Comments on: Some thoughts about platform consistency

By: Amy Cuttino

Amy Cuttino — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:05:02 +0000

that’s can’t support powerpc architecture..
Thanks.. hope you can help!

By: Amy Cuttino

Amy Cuttino — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 00:02:40 +0000

Hi John,
I just bought a used emac. My macbook was stolen last month. Insurance only coughed up about 600 bucks for the replacement. So I can’t afford to get the computer that I need. The thieves also stole all my discs with my software and original macbook box..i bought it 9-03-08. Anyhow, I have been trying to download the photoshop trails…I get the error “can support powerPC architecture CPU.then please upgrade or adjust our system to meet the requirements..I am not computer tech smart…can you point me in the right direction..or am I at a loss with this old emac?
Amy

By: jordachio pistachio

jordachio pistachio — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:50:04 +0000

Whoops - I meant to say "cmd-~" there, not "cmd-tab". I want to map "ctrl-tab" to "cmd-~" but can't find a menu item for "Switch between open documents" [There *should* be a mechanism in the Photoshop KBSC editor to change that mapping, but for various technical reasons there isn't. The good news is that we'll make the change to match the OS default & will provide a way to override that change if you'd like. I'll get into more details than you'll probably want soon enough. --J.]

By: jordachio pistachio

jordachio pistachio — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:44:41 +0000

I would consider myself a Photoshop power-user and the ctl-tab convention to switch between open document windows has always frustrated me because (at least on the Mac side) every other application I use maps this to cmd-tab. Is there a way to map that shortcut in Photoshop? I’ve done loose searching the past, but never found a good solution for mapping ctl-tab to the more Mac-suitable cmd-tab.

By: thin

thin — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:54:47 +0000

How about a preset collection of keyboard shortcuts that turn all shortcuts to their windows CTRL+ equivalent so we don’t even have to think about the command key?

By: Benny

Benny — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:31:56 +0000

CTRL/Cmd+~ is undoubtly very wanted in the customize keyboard ability.
We’re really looking forward to that – all people working with PS in english with EU keyboards like german, swedish, danish etc.
It would also be a good idea to synchronize some shorcuts in CS4 as Ctrl+1, CTRL+D, putting things in front or back. I would love to see some shortcut similarisation with Indesign.
BTW Illustrator can’t show customized keyboard shortcuts in it’s menus (non-english keyboards – like slashed zero).

By: rovis

rovis — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:24:26 +0000

There are some functions, for example Select forward layer, Select backward layer and selecting composite layer and mask in channels palette that can only be accessed with a shortcut that cannot be changed, and those shortcuts don’t work on some non-us keyboard configurations… To be able to change those would be really handy.

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:47:28 +0000

This discussion is moot, because Adobe apps don’t even follow consistent keyboard commands between themselves, let alone the OS. Take Command-D for instance:
Illustrator: Transform Again
InDesign: Place
Photoshop: Deselect

By: Craig Grannell

Craig Grannell — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:20:49 +0000

"That preference has existed *for five years* in Photoshop. You can easily remap the behavior of Cmd-H in far less time than it takes to post a comment." That's the first thing I change on any Photoshop install for myself. Now show me how to enable the default Command+` in Photoshop (as in, for switching windows) and I'll be a happy bunny. [Yeah, unfortunately you can't change that one, due to some subtle technical reason I've forgotten at the moment. In any case we're remapping the shortcut as you'd like. --J.]

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 08:16:13 +0000

“Surely Adobe’s programming skills are up to the task of accommodating both types of users. Let the user choose between the legacy UI and the platform-compliant UI on both platforms.”
Totally agree. Couldn’t we just have a check box during installation, and then a workspace choice thereafter?
I’ve been using Photoshop since v3 and my hands know what to do well before my brain does. So I want/need classic UI. But my son would probably rather have it the other way.

By: Harvey

Harvey — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 07:42:52 +0000

Hm. A comment inside my comment?

Have you not noticed the “Edit Keyboard Shortcuts” function that’s been there for the last five years? It baffles me that people can pour out so much righteous indignation without doing the most basic investigation (or, apparently, reading previous comments here). –J.]

Yes, I’ve noticed that. I’ve taken advantage of it. It’s even possible to rearrange the menus. It’s like having a
do-it-yourself kit instead of a finished application.
Wouldn’t it be nice if Adobe gave us a leg up? Then instead of spending an hour or so “customizing” each Adobe application into compliance, I could be using the software and thinking nice
thoughts about how wonderful Adobe is.
I think all that “righteous indignation” is appropriate. Adobe’s products aren’t exactly shareware and they are definitely not inexpensive. We shouldn’t have to customize them to make them standard.
Imagine if the applications had an OS-compliant UI (or at least it was selectable) and we could use that as the starting point for customizing them. That would be wonderful.

By: Harvey

Harvey — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 05:45:35 +0000

As someone who uses both platforms [not exactly unusual], PS/Adobe products must be able to behave the same on both as the OS is fundamentally a lower priority than the Applications you actually use

You said must be able to behave not must behave, and that is the key to what I've been saying. I have both platforms right here on my desk, and two keyboards. I can switch back and forth with no problem. Windows applications work like Windows applications, and OS X applications work like OS X applications. A Mac UI on Windows is just as disconcerting to me as a Windows UI on the Mac, even when it is the same program!—but that's just me. On the other hand, when you use a program that is on both platforms, you need a third UI for that program that is the same on both but complies with neither. I don't have a problem with that. Neither of us is right or wrong or more virtuous than the other, we just have different needs. Why not give users a choice? [Have you not noticed the "Edit Keyboard Shortcuts" function that's been there for the last five years? It baffles me that people can pour out so much righteous indignation without doing the most basic investigation (or, apparently, reading previous comments here). --J.] Surely Adobe's programming skills are up to the task of accommodating both types of users. Let the user choose between the legacy UI and the platform-compliant UI on both platforms. Then when I switch between Mac and PC, the Adobe program complies with its environment. And when you switch between Mac and PC, the Adobe program has a third UI, the legacy UI that is the same on both platforms. We could discuss the glaring inconsistencies in both platforms' UIs, the history of keyboard layouts, and who was first and what is better, but that's really irrelevant. This is not a discussion about Truth, Beauty, Justice, and the American Way, or even about We've Always Done It That Way or Onward To The Future. It's about the user's productivity. Our needs are different and Adobe can accommodate both of us. Why don't they?

By: Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 23:34:49 +0000

Out of curiosity, what's your take on Apple's pro apps (Final Cut, Motion, etc.) blazing their own trail--using tiny monochrome close/zoom buttons & custom scrollbars, enabling resizing by dragging any window edge, etc.? I'm not a fan of the Final Cut Pro/Motion GUI look — kind of ugly — but for the most part their behaviors are pretty standard. iTunes is a worse GUI offender, really, even though it looks more like a standard OS X app. I like the look of Aperture and Logic except for the microscopic type. The worst offense those two apps make is adding that extra chrome around the edges of the windows that prevent scroll bars from being flush to the screen edge. So I don't care who's doing it, Apple or Adobe, they should stick to consistency unless they have a good — really good — reason not to. I don't think not following the Command-H convention was a good idea, but at least Adobe does let you change it (and I did). Apple makes a lot of goofy GUI decisions but usually they change the look rather than the behavior, and it's behavior that's the truly important one. Imagine if suddenly the left-most window widget — (X) — quit an app instead of just closing the window. Bad. It should always do the same thing in every app. I say this knowing full well that System Prefs and a few others treat the (X) as a Quit button. I can be pretty harsh on Adobe, but I do it because I care and want it to be better. I don't like it when software developers compromise the purity of the host OS by totally ignoring GUI guidelines, be it Apple, Adobe or Microsoft. That said, I like how Adobe is trending toward the dark gray look. These bright GUIs really fry my eyes after a while. And I don't mind the interesting use of the otherwise empty gray space to the right of the window widgets as in the CS4 betas. Why not use that space so long as it's not done in a fugly way?

By: Benoît

Benoît — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:38:01 +0000

What some other companies have done is that they pop-up a window the very first time you hit Cmd+H and prompt you to choose between the OS default shortcuts (mapping Cmd+H to something else) and Photoshop legacy shortcuts.
Of course there’s a preference somewhere to revert the choice.

By: imajez

imajez — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 15:29:52 +0000

As someone who uses both platforms [not exactly unusual], PS/Adobe products must be able to behave the same on both as the OS is fundamentally a lower priority than the Applications you actually use. Especially as Apple have adopted longstanding shortcuts used by Adobe products, despite the fact that Adobe products are used so very widely on Macs. Obviously Apple couldn’t use the very sensible Windows key idea for system shortcuts that MS came up with, as that would mean losing face. And Steve Jobs would rather be seen wearing Paisley during a keynote speech or commmit seppukka than adopt any MS idea he couldn’t disguise/spin/do more awkwardly.
God knows why the Macolytes think Apple is so wonderful and all it’s edicts must be obeyed, it’s not as if they don’t do some stupid things especially with the abysmal Finder, which sadly is is the backbone of OSX. It doesn’t even behave consistently either. You can resize all Finder columns from within save dialogue, but frustratingly not if using Finder itself!?!