specific size to meet your printing requirements. And, don’t forget resolution — printing in the correct size at the wrong resolution is simply a waste of paper and ink! Set up a number of Crop tool presets for your typical print sizes and relax, knowing that you’ll always be cropping correctly.
Another logical candidate for tool presets is the Type tool. When you consider all the options for the Type tool in not only the Options bar but also in the Character and Paragraph panels, you have quite a bit to select and track. To ensure consistent text from project to project, consider creating tool presets for each project, including (as appropriate) headline and body text, special effects and accent type, and even your copyright information. Keep in mind, too, that you can use Type tool presets in conjunction with the Character Styles and Paragraph Styles panels (which are discussed in Chapter 12).
Season to Taste: The Photoshop Settings
The program-level Preferences and the Color Settings flavor all your work in Photoshop. The options that you choose in Photoshop’s Preferences (or simply the Prefs) control many facets of the program’s basic behavior. Choices made in the Color Settings dialog box determine how your work looks, both onscreen and in print. And when you get down to brass tacks, that’s what it’s all about — the appearance of your artwork.
Standing orders: Setting the Preferences
Photoshop’s Preferences file stores a whole lot of information about how you use the program. Regardless of whether you prefer to measure in inches or pixels, how you like the grid and guides displayed, what size thumbnails you prefer in your panels, which font you used last — all sorts of data is maintained in the Prefs. Much of the info in the Preferences is picked up automatically as you work (such as the size and color mode of the last new document you created, whether the Character panel was visible when you last shut down the program, and which tool options were selected in the Options bar), but you must actively select a number of options in the Preferences dialog box, as shown in Figure 3-9.
FIGURE 3-9: Use Photoshop’s Preferences to establish many program behaviors.
Open the Preferences on a Mac with the keyboard shortcut ⌘ +K or choose Photoshop ⇒ Preferences to select one of the 17 specific subsets of Preferences to change. The shortcut for Windows users is Ctrl+K, and the Preferences submenu is under the Edit menu. The default settings are perfectly acceptable (after all, they are the defaults for a reason), but the following sections cover some changes to the Preferences to consider, listed by the section of the Preferences dialog box in which you find them.
Preferences ⇒ History Log
The History Log maintains a record of what you’ve done to a specific image. You can record when you opened and saved a file with the Sessions option, see a summary of what you did with the Concise option, or keep track of every command, every feature, and every setting you used with the Detailed option! And the log can be recorded to a text file or stored in an image’s metadata for retrieval by choosing File ⇒ File Info.
Preferences ⇒ Tools
One option not selected by default that you may find very handy is Zoom Clicked Point to Center. When you click with the Zoom tool, this option automatically centers the view on the point where you clicked.
When using the transform commands, Photoshop shows you numerically precisely what you’re doing. A small display shows the new dimensions (when scaling) or the angle (when rotating or shearing). You may find that to the upper right of the cursor isn’t a good location (perhaps while using the stylus in your right hand on a Wacom Cintiq tablet or iPad connected with Sidecar). Change the location — or select Never to hide the info completely.
If you’re working with a machine that offers Gestures (pinching to zoom, three-finger swipe, and so on) and you like using Gestures, you can use them in Photoshop.
Preferences ⇒ Interface and Preferences ⇒ Workspace
The Interface and Workspace panels of the Preferences offers several options of note:
Appearance: You may find that Photoshop’s “dark interface” is not to your taste. (Try it for a while — it’ll likely grow on you.) You can select from among two lighter (and one even darker) interface appearances.
Screen Modes: You can easily customize the look of Photoshop’s three screen modes.
UI Font Size: If you find yourself squinting to read panel names and such, change the UI Font Size to Large and restart Photoshop. If you still have problems reading the screen, reduce the monitor’s resolution. (See Chapter 2 for details.)
Show Channels in Color: When only one channel is active in the Channels panel, it normally shows a grayscale representation of the image. If you prefer to have the active channel appear in its own color, select this option. Keep in mind, however, that after you get comfortable working with individual channels, the default grayscale is easier to see.
Show Menu Colors: As I discuss earlier in this chapter, you can assign colors to specific commands in the Photoshop menus. Assigning colors might make it easier for you to quickly spot and select often-used commands. Use this option to disable the color coding without having to deselect each assigned color.
Auto-Collapse Iconic Panels: If you prefer an uncluttered workplace, here’s a great option for you! When selected, panels in icon mode (click the upper bar of a group of panels) collapse to buttons. To open a panel, click its button. When Auto-Collapse is selected, the selected panel automatically closes when you click elsewhere in Photoshop. If you need to keep a specific panel open while you work (perhaps Histogram or Info), drag it out of its group and away from the edge of the screen, and it will stay open until you close it.
Auto-Show Hidden Panels: Position the cursor over a collapsed panel and it springs open.
