A gripe about the Photoshop GUI

2Shy

Jul 20, 2005

I’m assuming you have at least a 19" monitor. If so, change your monitor’s resolution to 1280 x 1024. That will make things much easier on your eyes. "Norm Dresner" wrote in message

I guess what I really want to do is influence the design of the next version
of Photoshop to make it more "user-friendly" — or at least friendlier to old guys like me whose eyesight isn’t what it used to be — if it ever was.

Having recently upgraded from a comparatively primitive version (5.5) of Photoshop to the L&G version (CS2) I’m greatly enamored of some (at least what I think are) added features in the new version. [Of course it could be
that I’ve just discovered the feature but it’s still new to me.].
Anyway, I just tried the filter gallery and it took me a few minutes before
I found in the on-line help how to preview multiple filters at one time. It
hinges on creating a new adjustment layer which the only on-screen way to do
is to click a tiny icon on the bottom of the Layers Gallery. Now when I say
tiny, I mean that it actually measures 1-1/5 millimeters square on a screen
that’s 28 cm high! [For you non-metric guys, that’s about 1/16" square on an
11" high screen]. Yes, I think there’s also a keyboard shortcut for it but
I shouldn’t be forced to move my hands between the keyboard and the mouse that often, another sign of poor user-interface design.

Since my screen resolution is currently 1920×1440, the whole icon represents
an area about 5 pixels square.

Hey! Couldn’t they afford a few more pixels?!

I went to the EDIT | PREFERENCES menu and tried changing the UI text-size but the icon remained the same size. Have I missed something important or am I stuck with a 1/16" square icon?

Stephan

Jul 20, 2005

Norm Dresner wrote:

snip<
Since my screen resolution is currently 1920×1440, the whole icon represents an area about 5 pixels square.

Hey! Couldn’t they afford a few more pixels?!

No wonder: 1920 is a lot!
I am lucky to have a 20 vision on both eyes but over 1600 I can’t see a thing even on my very sharp Sony 21" display.

Stephan

Tom Thomas

Jul 20, 2005

"Norm Dresner" wrote:

—- snip —-

Since my screen resolution is currently 1920×1440, the whole icon represents an area about 5 pixels square.

Hey! Couldn’t they afford a few more pixels?!

You must be a masochist to run that resolution on a mid-sized monitor. I can’t imagine any GUI that is going to be particularly "friendly" at a resolution that is inappropriate for the available screen space. ——————
Tom

Unsolicited advertisements cheerfully ignored.

Norm Dresner

Jul 20, 2005

"2Shy" wrote in message

I’m assuming you have at least a 19" monitor. If so, change your monitor’s resolution to 1280 x 1024. That will make things much easier on your eyes.

Unfortunately I have other applications for which I absolutely need that resolution and switching back and forth is a pain since some of them remain up all the time. Speaking as a Windows programmer, it’s not that difficult to make icon sizes adjustable in a program.

Norm

Hecate

Jul 20, 2005

On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 15:30:49 GMT, "Norm Dresner" wrote:

Since my screen resolution is currently 1920×1440, the whole icon represents an area about 5 pixels square.

Unless you’re using a at least a 24" monitor I’m not surprised you can’t see them! 😉

—

Hecate – The Real One

Fashion: Buying things you don’t need, with money
you don’t have, to impress people you don’t like…

Stewy

Jul 20, 2005

In article
<J6uDe.453503$>,
"Norm Dresner" wrote:

I guess what I really want to do is influence the design of the next version of Photoshop to make it more "user-friendly" — or at least friendlier to old guys like me whose eyesight isn’t what it used to be — if it ever was.
Having recently upgraded from a comparatively primitive version (5.5) of Photoshop to the L&G version (CS2) I’m greatly enamored of some (at least what I think are) added features in the new version. [Of course it could be that I’ve just discovered the feature but it’s still new to me.].
Anyway, I just tried the filter gallery and it took me a few minutes before I found in the on-line help how to preview multiple filters at one time. It hinges on creating a new adjustment layer which the only on-screen way to do is to click a tiny icon on the bottom of the Layers Gallery. Now when I say tiny, I mean that it actually measures 1-1/5 millimeters square on a screen that’s 28 cm high! [For you non-metric guys, that’s about 1/16" square on an 11" high screen]. Yes, I think there’s also a keyboard shortcut for it but I shouldn’t be forced to move my hands between the keyboard and the mouse that often, another sign of poor user-interface design.

Since my screen resolution is currently 1920×1440, the whole icon represents an area about 5 pixels square.

Hey! Couldn’t they afford a few more pixels?!

I went to the EDIT | PREFERENCES menu and tried changing the UI text-size but the icon remained the same size. Have I missed something important or am I stuck with a 1/16" square icon?

I’m afraid you’re going to have to do what I did a couple of years ago – get short focus reading glasses. One problem with middle (read-old) age is our eyes become short and long-sighted at the same time and either you get bi-focals or in my case another pair. Is there a keyboard shortcut you can use? (I’m still working with CS1 – Photoshop 8)

Nicholas Sherlock

Jul 21, 2005

Norm Dresner wrote:

"2Shy" wrote in message

I’m assuming you have at least a 19" monitor. If so, change your monitor’s resolution to 1280 x 1024. That will make things much easier on your eyes.

Unfortunately I have other applications for which I absolutely need that resolution and switching back and forth is a pain since some of them remain up all the time. Speaking as a Windows programmer, it’s not that difficult to make icon sizes adjustable in a program.

But it does involve creating two whole sets of icons, and (probably) updating large parts of their UI code. The rest of the UI has to be drawn larger to accomodate them.

Cheers,
Nicholas Sherlock

Sean

Jul 21, 2005

On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 21:30:02 GMT, "Norm Dresner" reverently intoned upon the aether:

"2Shy" wrote in message

I’m assuming you have at least a 19" monitor. If so, change your monitor’s resolution to 1280 x 1024. That will make things much easier on your eyes.

Unfortunately I have other applications for which I absolutely need that resolution and switching back and forth is a pain since some of them remain up all the time. Speaking as a Windows programmer, it’s not that difficult to make icon sizes adjustable in a program.

Norm

The Nvidia display drivers include a multiple desktop feature that allows you to have different resolutions on different desktops which will make the resolution switch automatic. Not perfect and I do not use it as I find multiple desktops annoying (reduces my efficiency).

a thought,

Sean

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."

– Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

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Last Updated 23 June 2005

Norm Dresner

Jul 21, 2005

Hey, guys. The only program I really have a problem with in this regard (GUI icons too small) is Photoshop. My computer isn’t set up wrong and my monitor’s okay too. The real problem is the design of the Photoshop GUI. I don’t really want a work-around, I’ve already got one — squinting! What I really want is for Adobe to fix the program so it’s usable by multiple generations of users.

Norm

poza

Jul 22, 2005

Norm Dresner wrote:

"2Shy" wrote in message

I’m assuming you have at least a 19" monitor. If so, change your monitor’s resolution to 1280 x 1024. That will make things much easier on your eyes.

Unfortunately I have other applications for which I absolutely need that resolution and switching back and forth is a pain since some of them remain up all the time. Speaking as a Windows programmer, it’s not that difficult to make icon sizes adjustable in a program.

Not to be snarky but it also is not all that difficult to change your monitor resolution (and you don’t have to be a programmer). Since Adobe can’t begin to guess what resolution users will prefer while using any particular application, it doesn’t seem fair to say they made the icons too small. Can’t Windows users write a macro to automatically change the resolution when launching an application and change it back when they quit the application? (Mac users can but I don’t know what various permutations of Windows can do in this regard.)

You have the ability to make your situation better with one or two clicks but you’d rather Adobe created multiple sets of icons to suit various resolutions. That seems a bit unreasonable.

Orchid

GraphWiz

Jul 23, 2005

Stephan wrote:

Norm Dresner wrote:

snip<
Since my screen resolution is currently 1920×1440, the whole icon represents an area about 5 pixels square.

Hey! Couldn’t they afford a few more pixels?!

No wonder: 1920 is a lot!
I am lucky to have a 20 vision on both eyes but over 1600 I can’t see a thing even on my very sharp Sony 21" display.

Stephan

Yes, 1920 seems a bit too much of a good thing. It’s difficult to render images well when you set the bar that high– it’s something like staring at a Van Gogh painting from a centimeter away, your resolution is high but your image quality (perceived) is atrociously low for what you’re attempting.

Sanjay

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