Chapter Two. Working Within the Creative Suite

The Creative Suite's value should really be considered the sum of its parts. Sure, there are the cornerstone applicationsPhotoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, GoLive, and Acrobatbut look beyond these applications and you'll find the elements that really make CS2 a truly integrated suite: its supporting applications, services, and common user experience.

With the introduction of Bridge, Adobe offers a supporting application designed for browsing and working with visually oriented files. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Bridge can be your translator. Learning how to work with this new application and discovering what it's capable of is key to working within the suite. Bridge is also the access point into Version Cue CS2, a much-needed, creative-minded, version control system you can quickly set up and start taking advantage of right away.

These supporting tools really go a long way in keeping the suite's components working well together. Although the binding that holds the suite together is its strong support of native file formats and shared user interface elements, learning how all these shared components benefit you when working within the suite is essential.