shadow to a Type layer, those effects will automatically update when anything about the Type layer changes. Plus, if you decide to edit the angle of the drop shadow or the thickness of the stroke, you can easily do that just by double-clicking on the effect in the Layers palette. (In contrast, if you were to manually create your own stroke with Edit>Stroke, it will not update if you change the font or the content of the Type layer.)