Comments on: Alt Key Madness

By: Rich Collins

Rich Collins — Fri, 16 May 2008 00:16:18 +0000

Agreed Tim. But you mentioning this causes me to wonder what else have I missed? Of course I knew some of the applications, but I’m sure I will discover more now. Thanks.

I hope you are right about Adobe seeing that the key to growing their customer base is ease of use. The trouble has been that ‘Top Dawgs’ usually can rest on their laurels, but it sounds like you are seeing a departure to that philosophy.

I know they have always touted their forums as answer magnets, and users do a very good job of helping others but their software needs to become more intuitive-based. You know far more than I and yet I get along fairly well. Imagine those who have spent the $650 and are about as comfortable as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Ball’s in your court Adobe.

By: Trenkins

Trenkins — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 23:27:17 +0000

When an instructor at a lecture/workshop tells me something new that may not be in the manufacturer’s handbook, I don’t feel “stupid,” I rejoice (especially if the hint is a keyboard shortcut). Manuals rarely include everything, and I wouldn’t remember it all if they did! There are various ways of doing things, and manuals usually give the “mouse” way. (Keyboard users seem to be few and far between.) So Tim, keep “messing around” and discovering new ways of doing things. And sharing.

And as far as the seminars and workshops, isn’t that why we spend time and money to attend these events? Sometimes that one tidbit of information is what will make the workshop worth every penny spent (not that the rest of the information isn’t useful or welcome). So go ahead, Tim, Look Great!!! It isn’t really at the viewers’ expense. (And I don’t really feel that the manufacturers keep “secrets” per se. I just think when manual time comes, they have to make choices. So look on the bright side; their choices give lecturers and writers like you an income enhancement opportunity!)

By: Sue

Sue — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 12:26:14 +0000

thanks for that tip. i love using keystrokes, and now will look for where others might be.
~sue

By: Guy Scharf

Guy Scharf — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:46:36 +0000

Finally, someone admits that Photoshop’s UI presents an almost impenetrable barrier to the new user. Alt+key shortcuts are great as shortcuts, but terrible as a “hidden” way to accomplish something. Photoshop hides too many features behind arcane key combinations.

I’ve always thought that one of the greatest lacks in Photoshop is a customizable toolbar. How much easier Photoshop would be to use if I could create a custom toolbar with my most-used tools. I used to do that in Paint Shop Pro and could move left to right along the toolbar to process a photo in sequence of adjustments that I preferred. This would also allow the user to customize Photoshop for specific uses, such as photographic vs graphics.

Adobe has done better with the UI in Lightroom and Photoshop Elements. I’m disappointed they have been recalcitrant about fixing the UI in Photoshop.