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If you haven’t used Styles in Adobe Photoshop, you’re missing out on a simple way to add visual styles to objects quickly. If you have used them, the following tip may make applying them quicker. Rather than selecting the layer you want to apply the style to, then clicking the particular style from the Styles panel, try dragging the style from the Styles panel and dropping it on the object in your Photoshop document you wish to apply it to. Why is this quicker? Because you don’t have to worry about which layer is active. You can drag a style to anything on any layer, not just the current active layer.
Shortcut to apply Layer Styles to objects in Photoshop
Shortcut to apply Layer Styles to objects in Photoshop
Adobe CS4 Printing Guide available for download
Adobe CS4 Printing Guide available for download
Adobe has posted the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Printing Guide, which serves as both a detailed technical reference for handling Adobe Creative Suite 4 Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Acrobat files from your customers, and as a training tool for your staff. If you want to know more about graphics, exporting and printing, font issues, working with book files, output troubleshooting, color management and more, you’ll find this downloadable PDF guide extremely helpful. Direct-download links: CS4 Print Guide – low-res (PDF, 4.6mb) CS4 Print Guide – high res (PDF, 18.1mb) If you’re still using Adobe Creative Suite 3, you can download the Creative Suite 3 Printing Guides here: CS3 Print Guide – low res (PDF, 6.6mb) CS3 Print Guide – high res (PDF, 24.4mb)
Save more of your Photoshop history
Save more of your Photoshop history
One of the coolest features Adobe ever added to Photoshop is the History panel. It allows you to be creative and not worry about losing previous work once you apply filters and tweaks. A little known feature is the ability to customize your history. 
Click the fly-out menu from the top of the History panel and select History Options. From the dialog box that comes up you can adjust a few things that may make your History panel a little more useful.
Font management with Suitcase Fusion 2
Font management with Suitcase Fusion 2
The name is familiar. Everything else is groundbreaking. Extensis Suitcase Fusion 2 redefines professional font management with a sleek, modern interface, time-saving tools and unmatched stability. Dynamic searching and advanced auto-activation in Fusion 2 makes selecting and activating fonts a snap. I’ve written a full review of Suitcase Fusion 2, which you can read at Macworld’s Creative Notes blog, where I covered the user interface, auto-activation, and my real-world experience using the application. Over the last few months, I’ve been using Fusion 2 with great results. Gone are the days of slow launch times of not only Suitcase, but InDesign, Illustrator and Quark as well. This is partially because Fusion 2 no longer needs to be open in order for font auto-activation to work. I’ve had no issues with crashing, fonts embedded in .eps files, or any other issues that seemed to have plagued previous versions of Suitcase. The new tear-off preview menus are a nice touch, as is the simple interface – right down to the icon. Everything is just easier and faster with Fusion 2. If you’re looking to upgrade your font management application, take a look at my review of Extensis SuitcaseFusion 2.
Another way to sharpen images in Adobe Photoshop
Another way to sharpen images in Adobe Photoshop
There are lots of ways to sharpen an image in Photoshop, and there’s really no right or wrong way. But there are better ways than others. I think you’ll find the following method to be interesting, and provide pretty good results. 
First, place a copy of the image on a second layer by hitting Command + J. Set the newly duplicated layer’s blending mode to Overlay. Now go to the menubar and select Filter>Other>High Pass. Use a starting value around 4 to 6. You can adjust the values to your liking.
Inspiring Web site header graphics
Inspiring Web site header graphics
Toxel has listed 24 beautiful and creative Web site headers for your inspiration. Some of them are simply stunning. By the way, if you haven’t bookmarked Toxel in your RSS reader & Web browser, you should. They often list truly inspiring articles and imagery.