Better Than Ever
By Clayton Crooks
Adobe recently released a new version of Photoshop, the already undisputed leader for print and Web bitmap editing. With every new release, Adobe has expanded Photoshop's features, resulting in a product that continues to strengthen its hold on the graphics market. The release of version 6 is no exception, as Adobe has added a variety of new features, including support for vector graphics, enhanced layer handling, and expanded type handling.
New Features
Many changes have been introduced with Photoshop 6, but the most obvious is in the user interface (see
Figure 1), which had remained basically untouched in previous releases. When I first executed this application, I immediately noticed the new context-sensitive toolbar. This item is a tremendous improvement: There's no longer any need to check the help file to find a specific key combination. Photoshop 6 gives relevant parameters for certain features like Transform Mode, where the toolbar provides input boxes you can use to enter precise numerical
information representing width,
height, and angles.
Adobe has also modified the palettes and toolbox. Some of the less-used toolbox options have been demoted to fly-outs—hidden submenus that are displayed on an as-needed basis—while frequently used tools, like the Crop tool, have been promoted to their own slots. The most noticeable palette addition is the Palette Well.
