| Features new throughout the entire Creative Suite 2 include the introduction of Adobe Bridge, which is your control center and launch pad to your design work. Bridge is a standalone program that enables you to see multisize previews of your application files; simply double-clicking a file opens the file in the appropriate CS2 application (see Figure 1.3). View camera-recorded metadata in your image files and add your own notations to files. View PDF previews and even flip through pages right inside Adobe Bridge: A single integrated help system opens from inside each application (see Figure 1.4). Only Adobe Acrobat has separate online help. Help Center includes links to Adobe Support channels, links to external resources, and built-in and online tutorials to learn how to use the Creative Suite 2. Figure 1.4. The Adobe Help Center contains help for all the Creative Suite 2 applications except Adobe Acrobat 7.0.
Although it was introduced in the first Creative Suite, Version Cue is still considered a new feature for many. It's concept is unique. Version Cue helps you get into a project mentality: You can save, load, and share everything related to a project in an overall project directory. This keeps everything together, while Version Cue manages different file versions and prevents lost changes between users. CS2 enables you to synchronize your color settings for all CS2 applications in one place. This gives you accurate color display in your programs and consistent color output in your files (see Figure 1.5). From Adobe Bridge you can choose Edit, Creative Suite Color Settings and apply color settings appropriate for your work. After clicking Apply, all applications are synchronized. Figure 1.5. You can modify color settings from individual applications, but through the Adobe Bridge Color Settings, you can synchronize them to the same color profile settings to ensure consistent color display.
Find and purchase stock images from Adobe Stock Photos (see Figure 1.6). The browsing interface to several top commercial stock libraries is extremely convenient when you need that photo yesterday. Figure 1.6. The Adobe Stock Photos feature is accessed through Adobe Bridge.
Figure 1.3. Adobe Bridge enables you to preview images before you select one to open.
You'll find that every application has loads of featuresso many you may not even realize all of them until you work with them a few weeks or months. If you are new to Adobe software, it's certainly a good time to dig in and start playing. Try out Photoshop's Vanishing Point tool for cloning images with perspective, or use Illustrator's Live Trace to turn an image into a vector graphic. Create Object Styles in InDesign for consistent display of images, shapes, and tables. The new 3D support inside Acrobat is going to make waves, and improved CSS support in GoLive gives you much needed control over website layout and styling. |