Photoshop has a new interface just for app designers

By Jon Martindale June 23, 2015

Introducing Design Space (Technology Preview)

For those looking to put together an eye-catching, intuitive interface for their smartphone app, Photoshop just became a much more viable option. Adobe has announced a new interface choice for Photoshop CC which is designed to be just the ticket for app UI creators, with a streamlined interface of its own. It’s also entirely open source and built using HTML 5. Click on the video above for a taste of its features.

This is a somewhat early release, so adopters are encouraged to factor in that not every feature may be present or working entirely correctly, but Adobe claims that it was simply keen to let people in on what it’s been working on as soon as possible.

It’s built to optimize the creation experience, reducing the amount of distance between related icons, cutting back on clicks and drags, as well as on clutter and unnecessary features which would otherwise get in the way. The result is an interface that should be easier to operate, permitting a more efficient use of the designer’s time.

Presets for various screen sizes are also included, meaning designers can jump to different handset builds to see how their UI will scale to the different systems. Tools are automatically selected when double-clicking certain portions of the design window, meaning you don’t need to keep diving into the different toolbar menus and you can even have certain objects switch places if you want to rearrange things.

For those that want to try out the new interface, it will be shipping as a technology preview within the 2015 build of Photoshop CC. Adobe is hoping that those who do try it out will provide feedback, as it wants to continue development in the future.

What are some of the features you would like to see in the new Photoshop CC Design Space interface?

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Computing Coordinator

Jon Martindale is the Evergreen Coordinator for Computing, overseeing a team of writers addressing all the latest how to…

Photography

You can now Photoshop someone out of an image with one click

adobe photoshop lightroom june 2020 updates select subject copy

Adobe Photoshop’s artificial intelligence can now handle one of the most time-consuming manual editing tasks: Creating a mask around hair. In a major update across its entire photo and video ecosystem, Adobe announced a bevy of new features, including smarter selections in Photoshop, a new local hue tool in Lightroom, and a Lightroom-esque overhaul for Adobe Camera RAW.

Photoshop’s Select Subject tool isn't new, but today's update will make it much more useful to anyone working with photos of people. The tool uses A.I. to automatically select and mask the subject of the photograph, but previous implementations fell short when it came to complex selections -- like hair. That’s changing, Adobe says, with an update to the algorithm that allows Select Subject to first recognize what that subject is and refine its selection based on that context. When a person is detected, additional algorithms are used specifically to mask out the subject’s hair.

Photography

How to make and install Photoshop actions to speed up your editing workflow

How to resize an image on Photoshop.

Photoshop actions are an easy way to turn complex, multi-step edits into a one-click process. Actions record your exact steps and allow you to replay them to repeat the same edit across other photos. Photoshop pros often make their actions available to download, but you can also easily create your own.

Actions work best for edits that don’t vary between images. For example, a Photoshop action to correct white balance will only work on images that start with the same exact white balance settings, while wreaking havoc on others. The same idea applies to local edits -- local adjustments don’t work for actions unless you want the same effect in the same exact location on subsequent photos.

News

Photoshop just turned 30. So what’s coming in the next three decades?

photoshop is 30 rockers 1 copy

Adobe Photoshop turns 30 today, but instead of a party, the industry-standard photo editor is doing some self-reflection and making a handful of tweaks. In an update that launched on February 18, Photoshop for desktop gains several improvements to the workspace and performance, while the young iPad version sees a larger update as several major features migrate to the tablet version. As part of the anniversary, Adobe also offered a glimpse at what’s next for the now 30-year-old software.

The list of updates on the desktop starts with a why-wasn’t-this-always-like-this tweak. The Content-Aware Fill tool will now fill multiple areas without leaving the tool and going back into the workspace. Photo editors can click “apply” to fill one area and remain in the content-aware fill workspace, or click “OK” when finished with the tool entirely.