Adobe evangelist Julieanne Kost has started a blog in which she’s sharing all sorts of good miscellaneous tips. It’s already chock full of useful info, with lots more to come.
Just for the heck of it, Jeff Tranberry & I fooled around with Configurator a bit and created a panel (see screenshot) that displays the RSS feed from Julieanne’s blog right inside Photoshop. Download the panel from her site, double click it to install, restart Photoshop, and then look under Window->Extensions for “Daily_PS_Tip.”
And if you’d like to follow my blog from within Photoshop, well, why not? Here’s the download.
All of this is more proof-of-concept right now than anything, but I believe that over time it’ll be possible to knit community & desktop together in some really interesting ways. For more thoughts on that subject, see my previous post about P2P notes inside PS.
[Update: I’ve posted a new version of the panel for my blog. If you had problems installing the original version, you may want to try again.]
John,
This is very cool! Thanks for posting it.
Greg
I wonder if something like Twitter would be helpful in the program. Although I can see it being a distraction for the general “here’s what I’m eating for lunch” entries, it’s also a community of like-minded folks.
A good example would be the WordPress/Joomla discussions I had on there yesterday. Being “community-wide”, lots of questions and situations on the program (mostly dealing with spam and WordPress comments) were answered by several people who had run into that problem and had solutions. Same thing could happen with Photoshop, if you needed some technique or had a question you could post it on Twitter and keep working until the answers started in.
You might even get different types of answers too. My twitter has designers, artists and even programmers, all of which have a slightly different view of Photoshop and may have different solutions.
I understand it’s wasted breath to tell us Photoshop nerds to go outside and play, but surely once in a while we can minimize the program and take a walk on the wild side by reading a blog in an actual browser.
“over time it’ll be possible to knit community & desktop together”
Gee, I hope not, it would put me out of a job 🙂
John, your P2P Notes concept (if I’m understanding it correctly) would revolutionize the way I teach. I’ve recorded over 3,000 video tutorials for my students over the past 7 years but there’s a disconnect for some of the kids as finding the right video can be problematic. In an effort to address this I’ve turned to WordPress and yes, began blogging a month ago in an effort to build a searchable resource for the students.
The kids turn out some incredible work. Rob Schwartz, an Adobe Education Leader, emailed from your booth at FETC last month to let me know the kids’ Best Work reel was playing on your big screen. http://maclab.guhsd.net/students/best_work/ if you’re interested.
If you’re looking for volunteers to pilot this program, SIGN ME UP! While my primary interest is serving my students, others have found my tutorials of value as well. http://maclab.guhsd.net/blog/?page_id=332
Think about how directions embedded in the program would transform the way kids learn. Direct links to relevant videos would streamline the learning process for all. But, of course, you’ve already thought of all this. Living organisms indeed!
Hi John: This is great! Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to install your panel on two different computers. (I was able to install Julianne’s.) Could it be something at your end?
Best,
Jan
Hey Jan, Email me – I’ll see if we can figure out why it isn’t working for you.
John could you please explain further how to install the .mxp files. When I click the zip I just see the .mxpfile and no installer happens.
what folder do I place the .mxp file in.
many thanks
[Provided you installed the Adobe Extension Manager as part of your CS4 installation, double-clicking the MXP file should bring up that utility & guide you through installing the contents. If you didn’t install “ExMan,” you can download it here. Let me know if that doesn’t do the trick for you. –J.]