Book Review
The Photoshop Anthology
101 Web Design Web Design Tips Tricks & Techniques
by Corrie Haffily
reviewed by Charlene Brown
really like this book, but before I get started I should probably mention I may have been predisposed to writing a good review, by a prompt reply to an email question I sent the publisher—on a Sunday afternoon! I'll explain later.
The Photoshop Anthology starts with a 'Getting Started with Photoshop' section, which I'm glad I didn't skip over as it explains, among other things, why Photoshop's affiliated ImageReady program exists—and haven't we all wondered at some time? Both programs can perform many of the same tasks (ImageReady makes web-specific tasks easier.) Which of the two programs is better for each step in the web design process is then explained throughout the book.
The topics covered are practical, and likely to be of frequent use. Some particularly caught my eye, and their presentation was readable and straightforward—making a Seamless Tiling Background, Creating a Rippling Reflection, Making Chiselled or Engraved Text, and Saving an Object on a Transparent Background for a Flash Movie. When I came across Making Colour More Vivid, my first thought was that my kids would rip the book out of my hands if they knew I was reading that—they prefer more subtle images than I tend to produce after a Photoshopping expedition.
In, fact, this is one of the presentations to which I should pay attention. The results of various techniques—changing the blending mode, using a curve adjustment layer—are explained and compared. Similarly, two approaches to using Levels to make whites whiter, and darks darker (Layers>Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer> Levels vs Image>Adjustments>Levels) are compared, and the advantage of using Curves to fine-tune mid-tones is explained.
Easy-to-find Colour tips, such as how to sample a colour from a picture you can't open in Photoshop (an image imbedded in Word, for example) or how to find the hexadecimal code for a colour, are explained for those of us who know we've seen the information somewhere, but can't remember where.
Hexadecimal code is just one of several topics aimed specifically at web designers. There are also whole chapters devoted to creating buttons and backgrounds, and, of course Web Design—the best chapter in the book. It explains how to create website 'comps', or mock layouts, by combining many of the techniques explained in earlier chapters.
The techniques described in The Photoshop Anthology are nowhere near as radical as those found in some Photoshop books I've read. But they are more useful than most of the 'leading-edge'stuff. And the fact they are identified by end-results makes the book usable, as well as useful.
About that Sunday email—I was glancing through the book for interesting-sounding ideas and came across Changing the Shape of Letters, which requires a Direct Selection Tool. I use this tool in InDesign all the time, but I didn't think Photoshop even had one, so I emailed the publisher and asked them about it. Less than four hours later, they emailed back and explained, without being the least bit sarcastic, that there is indeed a Direct Selection Tool in Photoshop—who knew? Everybody but me, apparently. (It's an alternate for the Path Selection Tool.) Just thought I'd mention that, in case it influenced my view that this book was wonderfully helpful.
And I was still impressed after it occurred to me that my email was probably answered from Australia, where the book was published, where it was Monday morning at the time. I think I can say definitely that I will be referring to The Photoshop Anthology, quite often, for some time to come.
101 Web Design Web Design Tips Tricks & Techniques
Author: Corrie Haffily
Published by Sitepoint Pty. Ltd.
Available from O'Reilly
$51.95 Cdn, 278 pages.
ISBN 0-9758419-2-0
35% discount for BB&C members.
