Application Interface
Let's launch Adobe Photoshop. This can be accomplished in several different ways including a desktop icon or quicklaunch bar. If we're using a Windows operating system, it can be launched from the "Start" menu (e.g. Start/All Programs/Adobe/Photoshop CS3). When Photoshop is opened, the interface will look something like Figure 2. Let's take a moment to observe the different components that make up this interface.
Across the top of the program, below the title bar is the text-menu. The text-menu has the words, "File", "Edit", "Image", "Layer", "Select"...etc. This type of menu, in this location, is probably familiar to us as it is common to the majority of programs on our computer (Figure 3), Immediately below the text-menu, is the context-menu. The items in this menu will change to reflect the options associated with the tool being used. (Figure 3) Along the left side of the interface, we find the Tools palette (Figure 4). If this is not present, choose Window from the text-menu and then Tools. This toolbox is where we will go when we want to select and create.
We will study the tools in more detail in the next tutorial. On the right side of our interface, we have an area for Palettes (Figure 5). Palettes are a series of smaller windows. Each palette, or window, serves a specific function. In general, the palette area is where we go when we want to manipulate.
Individual palettes will be examined in detail over the entire tutorial series. |