Web Photoshop 6 Primer - Softcover

Miletsky, Jason I.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0130270083 ISBN 13: 9780130270085

Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR, 2001

Synopsis

Explains how to prepare images for the Web, covering color manipulation, layers, text, and special effects.

About this title

From the Inside Flap

So Here We Are Again...

A lot of things have changed since I wrote the predecessor to this book, Web Photoshop 5 To Go. The name of the series, for one, has switched from "To Go" to "Primer" and sports a much, much cooler cover. I've gotten two years older, have become a much better typist (by the way—thanks to the 187 of you who wrote me all those e-mails about the spelling errors in that first book. Made my day. Really.) And of course, Photoshop has seen two versions since that original text. First it was 5.5, which came out almost solely for Web designers and was, in my opinion, the best version of the program that Adobe ever shipped. A year later, with a lot of media attention, Photoshop 6 was released with its own set of interesting changes.

And then there is the Web itself, and how sites are developed. In the first book, a lot of time was taken to explain things like color palettes, download time, and wallpapered backgrounds. Today, though, the obstacles that designers deal with rarely involve color management, acceptable trends almost never allow for wallpapered backgrounds, and vastly improved connectivity has given more breathing room for the size of graphics.

On the flip side, some things haven't changed at all. The Web is still one of the fastest-growing mediums ever (even considering the dot-com crash) and continues to be a major part of people's lives. Careers and opportunities are still strong in the Web market, and designers need to be far more professional, sophisticated, and knowledgeable than they had to be when the earlier edition of this book first came out. And for all the changes that Photoshop has gone through, it remains the same in one very important aspect: it is still the king when it comes to graphic design for print or the Web. No other application even comes close. The additions that were made, in version 5.5 especially, have solidified Photoshop as one of the key ingredients in Web design.

So where does that leave this book in relation to the original Web Photoshop 5 To Go? Well, like everything else, it has changed in some ways, but in others it hasn't. Much of this book is directly reprinted from the original (hey, there may be some readers who never read the 5.0 book). But a good portion has changed to reflect the times, as the current state of Web development is not nearly what it used to be. It has also changed or included portions that deal with the additions and upgrades seen in the last couple of versions of Photoshop. And, of course, it has the same sarcastic wit that helped rank Web Photoshop 5 To Go alongside literary classics such as Moby Dick and A Tale of Two Cities. Well, at least, I've placed my own copy of Web Photoshop 5 To Go next to those other works on my bookshelf. I think that's just about the same thing.Who Should Read This Book

Because talent is a tough quality to measure, it's nearly impossible to write a book like this for "everybody." Have you won awards for your amazing Photoshop abilities or regularly give seminars on the secret design tips of Photoshop experts? If so, this book may not be for you, Is your copy of Photoshop still in its box and your dedication to learning how to use it dwindling faster than your weekly trips to the gym? If so, this book may move a bit too fast for you.

Basically, this book was written for the following people:

Your Photoshop ability falls somewhere between "basic working knowledge of" and "strong control over" the program, and/or

You've been using Photoshop for print or other media and now either need or want to get involved with Web design, and/or

You've been working with Photoshop 5.5 or an even older version, and want a practical resource through which to understand the improvements in version 6.0, and/or

You're a relative of the author and are willing to buy at least a dozen copies to keep sales up.

If you fall into one or more of these categories, this book is for you. It's not important to have any real knowledge of HTML to understand this book, and the few pages that do reference HTML tags will explain how they are used.How This Book Has Been Written

For everything that this book is, it is certainly not the "everything you never really wanted to know about Photoshop" book that you might expect. Instead, it's a clear, to-the-point text that that doesn't bother with the boring stuff that you don't really need to know. For example, the section about file types gives you what you need to choose a proper file type for your images, but stops short of explaining how a JPEG image is built or how color palettes are indexed. I know you want to get into the creation process as quickly as possible, so aside from my witty interjections, most of the fluff, or "fat" if you will, has been trimmed out.

It is not necessary for you to read this book in a linear fashion—in fact, I'd recommend jumping around from section to section. If possible, try to read this book at your computer. There are a lot of follow-along examples for each topic, and practicing while you read is the best way to learn.What You Will Need

In Web Photoshop 5 To Go, I recommended having at least 32 megs of RAM in your computer. Good luck with that.

Photoshop 6 has pushed the term "RAM hog" to new heights. Because of some of the additions and changes, you'll need far more than 32 megs to get anywhere with this program. On my Mac, I allocate 80 megs just to Photoshop alone, and sometimes that wasn't enough.

I recommend you have at least 128 megs installed and either a G3 or Pentium II system at the very least. I'm not going to tell you whether to use a Mac or a PC—I'm not that suicidal, and I've written this book for fans of both.

Of course, you should also have a copy of Photoshop 6 lying around, but it's not crucial. You can read this book on a plane or in a waiting room and still get a lot out of it. But, because of some of the radical changes that were made in version 6.0, you probably won't do too well if you are still working on version 5.5, so go and get the upgrade.

You also need a browser. I'd recommend IE 4.0 or higher, but for the purposes of this book any browser will be fine. Staying in Touch

Figuring it was my one chance in a lifetime, I made a certain plea in Web Photoshop 5 To Go for one person in particular to get in touch with me. This is what I wrote:

"If you are Katie Couric from the Today show (who I have an enormous crush on), you can contact me...."

Well, believe it or not, she responded! Through a long chain of people, one of my clients got the book to her, and then got the book back to me with a note from her. Referring to my "enormous crush," she wrote, "Get in line."

Of course, she also wished me luck with the book, blah, blah. But I'm not defeated. So, Katie, if you are still single when you read this, I still am, too. And if I'm not, I'll make myself single again!

As for anybody else that wants to get in touch with me, my e-mail address is jmiletsky@pfsmarketwyse. If you have any questions or comments on this book, or you want to show me something you created using some of the techniques that you read about, please write to me. I'm more than happy to help where I can...

However—and I say this from experience—while I am more than happy to help out, I'm also a hard-working guy and can't be a free Photoshop tech support line (so, to the guy in Canada who calls me once or twice per week for help, you can stop now). Also, please assume that I already know and feel very badly about the missed comma on page 97 or the run-on sentence on page 125.

But seriously, I might play around a lot and can sometimes be sarcastic, but I really do welcome e-mail and letters. And if anybody is looking to join the Jason Miletsky fan club, let me know-I'm the president, and there's a newsletter...

From the Back Cover

• Everything that matters & nothing that doesn't!
• Quick, real-world Photoshop solutions for every Web developer
• Backgrounds, navigation, GIF animation, optimization, ImageReady 3, and much more

Answers. Solutions. Now!

Finally, the Photoshop 6 book for Web designers without a nanosecond to waste!

Don't wade through 1,000 pages of theory and hype: get the right answers, get them now, and get results!

We've identified the crucial issues you face at every stage of producing Web graphics with Photoshop 6—and delivered lean, mean solutions and examples you can rely on...

• Navigation
• Backgrounds
• GIF animation
• Image maps
• Vector art
• Text effects
• File-size optimization
• Maximizing ImageReady 3.0
• And much more!

Go from "experienced" to "expert" with Web Photoshop 6 Primer! You'll get brilliant results—in Internet time.

Edition details

• Publisher: Prentice Hall PTR
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0130270083
• ISBN 13: 9780130270085
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 320