Photoshop Workspace

There are many objects on the Photoshop workspace including palettes, tool options and drop down menus. Here I will briefly describe the purpose of each of the interace compenents and point them out. For further information on any of the components, consult the relevant section below.

Tools Palette:
Self explanatory - the palette that contains the tools that can be used to directly edit the image.

Tool Options:
A selection of options that relate to the currently selected tool and alter its effects.

Drop down menus:
Standard drop down menus as seen in most Windows and Macintosh applications. Offers access to most of Photoshop's features. Commands for the drop down menus in these tutorials are written in bold.

Info Palette:
Shows information about the current image, or shows a thumbnail via which you can navigate the image. Information provided includes crop/selection area, file size, image dimensions, etc.

Colours/Styles Palette:
Allows you to select a colour via RGB sliders or preset web-safe colours ('Swatches'). Also lets you apply layer styles - preset combinations of layer styles (effects) that can achieve effective results if you're in a hurry. Use the expansion arrow (just undereath the close button) to load more styles that are included with Photoshop.

History Palette:
Gives a list of actions that can be undone - lists around one hundred. You can save snapshots to return to at key points in your image creation, or return to the saved file/a recent step. Also contains actions and tool presets for the currently selected tool.
Layers Palette:
The layers palette has many features, too many to list here.