Photoshop Panel (part 2)

Working in Photoshop 1. Creating New Documents You can create a new document by selecting File > New from the menu bar, or pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-N on a PC. The New dialog box will appear where you can specify the document size and other settings. 2. Opening Files Open files by selecting File > Open from the menu bar. You can select and open multiple files by holding down Ctrl and clicking on all the files you require in the file dialog box. 3. Saving Files Save a file by selecting File > Save, or pressing Ctrl-S. For a newly-created document, this will save your work in Photoshop Document (PSD) format. If you would prefer to save a copy of the document, you can use File > Save As or pressing Ctrl-Shift instead. 4. Snappy Preset If you’re designing for a web site with a minimum screen size of 800×600 pixels, I'd recommend you start with a 750×550 pixel document. The smaller dimensions give you a better estimate of your actual screen area after you take into account scroll bars and menu bars. Also, be sure to set the resolution at 72dpi to reflect the actual screen resolution. If you want easy access to these dimensions for other new documents, it's probably a good idea to click Save Preset and give the settings a name like Web Page. The next time you create a new document, you will be able to load your Web Page settings from the Preset list. Getting Started with Photoshop 1. Saving Files for the Web Photoshop files themselves can't be embedded into a web page. You will need to export your file and save it in a web-friendly format. There are three formats for web graphics: GIFs, JPEGs, and PNGs. a. GIF The GIF format (pronounced "jiff" or "giff" depending on which side of the tracks you grew up) can have a maximum of 256 colors. GIF files support transparency and animation, and work best with graphics that have large areas of the same color. b. JPEG The JPEG format (pronounced "jay-peg"), works best with photographic images or images that have more than 256 colors and gradients, such as the flower on the opposite page. Images saved in JPEG format are compressed, which means that image information will actually be lost, causing the image to degrade in quality. c. PNG The PNG format (pronounced "ping") is similar to the GIF format in that it supports transparency and works best with solid-color images, but it's superior to the GIF format as it has the ability to support true levels of transparency for colored areas. Transparent PNGs are currently not in widespread use on the Web because older versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer do not support them. However, they're often used in Macromedia Flash movies. PNGs can produce a better quality image at a smaller file size than can GIFs. Photoshop allows you to save an image as a PNG-8 file (which works the same way as a GIF would with 256 colors) or a PNG-24 file (which allows for millions of colors as well as variable transparency).