Photoshop Ninja
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Adobe CS3 interface – what have they done to our tool palettes?!
I am personally still on CS2, but one of my larger clients upgraded to CS3 about 6 weeks ago, which I have now had a chance to work with for a while… is it just me being set in my old ways or have Adobe gone a bit off-track with their new tool palettes?
I was always a big fan of how the palettes worked in InDesign CS2 (which was different to the rest of the applications in the suite like Photoshop and Illustrator) – where they attached themselves vertically to the side of the screen and ‘flew-out’ when clicked. This made a really neat and un-cluttered interface to work with. I dearly hoped that Adobe would have had good feedback on this and adopted it for all applications in CS3… how very wrong I was!
It seems they have changed the palettes AGAIN, and for the worse in my opinion. If anyone has used the CS3 suite they are presented with much bigger palettes, it feels like they take up much more screen space. I eventually worked out that I don’t have to have them all labeled with their functions but can have little icons instead… still no good in my opinion! Gone also is the great ‘palette well’ at the top right in Photoshop where you could store any number (within reason and screen resolution allowing) of palettes very neatly – I liked that too!
Now don’t get me wrong – overall CS3 is a good upgrade, Photoshop certainly works faster, Illustrator has had a major upgrade, and InDesign has had some essential features added. Overall Adobe has done a good job on this, and I’m a big fan of their software (as most people are in the design industry). But it just seems to me that these new palettes are no good – I wish their was a preference to put them back how they where – a kind of ‘classic’ option. InDesign in particular suffers I think… or is it just me being set in my ways?
With CS3 being an essential upgrade, especially for those people on Intel based Macs (CS2 really didn’t work too well on Intel, especially Illustrator) I wonder how other people have received this new interface?
Don’t get me wrong – I’ll get used to it in time, but my first impressions are really not good and considering I’ll have to use this interface for the next couple of years until CS4 comes out it’s a case of ‘like it or lump it’!
I do wonder what went through the developers minds – surely they conducted lots of usability research, but I feel that from the outcome alot of this was with amateur users, not professionals. It seems the wonderful interface of InDesign CS2 is lost in the void for ever, which in my humble opinion was the best interface ever designed by Adobe. If they had combined that with the palette well of Photoshop we would have been cooking on gas!
What do you think? Comments, as always are very welcome (scroll down!).
(2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
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Written by Jonny Allbut - freelance graphic designer
Last modified: 27 July, 2007 (11:19) | First published: 27 July, 2007
Filed under Design opinions and rumors 11 Comments »
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Comment by steve
August 15, 2007 @ 6:33 pm
I couldn’t agree with you more. I really don’t like the new Photoshop interface. It takes up a lot more screen space, and it seems like I’m constantly clicking to open and close pallets. Meanwhile I stare longingly at the open, AND WASTED, space near the top right hand corner of the screen where the Palette Well once sat. When you opened up a palette that was docked in the Palette Well the palette opened down the side of the screen away from your image. The new dock opens palettes into the center of the screen where they typically cover up the image you’re trying to work on. Brilliant! If only CS3 would let us dock palettes where the old Palette Well was everything would be perfect. Well, almost perfect…
Another very annoying feature of the new interface is how hidden pallets will fly back back into view if your cursor touches the edge of the screen. EXTREMELY ANNOYING! When I’m viewing an image in full screen mode with the palettes hidden, I have a habit of hiding my cursor on the edge of the screen so that the image will be displayed against a solid black background. However, when I do this in CS3 the palettes come back into view. This drives me crazy! If wanted to see the palettes I would have just pressed the Tab key.
Comment by Jonny
August 16, 2007 @ 2:39 pm
I totally agree Steve – especially about the Palette Well, that was a really good interface feature that Adobe seemed to have decided to get rid of.
Comment by Hate CS3 Interface
October 1, 2007 @ 6:24 am
The new CS3 interface is terrible. Photoshop is used by artists. Artists work differently than programmers. The new CS3 interface has “programmer” written all over it. Why spend so many clicks fiddling with the interface? What’s the advantage? Oh yeah, to make palettes nice and neat, open and close nicely. Meanwhile, your artwork sits there, untouched.
I have a huge problem with the close/collapse buttons on the palettes. They’re on the right side. They should be on the left (if you’re using a Mac). Arguably, Apple makes the best user interfaces, hands down. Adobe had no problem following Apple’s Human Interface guidelines for many years, until CS3. Now it looks and feels like some odd Windows-Mac hybrid, an ugly monster that has only the worst of both worlds.
Seriously, count how many times you accidentally close a palette when you’re just reaching for the palette options button.
Comment by smokey
October 29, 2007 @ 10:38 pm
the new cs3 interfaces are the worst thing ever. they went and changed something that didn’t need fixing. they should have just updated the dreamweaver and flash interfaces which needed fixing. now it looks like shit and i feel like throwing up.
Comment by respectfully
January 16, 2008 @ 2:08 am
I hope ALL of you have taken a few minutes to (at the very least) copy/paste your comments from here (if not even expound upon your comments) at Adobe’s Feedback portion of their site for the betterment of the tools we all use.
Comment by Jonny
January 16, 2008 @ 9:34 am
Respectfully – I hope so too! Adobe please take note, it was an interesting idea, but these palettes are a nightmare and take up more screen space compared to previous implementations… sometimes innovation is not good!
Comment by angrytourist
February 20, 2008 @ 2:40 am
Glad to see I’m not the only one with this issue. I HATE the new INDD interface. Sure it looks pretty, but I spend more time futzing with the palettes than I ever did in CS2. I LOVED having everything filed off to the side of the screen in a perfect vertical tower of efficiency.
Comment by J D Young
August 25, 2008 @ 12:29 am
As an instructor, I love teaching Photoshop. But I wondered if I was the only one who felt the new Photoshop interface was a few steps down from the old one. I am sure there were other more pressing needs to which Adobe could have centered their attention with applause from all. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” couldn’t be more sound advice. I am hoping that this is only a temporary set-back and that sooner than later Adobe will either send us all a patch that puts things right or will address the issue with the next version of Photoshop. My worst fear is that they will mess up Photoshop (and the rest of the suite) the way they have Photo Elements. I didn’t put all these years of learning all the ins and outs of Photoshop because I wanted to start all over again with each upgrade. Upgrade to me means, something that fixes old problems and eases processes, not a face-lift that was totally unnecessary.
Comment by admin
August 29, 2008 @ 9:26 am
@JD – couldn’t have put it better myself!! I’m STILL wrangling with these palettes in CS3 – bring back the old ones or at-least give us the preference to go back to old style palettes!!
A good lesson could be learned form the InDesign CS2 palette layout in my opinion – genius, and very sadly missed.
Comment by Ptr
January 3, 2009 @ 6:43 pm
AGREE!!!
Comment by admin
January 6, 2009 @ 2:06 pm
Glad it’s not just me that thinks this – hope the Adobe boys are listening!