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Photoshop
Status Bar |
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In this chapter you willl
be learning about the status bar...
Take a look at the status bar along the bottom
edge of the Photoshop workspace. The status
bar is often taken for granted but it can be
a valuable tool. You will need open a document
fore the status bar to display any information.
so let's open one now |
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| Go to the File menu and choose
Open, locate an image file and open it now.
If you don't have an image file handy, you can
find several in the Stockart folder of the Photoshop
application CD. Ctrl-O/Cmd-O is the keyboard
shortcut to open a file. This is the same shortcut
used by most applications, so it should be an
easy one to remember. If you are a Windows user,
you can quickly open a file by double clicking
on the application background. |
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| To the far left of the status
bar you will see the magnification level of
the active document. You can swipe your cursor
in this area and type in a new number to change
the magnification of your document. Go ahead
and try it now. |
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| To return your document to
100% magnification, locate the zoom tool in
the toolbox and double click the button. The
keyboard equivalent to this shortcut is Ctrl-Alt-0/Cmd-Option-0. |
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| To
the left of the magnification display
on the status bar, you will see a display
of document sizes. The number on the left
displays the uncompressed size of the
image if it were to have all layers flattened.
The number on the right displays the uncompressed
size of the document including all layers
and channels. It's important to know that
both of these numbers will usually be
larger than the final file size of the
saved document. |
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| For more on the Document
Sizes display, look up Document Sizes option
in the online Help file. |
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| Next to the Document sizes
display there is a small black arrow that pops
up a menu. You'll find this arrow other places
in the Photoshop workspace, so when you see
it, remember that there is a menu hiding there.
In this case, the menu allows you to change
what is displayed in this area of the status
bar. In addition to Document Sizes, you can
optionally choose to display Scratch Sizes,
Efficiency, Timing, or the current tool. You
can look up each of these items in Photoshop's
online Help for more information. |
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| Next in the status bar, you
can see useful information about the tool you
have selected. If you still have the zoom tool
selected, your status bar should say "Zoom
In" if you are outside of the document
area. Move the cursor into the document area
and you will see the status bar display instructions
for using that tool. Now hold down the Alt/Option
key and the status bar will show "Zoom
Out" and the cursor will change to a minus
sign. Next try the Ctrl/Command key in conjunction
with the zoom tool and observe the tips displayed
in the status bar. Try the other key combinations
such as Ctrl-Shift/Cmd-Shift, or Ctrl-Alt/Cmd-Option
while observing the status bar instructions. |
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