Photoshop® CS4 Bible

2.1. Overview of the Photoshop Workspace

With every new version of Photoshop, its work area evolves and improves, sometimes with just a few tweaks here and there.

Is perfection possible? I guess not. But the current workspace provides a powerful set of tools and more conveniences than ever before, as well as a few recently added features that make Photoshop a little more — dare I say — intuitive.

Figure 2.1 shows the Photoshop workspace. Across the very top is the Menu Bar. Under the Menu Bar is the Application Bar, and under that is the Options Bar. The Toolbox is on the far left, Panels are on the far right, and image windows display in the middle.

Figure 2.1. The Photoshop workspace with several images open

NOTE

If you don't see the word "Photoshop" in the upper-left corner of your screen, it means Photoshop is not active or is not open. Activate Photoshop by clicking the square blue icon that displays the letters "Ps" in the Taskbar (PC) or Dock (Mac), or open Photoshop by double-clicking the Adobe Photoshop CS4 application in your Programs folder (PC) or Applications folder (Mac). You may also have an application shortcut or favorite you can select to open Photoshop.

2.1.1. Default and custom workspaces

The workspace you see when you open Photoshop includes all of Photoshop's visible components:

• Menu Bar

• Tools palette

• Options Bar

• Image window (or document window)

• Panels