

Ask HN: Learning photoshop for web design - truthseeker

Hello HN,<p>I am a hacker who can't design. I can put together css/html but can't create a shiny button if my life depended on it.<p>I am lost when it comes to layers and other photoshop stuff. I would like to change that.
I am not sure if self learning is going to be easy. 
What are some resources for learning photoshop quickly.
1. preferably online classes with someone to mentor.
2. Dead simple screencasts ala railscasts.<p>thanks
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moozeek
Before you put time in learning Photoshop maybe you can try Adobe Fireworks
first, which is Adobes "web designer" product. It's much more intuitive than
Photoshop, which I never managed to get around with, no layer stuff etc. Just
draw, paint and put your objects on the canvas, it manages the layers
automagically. Fireworks combines vector and bitmap graphics, you can open and
save PSD files and for web design purposes I did not miss anything yet. Also
it's much cheaper (around 300 USD?). I guess you can start playing with it
with no tutorial, but of course there are resources like
<http://www.fireworkszone.com/> or
<http://www.entheosweb.com/fireworks/default.asp>. And they regularly post
resources on their Facebook channel <https://www.facebook.com/AdobeFireworks>

~~~
sambeau
If you are using Windows, an alternative cheaper option is Microsoft's
Expression Design which is great for web and UI design and can often be picked
up cheaply online (plus it has a rather generous 60-day trial).

[http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/Design_Overview...](http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/Design_Overview.aspx)

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sdfjkl
I've tried to learn Photoshop from tutorials a few times and failed each time.
Either the tutorials were for a newer/older version than I had, or they
assumed basic Photoshop knowledge which I lacked, or they were flawed and
missed an important step and never worked.

In the end I picked up a workable knowledge by watching a 2D designer work
with it for a few afternoons and occasionally interjecting questions ("that's
really useful! Which hotkey was that?").

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pvarangot
My main use of photoshop is for photography and not design... but disclaimer
aside I beleive The Russel Brown Show should be useful for you:
<http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html>

Also, for buttons and icons maybe you should be getting away from pixels and
more into vectorial. Try searching for Illustrator tutorials on shiny or
glossy buttons as a start.

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LarryA
In case its a case of not 'getting' bitmap editing... You might consider a
vector editor - like Illustrator or Inkscape. Works more like a programmer's
mind; where you need to tweak elements and can always go back. Photoshop
doesn't always give you that flexibility.

There are also tutorials on-line on doing buttons and such for
inkscape/illustrator.

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cschmidt
I've never seen them myself, but I've heard good things about the videos on
Lynda.com. This one looks a lot like what you're looking for....

[http://www.lynda.com/Photoshop-CS5-tutorials/for-the-
web/657...](http://www.lynda.com/Photoshop-CS5-tutorials/for-the-
web/65718-2.html)

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brudgers
Learning Photoshop quickly is analogous to learning Visual Studio quickly.
It's not the software that makes the difference, it's the wetware; and no
tutorial is going to give you years of experience and a good eye for
aesthetics.

So just fire that baby up and start drawing.

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maxdemarzi
<http://psd.tutsplus.com/> but don't over do it.

Just grab something off <http://themeforest.net/> , minor tweaks, and call it
done.

~~~
truthseeker
I've looked through and tried to follow some tips on psdtuts. Most of them are
over my head too (unfortunately).

I started looking for courses in community colleges around my area but haven't
found any that are geared towards web designers.

Yeah, themeforest is the route I usually take but to customize anything, I am
still lost.

