Adobe Photoshop Basics

A picture is worth a thousand words, they say, but sooner or later there comes a time when you're going to need to combine words and pictures. And that's where Photoshop's type tool comes in. Up until version 6 of Photoshop, type features in Photoshop were fairly limited. In version 5, scalable type layers were introduced, allowing you to scale and edit type without starting over from scratch, and in version 6 type features were vastly improved with the introduction of on-screen type entry, character and paragraph formatting, and type warping.

Scalable type layers are vector-based, meaning they can be scaled and edited without a loss in quality. Some functions—such as filter effects—cannot be performed on type layers without converting the vector data to pixels. This process is known as rendering or rasterizing the text. Once text is rendered it is no longer scalable and editing must be done on the pixel level.

While the type features in Photoshop 6 have been greatly expanded, Photoshop was never meant to replace a dedicated page layout or vector-based illustration program, so there are some text features still not available in Photoshop—such as type that flows along a path.

The majority of type features are quite different between Photoshop 5.x and 6.0, but one of the things they have in common are the anti-aliasing options. Although text within Photoshop behaves as vector type, when the type is output, it is generally still output as raster data. (The exception is text layers when output from Photoshop 6.0 to a PostScript device.) Anti-aliasing blends the edges of your type so that it appears smoother. Photoshop 5.5 and higher offers various degrees of anti-aliasing for type: none, smooth, crisp, and strong.

• None - No anti-aliasing. Use this option for very small text, under 10-12 points.
• Smooth - The average setting to make text appear smoother.
• Crisp - Results in slightly sharper edges than the the smooth option.
• Strong - Makes text appear heavier than the smooth option.

There are also some common typography formatting options you'll want to understand when you begin working with the type tool in Photoshop. They are leading, kerning, and tracking. Experienced desktop publishers and designers will probably be familiar with these options which allow you to fine-tune the line and letter spacing of type. We won't be discussing them in detail in this course, but you can learn more about them with these links and resources on About's Desktop Publishing site:

Letter and Line Spacing - Understanding and effectively using linespacing and letterspacing. Kerning headlines. Setting leading. Using tracking.

In the lessons that follow, you'll not only learn how to create and format text, but you'll also begin to explore some type effects and nifty type tricks as well. To continue, pick your Photoshop version below:

Photoshop 5.x | Photoshop 6.0