Lesson 3: Introduction to Photoshop CS5 (3)

Panes

When we open Photoshop, all “panels”, also known as “panes” or “palettes”, shall be opened on the right side of the window. Although these are folded up, all the available tiles are displayed.

To expand it click the double arrow pointing right, at the top right in the panels (1).

In these panels, we find many of the tasks we can perform in Photoshop.

The same way with the toolbox. Normally all the tools are displayed in a row, but if you wish it to display in two rows, then click on the double arrows pointing right at the top of the toolbox (2).

We can position all these different panels as we prefer, by clicking and dragging the title bar of the pane (3).

One can close the palette by clicking the downward pointing arrow button in the title bar of the palette, and selecting “Close” in the drop-down menu (4). Or when a palette is disconnected, click the x-icon.

You can create a “group” of different palettes by dragging the “tabs” of the title bar.

You can exclude a whole group of pallets by clicking the downward pointing arrow button in the title bar of the palette (4) and selecting “close tab group” in the drop-down menu.

With these panels you can really go in all directions. I can only say, open the ones that you currently use, and close the ones that you will use later. This way you maintain the optimum space for your image.

To open a pane, click the “Window” in the menu bar and click the pane that you want to open in the drop-down menu.

Just one tip. When the panels are folded, you can see the icons for the panels here. Click and drag the edge of the pane, you can change the width thereof, and thus can also see the corresponding labels.

New since Photoshop CS4, when you have two monitors, you can drag all panels to the second monitor. This way, you maintain the optimum space for your image.

A third way to make all panels disappear quickly is the shortcut Shift + Tab buttons on your keyboard. Repeat this process if you want to display the panels back.

Saving the environment

If you have opened all panels and placed them where you wished, you can save the space.

Just click the link button “Workspace” in the “Application Bar” and choose “New Workspace” in the drop-down menu.

In the dialog that appears, you give it a name, select the option “Panel Locations” and click the “Save” button.

if you have you set some shortcuts that you want to save, you select this check box and if you have some menu items added to a menu, you select this check box.

Application Bar

We find another bar above the “Application Bar”, at least for the PC users.

In the “Application Bar” we have a number of buttons.

The first button “Launch Bridge” (1) opens the program “The Bridge”. “The Bridge” is a stand-alone application that we can include for searching, viewing and organizing files. But I’ll tell you more about “The Bridge” in one of the following lessons.

The second button “”Launch Mini Bridge “(2) opens the Mini Bridge”, which is new in version CS5. But more on that later.

By clicking the third button, the “Show Extras” (3) button, we can show or hide the rulers, guides and grids on the image in a fairly quick way. Standard ruler is divided into cm, but if you prefer to work with mm, inches or pixels, right click a ruler and make your choice from the drop-down menu.

The fourth option (4) sets the zoom level.
The fifth button, the “Arrange Documents” (5) button allows us to open several files in different ways. This option also I will discuss later.

And finally we have the “Display Mode” (6). By clicking this, we have a choice of three display modes.

Default screen, Full screen with menu bar and full screen.

If you choose the “Full screen” mode, use the ESC key on your keyboard to return to the default display mode.

If you choose the “Full Screen with Menu Bar” then the menubar containing the option to change the screen mode is still available.

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Lesson 3

Photoshop - CS5