Here are some of best wordpress plugins for bloggers. As blogger I know which are best plugins for blogger to increase site visitor and views. Much of a blogger’s success comes from the time he or she spends creating great content, networking, testing new opportunities, and promoting his or her blog.
best wordpress plugins for bloggers
Unfortunately, publishing a blog also requires time. Fortunately, the 10 WordPress plugins listed below can help automate (or shorten the time spent on) many blog-related tasks, so you can spend more time writing, networking and promoting, and less time on busy work.
best wordpress plugins for bloggers
WordPress.com Stats
All bloggers should track the activity on their blogs using a web analytics tool, but taking the time to log into that tool and navigate through the provided reports takes time. Often bloggers just want to take a quick peak at their top level stats. That’s where the WordPress.com Stats plugin comes in handy. Instead of logging into a separate application, you can view some of your key blog analytics right from your WordPress dashboard.
People love to participate in polls. Sure there are many options available to bloggers to add polls to their blogs such as PollDaddy, but the WP-Polls plugin allows you to create custom polls without leaving your WordPress account!
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No Self Pings
The No Self Pings plugin is a great time saver for bloggers who intralink to their own posts frequently. If your blog is set up to accept pings and trackbacks, then each time you link to one of your own posts in a new post, a trackback link is sent to your blog and published in the comments section of the old post that you linked to. Pings and trackbacks can slow down your blog, clutter your comments section, and be a nuisance if they’re excessive. Also, if your blog is set up to moderate all comments and trackbacks, this plugin will save you a considerable amount of time.
Make sure that Akismet is activated on your blog and configured to meet your preferences. Unfortunately, blogs get a lot of comments that are spam. Without Akismet (or another comment spam blocking plugin of some kind), your blog is likely to be inundated with spam comments over time. Blog readers don’t like to see spam comments. In fact, too many spam comments published on your blog can directly result in decreased blog traffic, so make sure you’re using a comment spam blocking plugin like Akismet.
Unfortunately, comment spam blocking plugins such as Akismet aren’t always enough to eliminate all spam comments from getting through to publish on your blog (or sit in your comment moderation queue). When you install the Math Comment Spam plugin on your blog, commenters will be asked to enter the answer to a simple math problem such as 2+3 before they submit their comment to ensure the comment is being submitted by a human being and not a spam bot. Users report a significant decrease in the amount of spam comments that get through Akismet (or their comment spam blocking plugin) once Math Comment Spam is installed.
If you want to change your blog’s theme but don’t want visitors to see your changes until they’re final, then Theme Tester is the WordPress plugin for you! When Theme Tester is intalled, your visitors see your existing blog design while anyone set up with administrator status in your WordPress account sees the new WordPress theme.
The WP-Database Backup plugin is a must-have for any WordPress.org user. Once installed, you can set up the plugin to automatically backup your WordPress database files and save them to your hard drive or send them to you via email. If your blog is important to you, do yourself a favor and install this plugin, and set it up to backup your WordPress database periodically. Keep in mind, the plugin only backs up your database files. You should also manually backup your wp-content folder from your blog hosting account.
If you’ve ever struggled trying to get a YouTube or Google Video to publish correctly on your blog, then the Easytube plugin is a perfect choice for you. It makes embedding YouTube and Google Videos into your blog posts a snap and even includes a preview image of YouTube videos in your RSS feed with a link to the video.
Old blog posts are bait for automated comment spam bots. In order to reduce spam on old posts, you can use the Auto Close Comments, Pingbacks and Trackbacks plugin. Simply install it, set the timeframe when you want comments to be closed on posts, and you’re done.
If you like to include maps from Google in your blog posts, then the Google Maps Plugin will make the process of creating, inserting and customizing your maps faster than ever!
CSS tutorial, Here in this article we explained, how to create a horizontal dropdown menu with html css. We given CSS code with screenshots.
This tutorial explains how to build horizontal lists using “display: inline”.
There are many methods that can be used to making a horizontal list. The main ingredient is “display: inline”, applied to the “LI” element.
Step 1: Make a basic list
Start with a basic unordered list. The list items are all active (wrapped in <a href=”#”> </a>) which is essential for this list to work. Some CSS rules are written exclusively for the “a” element within the list items. For this example a “#” is used as a dummy link.
Standard HTML lists have a certain amount of left-indentation. The amount varies on each browser. Some browsers use padding (Mozilla, Netscape, Safari) and others use margins (Internet Explorer, Opera) to set the amount of indentation.
To remove this left-indentation consistently across all browsers, set both padding and margins to “0” for the “UL”.
At this point you may wish to remove the text underline. It is a common practice for navigation not to have underlines as their placement and other feedback mechanisms make them more obviously links. However, you should be aware that modifying standard hyperlink behaviour (such as underlines) can be confusing for some users, who may not realise that the item is a link.
CSS CODE
#topnav ul
{
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
list-style-type: none;
}
#topnav ul li
{
display: inline;
} #topnav ul li a
{
text-decoration:none;
}
To make each list item into a box, we need to add padding to the “a” element.
CSS CODE
#topnav ul
{
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
list-style-type: none;
}
#topnav ul li
{
display: inline;
}
#topnav ul li a
{
text-decoration:none; padding: 1em 1em;
}
At this point a background color and border can be applied. There are many combinations of border and background colors that can be used.
create horizontal rollover list with css
CSS CODE
#topnav ul
{
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
list-style-type: none;
}
#topnav ul li
{
display: inline;
}
#topnav ul li a
{
text-decoration:none;
padding:1em 1em; color:#fff;
background-color:#808000;
}
Use “a:hover” to set a second background color, as a rollover. Roll over the list now you will see how it works.
CSS CODE
#topnav ul
{
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
list-style-type: none;
}
#topnav ul li
{
display: inline;
}
#topnav ul li a
{
text-decoration:none;
padding:1em 1em;
color:#fff;
background-color:#808000;
} #topnav ul li a:hover
{
color: #fff;
background-color:#000000;
}
To center the list, add “text-align: center;” to the “UL”.
CSS CODE
#topnav ul
{
margin: 0px;
padding: 0px;
list-style-type: none; text-align: center;
}
#topnav ul li
{
display: inline;
}
#topnav ul li a
{
text-decoration:none;
padding:1em 1em;
color:#fff;
background-color:#808000;
}
#topnav ul li a:hover
{
color: #fff;
background-color:#000000;
}
Here we discussed some points about website site seo and experience, We are going find out why people don’t visit your website. We made some seo points which are useful for every site.
Find out why people don’t visit your website
1. No free original content
It’s important to give your visitors information they can’t find anywhere else. If you’re the only source for a certain type of information, people will flock to your website.
find out why people don’t visit your website
2. No free software
Most people like to find good deals on software for their computers. If the software is free, that is even better.
3. No free contest or sweepstakes
It’s a fact, people like to win things. If you can fulfil that need, people will stop by to visit.
4. No free directory
Create a directory of web sites on a particular topic that is related to your target audience. People will visit because they will find what they’re looking for, all in one place.
5. No free e-zine
Most people love to get free information that they’re interested in e-mailed to them on a regular basis. This saves them time and money.
6. No free community
People like to have a place were they can have discussions with others on a particular subject. You could add a chat room or message board to your website.
7. No free affiliate program
One of people’s basic needs to survive is money. When you offer them a free opportunity to make money they’ll line up to visit your website.
8. No free online utility
When you offer a utility that can solve a problem, people will visit your website. The utility could be a free auto responder, e-mail account, search engine submission, etc.
9. No free current information
Supply news stories related to your website. People want up-to-date news on the topics they are interested in. They will also be interested in visiting your web site.
10. No free samples
Have you ever been to a store and you jumped at the chance to get a free sample of food? This same concept will also attract people to visit your web site.
Over 80% of consumers use search engines to find products and services. Here tricks and tips, how to make website search engine friendly.
These days, no website owner can afford not to have a search engine friendly website. There are a lot of things which one should do to achieve high-ranking like search engine friendly code, Link building, submit website to various directories, Sitemap, Meta tags etc.
how to make website search engine friendly
Writing quality code is the first step in making website search engine friendly. In this article we are covering the points which should be taken care of while coding the website:
how to make website search engine friendly
1. Use HTML for the content as much as possible. Avoid Flash, images, or other non-text formats.
Simple and cleanly coded website always rank higher than the flash based website. The non-text formats must be avoided in order to yield greater website accessibility. Not only the website becomes accessible to larger audience (Visually impaired or cognitive impaired users) but also can be accessed by a range of devices. The search spiders quickly spot the HTML coded and search engine friendly pages. Other advantages of using HTML are: faster loading, Cascading Style Sheet removing access load from server, browser compatibility, easy updating and maintenance.
2. Avoid login functionality to access the page unless it’s required. Search engine cannot index the page that requires login.
3. Do not use frames.
Using frames are considered to be a blunder by webmasters. Frames generally are not indexed by various search engines. Indexing leads to display of the embedded web addresses in frames, as the users are unable to navigate through the search results. Frames also create problem while printing, refreshing or bookmarking the webpage. Frames are becoming obsolete with the advent of AJAX and DIV layers.
4. Navigation should be in plain html. Avoid using flash.
Easy, simple coding in text like HTML facilitates the website to be ranked higher by the search engines.
5. Keep URL as short as possible. .
URL or the domain name is the essence of your website. Going by the KISS (Keep It Short and Simple) rule, the URL ought to be short as it would reduce the chances of misspelling and confusion by the visitors.
6. Static URL is always preferred over dynamic URL.
The search engines are able to index the static URLs in a comfortable manner than the dynamic URLs. Search engines can not access the dynamic and thus the websites lose on their market positioning.
7. Do not use numbers in URL.
Use of numbers in URL must be avoided to circumvent any confusion.
8. If possible, use keywords in URL.
Use of keywords communicates the basic crux of the website to the visitor and also invokes interest in the website, forcing the visitor to go through the website.
9. Separate words using Hyphens in URL.
Use of hyphens should be made clear in the URL else it may puzzle the visitor. Two words should be separated with the use of a hyphen as the search engine reads it as two words.
10. Always use lowercase in URL.
To maintain consistency and avoid any confusion, always use lowercase in URL.
11. Always add alt attribute for images, flash, audio & video file.
Alt attribute are a must while using images, flash, audio and video files as they are alternative names of the images and describe the files. The alt attribute basically lend a caption for such files and helps in search engine ranking.
12. Use Anchor text in links
The anchor text links are powerful tools for site optimization. Anchor text links provide a theme for the entire website.
13. Limit the length of title tag to 65 characters (including spaces) or less.
Different search engines accept different standards. Hence, to be on the safer side, it is important to limit the length of the title tag between 50-65 characters.
14. Incorporate keyword phrases in title tags.
Including 2-3 important keyword phrases of the website in the title tag facilitates good rankings by the search engines. However, the title tags must not be over burdened with keyword phrases as the chances are that the website would be blacklisted as spam. Each page with its own keyword phrase lends higher readership. A helpful tool for choosing which keywords to target is the Google Keyword Selection Tool.
15. Add Meta tags in the code.
Search engines use meta-tags to identify the objective of the website; therefore, meta-tags help in optimizing the website. The search crawlers determine the relevance of the meta-tags with respect to the content of the webpage.
16. Add Header Tags i.e, h1, h2, h3 etc.
Header tags as the name itself suggest are used to incorporate the headings in the text. The h1 header can be used to determine the main keyword and the h2 header tag can identify the next relevant keyword and so on.
17. Offload JavaScript and other non-text code (style sheets, etc.) to external files
18. Optimize images for fast loading
Larger images must be broken into smaller size images which enable uploading smaller images simultaneously and faster. Cropping unnecessary portions and reducing the image depth also help in loading the image faster.
19. Try to keep page size as low as possible
Lower the page size, lesser time will it take to load and thus would not distract the visitor from the website. Sometimes pages with larger size take ages to load and divert the potential user or client.
20. Validate your markup & CSS against w3c standards
Validating markup helps to identify the flaws or wrong coding on the webpage. The W3C standards are laid down to determine the errors and make the code neat & tidy.
CSS tutorial, how to create 3D push button effect using css, In this article, we given CSS code with result screenshots. Explained about creating 3d button using CSS only. Create a simple button with 3D look for your website using CSS.
Photoshop tutorial, how to turn a photo to canvas print using photoshop. In this article, we given full step by step guide with screenshots and with their short cut keys.
In this tutorial, we will learn to convert a normal picture to canvas print.
Step 1: Open your image in Photoshop which you want to convert into canvas print. Double click on Background layer and press OK to work on it.
how to turn a photo to canvas print using photoshop
Step 2: Press Shift+Control+U to desaturate the image:
how to turn a photo to canvas print using photoshop
Step 3: We now colorize this layer. For that, set the foreground color to #C78C66 and background to #F0E6A9.
Step 4: Select the Gradient Tool and select the Gradient:
Step 5: Create a New Layer and fill the image with this gradient from top to bottom. Now set the Blending Mode to Color this layer.
Step 6: Duplicate the layer by pressing Ctrl+J. Set the Blending Mode to Linear Light & reduce the opacity to 55%
Step 7: Now, press Ctrl+L to open the levels dialog box and set the values which I shown in the below image:
Step 8: Press Ctrl+Shift+E to merge all the layers. Now, we will use the texturizer filter to give it a canvas look. For that, go to Filter > Texture> Texturizer and give these values:
Now our image is looking like this:
Step 9: We will now apply lighting effect to give it more classic look. Go to Filter > Render > Lighting Effects and apply the settings as shown in the figure below:
You have successfully converted your picture to a canvas print.
In this blog, we’re going to learn how to create hollywood movie poster photoshop tutorial, blend photos together like Hollywood movie poster using Photoshop. We given step by step with their screenshots and given explanation about same.
how to create hollywood movie poster photoshop tutorial
Here’s the first photo I’ll be using:
how to create hollywood movie poster photoshop tutorial
Here’s the image I want to blend it with:
how to create hollywood movie poster photoshop tutorial
Step 1: The first thing we need in order to blend our two images together is for them to both be in the same document. To do that, with both of my images open on the screen in their own separate document windows, I’m going to grab my Move tool from the Tools palette, or I could press the letter V on my keyboard to quickly select it:
how to create hollywood movie poster photoshop tutorial
Then with my Move tool selected, I’m going to click anywhere inside the image of the couple walking on the beach to make that document window active, and I’m simply going to drag the image into the other document window:
how to create hollywood movie poster photoshop tutorial
When I release my mouse button, both images appear inside the same document, one on top of the other. I can also see both images now on their own separate layers in the Layers palette:
Step 2: Now that I’ve dragged the beach photo into the other document, I need to resize it, and I can do that easily with Photoshop’s Free Transform command. With the beach photo layer selected in the Layers palette, I’m going to use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T (Win) / Command+T (Mac) to bring up the Free Transform box and handles around the image.
Problem is, this image is in “landscape” mode, meaning its width is longer than its height, and I’ve dragged it into a document containing an image that’s in “portrait” mode (its height is longer than its width), so even though Photoshop has placed the Free Transform box and handles around my image, I can’t see any of the corner handles because the sides of the image are extending out beyond the viewable area of the document. To do that press F on your keyboard and you can move your image where you want.
When I’m happy with the new size of my image, I’m going to press Enter (Win) / Return (Mac) to accept the transformation.
Your background layer means couple layer is locked to work on it double click on background layer in a Layers pallete. Now the warning message is telling me that Photoshop can’t move the image because the layer is locked, press OK to work on it.
Step 3: Now we can begin blending them together. The first thing we need is a layer mask, and we’re going to add it to the layer on top (“Layer 1”), which is my case is the layer containing the beach photo, so I’m going to click on that layer in the Layers palette to select it. Then, click on the Add A Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette:
We can now see the layer mask thumbnail added to the top layer:
Step 4: Select your Gradient tool from the Tools palette, or press G to quickly access it with the keyboard shortcut.
Then, up in the Options Bar at the top of the screen, click on the down-pointing arrow to the right of the gradient preview area, which will bring up the Gradient Picker. Click on the black to white gradient in the top row, third from the left to select it:
Now drag the Gradient like I shown in below image:
Now my image is looking like this:
Step 5: With “Layer 1” still selected in the Layers palette, press Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E (Win) / Shift+Command+Option+E (Mac) to merge both layers onto a new layer above it, which Photoshop will name “Layer 2”:
Step 6: We’re going to remove all the color from the image at this point so we can add our own color, which we’ll do in a moment. To remove the colors, press Shift+Ctrl+U (Win) / Shift+Command+U (Mac) to desaturate the layer:
Step 7: Let’s add a little noise to the image to help the two photos blend more seamlessly together. Go to the Filter menu > Noise > Add Noise. This brings up the Add Noise dialog box. Set the Amount to somewhere between 1-6% depending on the pixel dimensions of your image. I’m working on a low resolution image for this tutorial, so I’m going to set mine to 1% just to add a hint of noise. Make sure Distribution is set to Gaussian, and also make sure the Monochromatic option at the very bottom is checked:
Step 8: All that’s left to do is add our own color to the image. For that, we’re going to use a Solid Color fill layer. Click on the New Fill Or Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. Then select Solid Color from the top of the list that appears:
how to create hollywood movie poster photoshop tutorial
Photoshop’s Color Picker will appear. Choose the color that you want to use for your image. I’m going to select a light orange for my color:
Click OK once you’ve chosen a color to exit out of the Color Picker. Don’t worry about choosing the “right” color at the moment because you can always change it later.
Step 9: Go to Blending Mode and select Color:
Your image will now be colorized with your chosen color rather than being blocked from view by it. If you decide you’re not happy with the color you chose, just double-click on the Solid Color fill layer’s color swatch icon in the Layers palette:
When you do that, the Color Picker will pop back up and you can choose a different color. Since the Solid Color fill layer is already set to the “Color” blend mode, you’ll be able to see a live preview of how your current color choice looks with your image.
Here’s my final result:
how to create hollywood movie poster photoshop tutorial
Photoshop Tutorial, create a web photo gallery in 5 minutes using photoshop, Photoshop makes it easy to share your pictures with friends and family using the automated Web Photo Gallery command. This command generates an index page of thumbnail images with hyperlinks to all your pictures. Adobe Photoshop CS3 allow someone with little or no web design experience to make stunning photo galleries.
create a web photo gallery in 5 minutes using photoshop
These instructions were written for Photoshop version 5.5. Later versions introduced more templates and options, but these instructions should be enough to get you started. :~
Prepare your photos for the Web by rotating, cropping, resizing, and color correcting, if necessary. Refer to the related information in the links below for tips on prepping your pictures.
Places the photos you want to include in the gallery in a folder on your hard drive.
Choose an empty folder or create a new one to use as a destination folder for the files created by the Photo Gallery command.
************************************************************************************************ Step 1: Open Photoshop & Go to File > Automate > Web Photo Gallery to open the photo gallery dialog box.
Step 2: At the very top of the window, take some time to choose the template you like best under the Styles drop down menu. Keep in mind that the Flash Template will take more bandwidth, require more time to load, and must be supported by a flash plugin (which most web browsers have anyway). With this in mind, the Flash-based styles do look very modern and attractive. You can see below in this image:
Step 3: Below that, insert your email address if you want it to be published on your site. If not, then just leave this segment blank.
Step 4: Now you have a photo gallery dialog box on your computer screen, click the “choose” button and select the folder containing your images. If thefolder contains sub-folders with images you want to include, check the box to include subdirectories.
Step 5:Next to Destination, click the “choose” button and select the empty folder. (I created it on my desktop)
Step 6: In the Site Name field, type a title that will appear on all the pages of your gallery. This is the text that also appears in the title bar when the page is viewed in a Web browser.
Step 7: If desired, fill in the Phototographer and Date fields. This information will also appear on the Web pages if it’s filled in.
Step 7: Click OK in the photo gallery dialog box.
And you’re done it!
Your Photo Gallery should automatically launch in your Web browser.
Photoshop has been a part of every web designer’s life since they picked up their first mouse. Here we given brief History of Adobe Photoshop with screenshots.
History of Adobe Photoshop
History of Adobe Photoshop
On February 10th, 2010, Photoshop turns twenty. To mark this anniversary, we’ve come up with an article that takes you through the evolution of Photoshop from its modest beginnings as a bundled program sold with scanners to its current version.
For each version and major feature listed, we couldn’t help but think “did Photoshop ever exist without that feature?”.
Some of the minor details are fun too, such as the one-liner Easter Eggs that Photoshop developers hid in some versions and the fact that the most current versions of Adobe Photoshop CS are equipped with anti-counterfeiting measures for multiple world currencies.
Please join us in thanking the Knolls and Adobe for making all of our lives more awesome, every day.
One of the most impressive things about the company is the fact that one gifted family, consisting of an engineering prof, a PHD engineering student, and a talented special effects whiz working at Industrial Light and Magic came up with the core idea of Photoshop.
Thomas Knoll, the PHD student, is still heavily involved with Photoshop years later.
Glen Knoll was a college professor with two sons and two hobbies; computers and photography.
He had a darkroom in his basement, and an Apple II Plus that he was allowed to bring home from work.
Thomas Knoll adopted his father’s photography habit throughout high school, while his brother, John Knoll, purchased one of the first Macs available to the public.
Fast forward to 1987: Thomas Knoll was a PHD student studying Engineering at the University of Michigan. His brother was working at Industrial Light and Magic.
Thomas Knoll wrote a subroutine for a program to translate monochrome images on his monitor to grayscale.
The successful subroutine led Knoll to create more and very soon he had a number of processes for achieving photographic effects on digital images.
After his brother John saw what Thomas was doing, he recommended that Thomas turn what he was doing into a full-featured image editor.
History of Adobe Photoshop
The combination of Thomas’ programming abilities with John’s pragmatic design background led to a collaboration between the two brothers to develop more processes and improve on the initial application.
Even though the process led to interruption in Thomas’ thesis work, the brothers released “Image Pro” in 1988.
John suggested that they begin to sell Image Pro as an application.
Within six months, the brothers had a partnership with a company that manufactured scanners, Barneyscan.
They purchased 200 copies of the program to ship with their scanners.
They called on Supermac and Aldus, but were turned away at both, a move that Aldus would come to seriously regret.
Shortly after, the Knoll brothers struck gold when they won over Adobe management with their product, and formed a licensing partnership with Adobe that was to launch their software and Adobe into the stratosphere.
We’ve included major changes within each version and some minor ones. This is meant to be a fun stroll down memory lane rather than a complete version catalogue.
If you have a particular version change that got your hackles up or a feature that you’d to mention, feel free to add it to the comments section.
1990 – Photoshop 1.0
John Knoll, Thomas’ brother, wrote “special effects” for the program which were frowned upon by Adobe staff as being too “gimmicky”. Thomas and John found a way to sneak them into Photoshop as plugins, giving rise to what is now a huge cottage industry in add-ons to the popular program.
John and Adobe staff constantly pushed Thomas to make improvements until the final product shipped.
The first version of the Photoshop splash screen features just four Photoshop programmers. In subsequent versions, more and more names are added to the list. In more recent versions, a limited number of Adobe VIP’s appear in the splash screen.
Photoshop 2.0 included the Path feature, which allowed users to trim around an object easily and to save that path for future use. This feature was added by a second engineer, Mark Hamburg, that Adobe hired to work on the application.
Up until 2.0, Thomas Knoll was the only engineer working on it. Adobe called Mark the “Path Man”. 2.0 also featured rasterizing for Illustrator files, support for CMYK colour which led to widespread Photoshop adoption by the printing industry, and the Pen.
Photoshop 2.0 also required 4 megabytes of RAM to run rather than 2, which really helped program stability.
Photoshop 2.5, released in 1992, was notable for being the first release for the Windows operating systems.The code had to be completely changed in order to accomplish this goal which meant that the first effort was slow going.
16-bit file support and palettes were added to this version as well. The initial Windows release had a “memory bug”, a bug which actually saw Mark Hamburg offer to make house calls. The patched version was released as 2.5.1. Filters got their own menu in 2.5 as well. The workspace shot below is of Photoshop 2.5 for the Mac.
The big story for Adobe Photoshop 3.0 was layers. Layers were and are a lifesaver for any marginally complex design.
Prior to their introduction, designers would save different versions of designs so that they could go back and grab them if needed; layers made this practice redundant.
Layers are individual slices of the image that go together to make the final “sandwich” of the image. Different images, such as those used in the image above in the 3.0 splash screen, are assigned their own layers, making it easy to work on those images without tampering with other areas of the image.
Thomas Knoll, the original creator of the program, was responsible for their development. Other engineers made improvements in the program’s performance with Power Mac chips and bringing the Windows version up to the same level as the Mac version. Tabbed palettes also had their debut in 3.0.
Adobe engineers included Adobe Transient Witticisms (ATW) with this version. They were little Easter Egg funny one-liners that would appear only when you pressed obscure combinations of keys.
Adjustment layers and macros were the two most notable features of Photoshop 4.0.
Adjustment layers allow the designer to apply one effect to a group of layers. Macros, or actions in Photoshop speak, allow you to map a series of commands to one command. This allows you to perform the same operation in much less time if you have a bunch of images to work on.
The most important change to 4.0 was the unification of the user interface with other Adobe products, a feature which Adobe has stayed consistent with right up to present-day incarnations of the program. This meant a less steep learning curve for Adobe products, a blessing for those who got their start with Photoshop 4.0.
Loyal users of Photoshop were not amused with the redesign, the common question from the community being “Why did you break Photoshop?”.
The two most important features released with 5.0 were editable type and the ability to undo actions multiple times in the “History” palette.
Previous versions of Photoshop allowed text to be added, but the fuzzy rasterized type didn’t make for pretty magazine mastheads or decent web menus. This was a huge step forward. Multiple undos via the History palette were very helpful, especially since designers were starting to use the new Adobe tools for increasingly complex designs.
Color Management made its debut with 5.0. Like other major changes to Photoshop, it was greeted with equal parts of praise and condemnation. It allowed colors to be managed natively within the application rather than relying on third-party tools that had been used, a huge improvement.
However, it also automatically converted the colors when opening files, a “feature” that engineers quickly eliminated after multiple user complaints. The magnetic lasso tool debuted in 5.0, making selecting areas of an image to work on much easier.
Photoshop 5.5 featured the huge time saver, “Save For Web”. This feature allows those who choose it to save the image in a preset specifically designed for web use which allows the user to adjust image quality to achieve a smaller image.
Version 5.0 had failed to take the Web into account with all of its other major feature changes on the table. It was also bundled with ImageReady, a standalone program that was purpose-built to edit web graphics.
Most of the features of ImageReady were later incorporated into the full version of Photoshop and the idea of a simpler program was reborn eventually in the form of Photoshop Elements.
The layer styles panel made working with layers even easier in Photoshop 6. Vector shapes were also added in this release; the ability to draw vector shapes such as arrows into a bitmap was lauded by users.
There was also a new custom shapes palette that allowed the user to draw using vector shapes rather than just using lines. Text could also now be typed directly onto a picture, rather than being typed first into a text box.
Multi-layer functions made their first appearance with version 6.0. The Blending Options dialogue was also introduced which made blending various elements of an image much easier. 6.0 separated the crop tool from the marquee tool, making it that much easier to get to this commonly used command.
With the increasing complexity of the tools available to users, Photoshop was risking losing a significant market share that didn’t understand or need some of its more advanced tools.
In order to combat this, they released Photoshop Elements in 2001. The new product was a success, and designers continue to recommend it to clients for simple image resizing and other non-design tasks.
While its current interface, shown below, isn’t intuitive for those trained in traditional Photoshop, it is highly usable and labeled clearly for the average user. If there are any problems with it in terms of functionality, the simple answer is to upgrade to the full-featured Photoshop.
Version 7.0 introduced the healing brush and text that was fully vector-based. More importantly to veteran users, it introduced a new file browser that let designers easily pore through folders to find the graphics that they wanted.
Files within a folder could be renamed using Batch Rename, plus a bunch of other helpful commands that made working with a high volume of files much easier.
Workspaces could also be created and saved, allowing you to save your file locations and groups for future use.
The brush palette also featured a number of changes, including the new healing brush tool, patch tool, and the ability to create custom brushes. Spell check and a find/replace feature rounded out the updates to the text tool.
A number of enhancements were also included for web use, including the addition of rollover effects for images and a web gallery feature.
One of the most important upgrades was under the hood; 7.0 was optimized for use with Mac OS X, virtually eliminating crashes in the middle of working on large files. The tool presets palette let users program presets for commonly performed tasks, increasing efficiency.
Photoshop CS was the first to employ the CDS (counterfeit deterrence system) which recognized and refused to allow duplication of paper currency.
Scripting support for various web languages, including JavaScript, was also new to this release.
Layer groups were introduced with this version, which allowed various layers to be grouped together for effects to be applied to some and not others.
Improvements to the File Browser made images easier to work with, and the 16-bit and better large file support made CS much easier to work with for designers who constantly worked with larger images and photographers.
The red eye removal tool, previously exclusive to Elements, was popular enough to make an appearance in the core version of Photoshop. Smudging options and the ability to select multiple layers also added to the functionality of Photoshop.
The Vanishing Point tool allowed users to edit images in perspective. The largest moment of panic when upgrading to PS2 came for most when they tried to find the Paint Bucket tool, which had been classified under the Gradient tool. There were other significant changes to the UI that prompted one writer to put out this “Where’s My Stuff?” column.
Layers and the layers palette were other areas of note. The “links” column was removed because CS2 included a link button rather than the small chains beside each layer. The “Smart Object” feature was introduced, which allows the user to scale a layer up without significant loss of quality.
A faster load was probably the most noticeable feature of this 2007 release. It included fine tuning to a number of its existing tools rather than focusing on new ones.
The most notable new feature was graphic optimization for mobile devices, a feature which many web designers focusing on mobile design were thankful for. This version also saw significant feature updates to Adobe Camera RAW, a Quick Select tool, alterations to core commands like Brightness and Contrast and Black and White conversion.
CS3 shipped in Standard and Extended editions. The Extended version was intended for high end video and scientific users. Improved performance for Intel-based Macs significantly improved the speed of Photoshop, while Windows users also enjoyed performance upgrades. The new Quick Selection tool put the rest of the selection tools in Photoshop to shame with easy object selection with one or two strokes.
Cloning became easier in CS3 with the birth of the Clone Source palette which increased the options available to the Clone Stamp tool in an easily accessible palette.
The smoother pan and zoom allowed for fast drill down on the areas of an image that you wanted to look at. Prior to this, there was a lag time of a few seconds (depending on your system) if you wanted to zoom in or out on an image.
The Masks and Adjustments panel was added, making working with masks easier. CS 4 also dealt with edges on masks more effectively. Colour correction took a huge step forward with this release.
The user interface was significantly simplified in CS4. The support of tabbed documents made it much easier to use and the main tools were added to the title bar for easier access. Quick access for common actions was made available in the panel area.
Thomas Knoll
Thomas was the lead developer of Photoshop right up until CS 4. He now leads up the Camera Raw plugin for Photoshop, which allows Photoshop to develop a smooth handshake between different models of camera raw image formats.
History of Adobe Photoshop
John Knoll
John is still employed by Industrial Light and Magic as a Visual Effects Supervisor. He was the Visual Effects Supervisors for the recent efforts on the first three Star Wars prequel films. He also supervised work on two Star Trek movies, Star Trek episodes, and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
Glenn Knoll
Their father is a teacher at the University of Michigan in the Engineering Department.
In this tutorial we’re going to show you how you can remove freckles easily and quickly using Photoshop. In very simple steps you will be able to create the freckles face effect with photoshop.
how to remove freckles of face using photoshop
Step 1: Once your image in Photoshop, duplicate your background layer by choosing ‘layer>duplicate layer’ or simply drag your background layer to ‘create new layer’ button in the layer pallete.
how to remove freckles of face using photoshop
Step 2: Now apply gaussian blur (Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur) to your background copy. Try to drag the slider slowly to the right until you see the freckles are no longer visible.
Step 3: If you can’t find your history pallete on the screen, go to window > history to bring up the history pallete
Step 4: Now click on the duplicate layer state to return your photo to what it looked like when you haven’t applied the gaussian blur. Also click in the first column next to gaussian blur state.
Step 5: Choose the ‘History Brush’ from your tool pallete. Change the History Brush’s Mode to ‘lighten’ to keep from simply painting in a blurry version of our photo.
Step 6: Start to paint your photo to remove the freckles. If you find that the person looks ‘too clean’ you can always undo your step, and lower the opacity of the brush and try again.
