Photoshop Guide: Tips

Showing posts with label Tips. Show all posts

Friday, January 20, 2017

How to Create Twitter Card for Adobe Muse Site

In this tutorial you will learn how to add twitter card to any page created in Adobe Muse. Twitter cards are an excellent way to drive traffic to your website.

Why and how to use Twitter cards

With few lines of code, you can attach photos, download to a mobile app or video/audio media. Attachments will appear in tweets when your visitors start tweeting your content. There isn't any special requirement beside few lines of code to add to your page(s). The best of all is that you can add twitter cards just by copying/pasting code with few simple modifications: to change the title, description, and URL for image/media.

Where to get code for Twitter card

You can see examples and to copy code from Twitter Developer Documentation site:

Summary Card is suitable for any kind of content like a blog post, product or image from your shop.

Summary Card with Large Image is very similar to the summary card with a larger image.

App Card is suitable to drive app installs. You can include ratings and price.

Player Card is useful for video and audio clips.

Use links above to open appropriate page then scroll down to Sample Code section, select and copy code.

Copy code for twitter card on twitter deveopers site

On Twitter Developer Documentation page scroll down to Sample Code section. Select code and copy it.

Where to paste code in Muse

After copying and modifying the code you should paste it into each and every page where you want to add twitter card. It does not have much sense to use the same title, description, and image/media for every page on your site.

With code copied to clipboard and tab with the web page in Design mode active in Muse go to Page > Page Properties.

Note: if your site is using alternate layouts and you have versions for Desktop, Tablet and Phone then you must repeat process for each layout of your site. Here is tutorial Migrate existing Adobe Muse websites to responsive layout which may help you. For responsive sites you will paste code only once as explained below.

Click on Metadata to activate that tab and paste code in HTML for <head>: section.

After modifying code from twitter site you should paste it in Muse. Open page in separate tab (double click on page in Plan view) then go to Page > Page Properties > Metadata tab. Paste code in HTML for <head>: section.

Here is code that I have copied on Twitter site:

<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@nytimes">
<meta name="twitter:creator" content="@SarahMaslinNir">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Parade of Fans for Houston’s Funeral">
<meta name="twitter:description" content="NEWARK - The guest list and parade of limousines with celebrities emerging from them seemed more suited to a red carpet event in Hollywood or New York than than a gritty stretch of Sussex Avenue near the former site of the James M. Baxter Terrace public housing project here.">
<meta name="twitter:image" content="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/02/19/us/19whitney-span/19whitney-span-articleLarge.jpg">

Here is code with modification which I have pasted in Muse:

<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image" />
<meta name="twitter:site" content="@bojansavke">
<meta name="twitter:title" content="Photoshop Plus | Free and paid extensions" />
<meta name="twitter:description" content="Marketplace with highest quality free and premium Photoshop actions, frames, patterns, textures, PSD templates and layer styles." />
<meta name="twitter:image" content="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9nthrmddzx0/U5qgSrR6UWI/AAAAAAAAACo/990UhyiONdkIbJPXxlbdPDB5ylqDsxCjgCL0B/s1000-fcrop64=1,00700000ff8eefff/cover-page-copy.png">

By the way, I am sourcing image from Photoshop Plus brand profile on Google+.

You should publish or to upload changes using ftp client to finish this process. To publish from Muse go to File > Publish to Business Catalyst.

Validate Twitter card

The last step is to validate your twitter card. Go to Card Validator, type your URL and click Preview card button.

Product used in this tutorial:
Adobe Muse CC 2017

Reference:
How to optimize Adobe Muse sites for Search Engines
Learn about page properties

Saturday, January 14, 2017

How to Scale and Crop Images in Acrobat DC (Video)

There are times when you want to crop or simply to scale images in Adobe Acrobat DC. Fortunately, Acrobat is providing a quick and easy way for this kind of job. You are just a few clicks away.

All you need to do is to select an object (image) using Selection tool for text and images and then to right click > choose Edit Image. Immediately after that, you will see handles around the image and you can scale it. If you want to crop image then activate Crop image or Crop tool in other words.

Video tutorial

Here is my recording with steps that you need to perform in order to scale or crop the image in Adobe Acrobat DC.

Product used in this tutorial:
Adobe Acrobat DC

Reference:
Edit images or objects in a PDF

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Live Font Preview in Illustrator CC 2017

One of the new features in Illustrator CC 2017 is live font preview. Live font preview is already present in other Adobe applications but not in Illustrator. It is the quick and sweet solution for designers to preview in real time any font temporary applied to type inside object with text without any distraction or highlight. In this quick tip, I will explain to you why and how to use it.

Video tutorial

Here is my video recording on how to use live font preview with bonus tip to use Window > Type > Character panel instead of a control panel to cycle through installed font list.

Product used in this tutorial:
Adobe Illustrator CC 2017

Reference:
2017 release of Illustrator CC—New features summary

Thursday, January 5, 2017

How to Import Text Into a Path or Shape in Illustrator CC 2017 (Video)

In this quick tip, I will explain to you how to import text from text files like .txt or .doc into shape/path in Adobe Illustrator CC 2017 . The process is quite simple and easy and it requires only three easy steps.

Steps to import text into path

To follow this tutorial, ensure that you have installed Illustrator CC 2017 with November 2016 update. Here are basic steps to perform in order to import text into prepared shape or path in Illustrator:

Draw basic shape
Go to File > Place and navigate to .txt or .doc file with and double click on it
Navigate place gun to the edge of the shape and click once. Wait for feedback: path before clicking on the edge of the shape

After placing or importing text you can work wit it just as with any live text. You can also change and modify shape without any penalty: Illustrator will re-arrange or reflow text automatically. Please watch the video below for more details.

Video tutorial

Here is my video recording with all necessary details and some tips on how to import, stylize and modify text after importing it into the path in Illustrator.

Product used in this tutorial:
Adobe Illustrator CC 2017

Reference:
New features summary

Monday, January 2, 2017

Send Files Through Email Directly From Adobe Acrobat DC

In this tip, I will provide you step by step instructions how to send or attach PDF files to email message directly from Adobe Acrobat DC. There are two convenient options: to use Outlook (as a default email client) or to use webmail services like Gmail, live mail or yahoo. Beside that you will get a job done there is and benefit of saving a couple of clicks and smile which appears whenever an application is automatically doing the job for us.

Why and how to send files as attachments

The first thing first. We all need to send files to our family members, collaborators or clients. Just to mention that there are powerful send and track option in Acrobat DC. However, sometimes we just want a simple and traditional way to send PDF files as an attachment.

Most of the time you will want to check or to create your PDF file before sending it. Adobe Acrobat is the best place for this job. The next step is to run email client or to open browser and webmail client. Then you will need to create a new email message and so on. Acrobat DC can do more than a half of job done, your job is to type recipients and body message as needed.

Creating PDF files using Acrobat
You can always create PDF files on the fly and to proceed with sending options as described below. Run Acrobat DC then go to File > Open > navigate to PDF or any other supported file type.

When creating PDF's on the fly just ensure that you have chosen All Files from the file type drop-down list.

Choose All Files from File type drop down list

Another way of creating PDF files is to use File > Create > PDF from File.

Steps to send files as attachment

After checking or creating PDF file you have 3 easy steps remaining:

Go to File > Send File > Attach to Email...

Attach to Email menu item in Adobe Acrobat DC

In Send Email dialog you can choose to Send Using Default email application or to Use webmail with some of the accounts like Gmail, live mail or yahoo. Lastly, click Continue button.

Your default browser like Google Chrome or Firefox will open and you can type the name of recipients and your message and to send an email.

Product used in this tutorial:
Adobe Acrobat DC 2015

Reference:
Send and track files online

Monday, December 26, 2016

Why and How to Record Flexible Actions in Adobe Photoshop (Video)

Flexible actions can create same layout with different document proportions and dimensions

In this video tutorial, I will cover how to record flexible Photoshop actions. Flexible actions do not depend on document orientation, proportions or dimensions. You just run action and it delivers exactly what you need and what you expect.

What are flexible actions?

Flexible actions (my personal naming convention) are something like responsive layout which is adapting to any screen. In this case, action will adopt elements to document dimensions, proportions, and orientation. What is the trick? The trick is to change ruler's measurement unit to Percent while recording Photoshop action.

Flexibility starts when you set measurement unit to Percent using right click on Ruler

You can set measurement unit to a percent using right click on View > Rulers. That will instruct Photoshop to use relative, percent based units instead of hard units like: Pixels, Millimeters or Centimeters.

How flexible actions can be useful

You can, for example, automate the creation of layout which you will use as starting point. The layout is arrangement of page elements. If you have your favorite arrangement to use as a starting point then you can automate that task regardless of page (document) orientation, proportions, and dimensions. This can be useful when creating photo books, photo albums or web pages and web page elements. Read this tutorial which features entire set with flexible layout actions.

Limitations of flexible actions

Now we know miracle and top secret! Hold on, as and everything else, flexible actions has its limitations. Everything will work just fine with basic shapes and selections in some cases what depend on what you want to automate. For complex shapes and operations you must limit flexibility to the same document proportions or/and dimensions what we will cover in some of my next tutorials.

Video tutorial

Here is my video recording which will explain to you why and how to record and use flexible actions. I have included and some technical details for better understanding. If you have any question or doubt, please do not hesitate to leave comments.

Product used in this tutorial:
Adobe Photoshop CC 2017

Reference:
Creating actions

Friday, December 23, 2016

How to Import (Load) Seamless Tiling Patterns in Photoshop (Video)

Pattern Fill layer in Photoshop with seamless tiling pattern in use

In this quick video tip, I will explain to you how to import or how to load seamless tiling patterns in Adobe Photoshop.

About seamless tiling patterns in Photoshop

Seamless tiling patterns in Photoshop are bitmap images that repeat themselves horizontally and vertically. Although Photoshop ships with a couple of very useful sets, most of the designers and Photoshop users are creating their own or downloading seamless tiling patterns from the internet sites like Adobe Add-ons.

How to import seamless tiling patterns

After downloading patterns, there is one more step to start using them. Common questions that users are asking me:

How to get patterns in Photoshop?
How to install downloaded patterns in Photoshop?
Where patterns go?

Most of the tutorials on the internet are using word "load" to explain how to get a set of patterns ready for use in Photoshop. The reason for this is button Load which appears in Preset Manager and some other dialogs and can be used to import seamless tiling patterns in Photoshop.

Guess what? You do not need necessary to use Load button to import patterns in Photoshop. There is one quick and easy way using File > Open > navigate to file with .pat extension and double click on it. That's it! You have imported/loaded seamless tiling patterns and you can start using them.

Video tutorial

Here is my video recording which is explaining two quick and easy ways to import or load seamless tiling patterns in Photoshop.

Product used in this tutorial:
Adobe Photoshop CC 2017.0.1

Reference:
How to Create a Seamless Pattern (Tile) in Photoshop

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Custom Anchored Object Options in InDesign (Video)

Anchored objects in Adobe InDesign have attached images or text boxes to some text. Anchored objects will travel with text which contains anchor what can save you tons of time.

In this tip, I will explain to you custom anchored object options in Adobe InDesign. Custom options give you the power to position anchored object anywhere inside or outside the text box.

Video tutorial

Here is my video recording which explains why and how to use custom anchored object options in Adobe InDesign. If you have any difficulties or further questions, please do not hesitate to leave comments.

Product used in this tutorial:
Adobe Indesign CC 2017

Reference:
Anchored objects

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

How to Invert Layer and Vector Masks in Photoshop (Video)

Masks are one of building blocks of Adobe Photoshop. We are using masks to hide and reveal a certain portion of the layer, applied filter, adjustment layer, layer style...

Types of masks

There are two types of masks in Photoshop: layer and vector mask.

Layer mask - why and how to invert it

Usually, we are creating a layer (bitmap) mask using selection or by painting. Sometimes it is easier to select a background or what we need to mask out then to invert the selection. It may happen that you have created, accidentally, the opposite mask of what you really want depend on technique and tools that you are using. The solution is simple and easy: invert layer mask by inverting colors on it using keyboard shortcut Ctrl/Cmd + I.

Vector mask - why and how to invert it

Another type of mask is vector mask which is usually created using shape tools and the Pen tool. Almost every tool has its options in the Options bar. One of the options is Path operations which determine the behavior of created path: to combine, subtract, intersect or exclude overlapping areas.

Path operations are manual options and remain default unless the user changes it to something else. It may happen that Path operations is set wrong for what you want to achieve and created mask is not delivering expected result. The good news is that Path operations can be changed even after drawing path what will "invert" vector mask and give you expected and desired masking result.

Video tutorial

Here is my video recording which explains why and how to invert layer and vector masks in Adobe Photoshop. If you have any difficulties or further questions, please do not hesitate to leave comments.

Product used in this tutorial:
Adobe Photoshop CC 2017

Reference:
Mask layers