Productivity on the Mac: Saving Files

If there’s one thing that annoys me, its trawling through a Save As dialog box in order to save the file to an appropriate location.

Save time with three simple but rarely mentioned strategies which can take the pain out of filing your documents. Read More »

Posted in Tutorials | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Photoshop Precision: Using transform options

This is the next installment in the Photoshop Precision series: how to cut the guesswork out of scaling and positioning your images.

You can postion and scale objects precisely using the transform toolbar, which runs along the top of the screen if it is set to visible.

To show it, you must be in transform mode (Command-T [Mac] or Control-T [PC] or Edit > Free Transform), and the options must visible (Window > Options). Read More »

Posted in Tutorials | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Buying a Secondhand Macbook, in detail

Macs rock.  Here is an update of my previous post on buying secondhand now covering hardware differences, where to buy in Australia, Applecare warranty, and why they hold their value.

I’m a big fan, because its the very best way to recycle, and its cheaper!  I’ve had really good experiences, having bough a Powerbook secondhand, sold 2 macs to friends, and advised several other friends on satisfactory purchases.  I’ve covered everything that comes to mind, and included links to more information where relevant. Read More »

Posted in Hardware | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Photoshop Precision: Avoid blurring your image

This is the second article in the Photoshop Precision series.

Photoshop sometimes appears to blur objects, lines or images.  This could be due to rounding, or losing data after transforming a layer.  Read on for best practice in resizing images and creating vector shapes, and come to grips with the way Photoshop displays your document. Read More »

Posted in Tutorials | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Photoshop Precision: Aligning guides to the Pixel Grid

Precision is totally possible with Photoshop: here are some ways to set up your document to ensure that it is as crisp as your intention!

When designing websites, I find it useful to set the Ruler Origin to the top left of the main content column, so that the dimensions shown on the ruler relate to elements that I will code, rather than to the page background, which can vary greatly in size.  Following are some tips for using the ruler, its origin and guides.  Using grids can be handy, especially if you like to use a system such as the ‘960 Grid System‘,  which makes it simple to layout a page by defining blocks and gutters, as occurs in print. Read More »

Posted in Tutorials | Tagged , , | Leave a comment