CS3 Palette Well?….Simple question please help.

JL
Posted By
J_L
Sep 3, 2007
Views
556
Replies
12
Status
Closed
I just upgraded to CS3 from CS2. CS2 has a "Palette Well" in the upper right hand corner which I have my brush window ‘docked.’ If anyone could please tell me how to get my brushes on this Palette Well in CS3 I would *greatly appreciate it.* I have searched adobe.com/support, read the FAQ, the knowledge base, and so on with no avail. Thanks for your help. -JL
Related Tags
help palette question simple

MacBook Pro 16” Mockups šŸ”„

– in 4 materials (clay versions included)

– 12 scenes

– 48 MacBook Pro 16″ mockups

– 6000 x 4500 px

MV
Mathias_Vejerslev
Sep 3, 2007
The Palette Well is gone. But with the new icon mode and saveable workspaces, I don’t miss it at all.
F
fornus
Sep 7, 2007
WHY DID THEY TAKE THE PALETTE WELL AWAY?

I really don’t like the new Photoshop interface. It takes up a lot more screen space, and it seems like IĀ’m constantly clicking to open and close palettes. 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.

Most of my files have dozens if not hundreds of layers, so I like to keep my layers palette open. I experimented with having the layers palette collapse into icon mode, but it seemed like I was constantly clicking to open the palette. Furthermore, when the layers palette opens up from its icon it takes up way more screen space than it did in CS2.

See screenshots:
Layers Palette in CS3: www.fornus.com/CS3-LayersPalette.jpg Layers Palette in CS2: www.fornus.com/CS2-LayersPalette.jpg

The most frustrating aspect of the new interface is trying to find a place to put the palettes that once sat in the Palette Well. I am currently putting these palettes to the left of the layers palette, but as you can clearly see from the screenshots below this is wasting a lot of screen space.

See screenshots:
Wasteful CS3 Interface: www.fornus.com/CS3.jpg
Efficient CS2 Palette Well: www.fornus.com/CS2.jpg

The new dock opens palettes into the center of the screen where they typically cover up the image I am trying to work on. The old Palette Well opened palettes down the side of the screen away from the image.

For the final insult, Adobe changed the background color of the palettes to a very light shade of gray. This makes the new palettes more prominent thereby making it even more obvious how much screen space they are wasting.

Thanks Adobe. You have over-engineered an otherwise excellent product, and created a problem where there was none. Congratulations!
C
chrisjbirchall
Sep 7, 2007
double post.
C
chrisjbirchall
Sep 7, 2007
Fornus. Cut and pasting like this from your own thread and hijacking someone elses thread will not win you any friends here.

This is a USER to USER forum – not a place to rant!

Read the replies. You’ll find a lot of useful advice. Ask sensible questions and you’ll get sensible answers. Join the community – don’t alienate yourself. And if you have any usefull suggestions pop them into the "Feature Request" forum. Many users, including myself, have seen their suggestions acted upon in future upgrades.
JJ
John_Joslin
Sep 7, 2007
You’ll get used to it.

And you may even get to like it! šŸ™‚
F
fornus
Sep 7, 2007
Chris,

I apologize for the double post. I posted here first and then started my own thread. I didn’t mean to offend anyone, but I am frustrated and I am looking for a place to vent.

I am a big fan of Adobe and have been using Photoshop since version 4. I have never had a problem with a new Photoshop feature before. Also, it has been several months since I switched to CS3 and I still haven’t gotten used to the new interface.

I am eager to accept suggestions and have sought advice elsewhere, but the simple fact remains: the new interface opens palettes into the center of the screen. There is nothing anyone can do or say that will change this, so at this point I’m just looking for reassurance that I’m not the only one who is bothered by this. Misery loves company.

Once again, I apologize for offending anyone with my double post. This will be my last rant on the matter.
RB
Robert_Barnett
Sep 8, 2007
I we don’t like people that feel the need to scream (that is what all caps is on the net) about the same thing in several posts. One post on this subject was enough. More just makes you look like an idiot troll looking to stir up trouble.

Robert
C
chrisjbirchall
Sep 8, 2007
Fornus, the fact you say the palettes open in the middle of the screen leads me to believe you really have not explored the new workspace in the several months you’ve been using CS3.

The transition from the CS2 to the CS3 workspace really is not difficult and the new format takes up less real estate, not more.

You can customize all you like, but start off with the "Basic" layout (not default).

Even with this basic layout you have just as much if not more space than before. Compare the CS3 and CS2 screenshots below:

..

Finally, see how much better your workspace would be if you spread the load over two monitors. (Any old second hand cheap monitor will do for the tools). One you’ve used dual monitors, you’ll never look back.
F
fornus
Sep 8, 2007
Thanks for trying Chris. I appreciate the effort. I’ve tried a setup similar to the one you posted and there are two reasons I don’t like it:

1.) All of the palettes have to be crammed into one vertical space. As I mentioned in my first post, my files often have many layers so I like to keep the layers palette open. I also like to have my layers palette run the length of the screen. It is not much fun scrolling through dozens of layers in a tiny little palette.

2.) Another thing that really bothers me about this setup is that the palettes will constantly change sizes. Look what happens to your setup when you click on the Brushes palette:

<http://www.fornus.com/CS3-Chris-Brushes.jpg>

Thanks once again for the two monitors advice. I truly believe this is a great way to work, but a second monitor doesn’t make the new interface any better.
C
chrisjbirchall
Sep 8, 2007
All of the palettes have to be crammed into one vertical space

No they don’t. Individual palettes can be broken out individually and placed wherever you like.

————-

what bothers me about this setup is that the palettes will constantly change sizes. Look what happens to your setup when you click on the Brushes palette

Only if the Brushes palette is opened from the dock. If you break it out (as above) this won’t happen.

In any case F5 will toggle the Brush palette on and off from wherever it opens. And remember – TAB will toggle ALL your palette to give you a "clean screen".

Keep experimenting. We’ll have you "converted" yet! šŸ˜‰
F
fornus
Sep 8, 2007
I would be thrilled if you could convert me, but its going to require a little bit more. I really want to like the new interface, but I feel like it limits my options.

Ultimately, my complaint with the new interface is that palettes cannot be docked where the Palette Well once was. Adobe has released an upgrade that took away what I considered to be a useful feature.

Yes, individual palettes can be taken from the dock and placed anywhere, and some of them can be turned on and off with a keyboard shortcut, and we can even hide all of the palettes with the Tab key, but these are all old features that Adobe, thankfully, decided to keep.

I’m particularly glad that you mentioned the Tab key. Palettes that can collapse into icons seem superfluous to me when I already had the ability to completely hide them with the Tab key.

Thanks for your time and patience Chris. I’m tired of whining about this, and I’m absolutely certain that nobody here wants to hear it anymore. I’m sure that I will eventually adapt to the loss of the Palette Well.
BD
Brett Dalton
Sep 9, 2007
you are aware that EVERY pallet in the icon well can be torn off and it will disappear leaving you with a CS2 interface. No wasted space. They all remeber their respective sizes, although there is a bug when going between the Brushes pallet tab and another tab in the same group the size get set by the brush one. This is the only tab i’ve noticed this behaviour.

BRETT

Master Retouching Hair

Learn how to rescue details, remove flyaways, add volume, and enhance the definition of hair in any photo. We break down every tool and technique in Photoshop to get picture-perfect hair, every time.

Related Discussion Topics

Nice and short text about related topics in discussion sections