Usability of Photoshop - 0/10

[Spainhighlander]

Hi there

I am sorry to have to post this item, but I have become so disappointed with Photoshop that I was compelled to purchase an alternative image editor despite having already made a considerable outlay for PSE.

One cannot deny that PSE has all the 'bells and whistles' that one could ever wish for as a web designer.

However, at the end of the day, a piece of equipment, despite its advanced technology, must have usability ... that is, the user should not be afraid to try something new without the fear that his work will disappear, be able to produce items required, have information eaaily available ... the list is endless.

For me, and perhaps others, Photoshop is like the Concorde aircraft ..... highly technologocal, with all the electronic wizardry, but dangerous to fly.

The section designers of this program seem to have tried to outdo each other with the technology, but have forgotten that people need to use it.

I have ditched PSE and bought ADOBE FIREWORKS CS4 ... same company ... but maybe with a modicum of Macromedia people still in the game. It is a pleasure to work with .... maybe not as sophisticated (probably the wrong word ... decadent... might be more appropriate) as PSE ... but you can try things out to your heart's content ... without the fear of becoming embroiled in a quagmire of navbars and irrelevant information, not to metion a text that requires a microscope to read ... and just look at the text colour and background.

There will be those of you who will shout 'Shame on you for criticising' ... there always are protectors... and if you are happy withit, wel, that's grand but I suspect that there will be many designers out there in the world who feel as I do .... they think it is their own poor understanding ... it is not ! It is Adobe's PSE Team.

I asked a couple of educational psychologists to look at it ( ... and at my abilities... because I am also in the equation) ... and it is their comments which prompted me to say what I feel.

Thank goodness there are alternatives .... sorry PSE ... 0/10 for considering the user !!

Regards from sunny Spain

Hippy

[dflynn]

(This should really be in the Off Topic forum, since the "Feedback / Bug Report" applies to the DEVPPL forum, not your Photoshop. This isn't the Adobe forums.)

Photoshop Elements?
Who uses Elements?

One cannot deny that PSE has all the 'bells and whistles' that one could ever wish for as a web designer.

Does it even have a pen tool? Can't do too much with out that.

If you're not using Photoshop (not elements) then yeah, Illustrator, or maybe even Fireworks would be better to use.

You can't properly compare something like Fireworks - the full fledged program - to a bared down version of Photoshop.

And if you're trying to use PS Elements and you aren't brand new to photoediting, or are expecting to be able to anything your want, it's not going to work for you. PSE is designed for the "better than average, but not quite good enough" computer user where they can alter their family photos quickly and with relative ease. Instead of seeing a complex grey and white menu system they're presented with bright colours and cartoonish icons to navigate by. Under educated users aren't wary of the buttons they press as long as they know what 5 icons to click to get the effect they think they want.

PSE is like elementary school where as Photoshop is like University. You thought you were some amazing talent in PSE until you upgraded to Photoshop and found that you were at the bottom of the barrel.

Just saying. So PSE: maybe a 7/10 for it's intended audience.
Photoshop: 11/10