How to learn new (or old) software, very well !

[Ric]

In simple terms if you know what every single menu and submenu will acheive then you've pretty much mastered it !

Think about it !

This is something that I have tried to instill in every person I have ever taught, if for example, you are at college taking media or graphic design courses etc, then you will quite possibly use Photoshop. Photoshop, like most peices of software has numerous ways of doing the same thing. If you 'really know' what every menu will do/acheive in Photoshop this will make your life a whole lot easier. The same principle applies to every piece of software that you use...Quark, iTunes, Mail, Dreamweaver....etc

If you really want to learn, go back to the begining. Have a look at all those Finder Menus, do you know what they all do...Have a look and you might find a few better quicker more producive ways of working.

 

[Cory Cooper]

Go

Nice thing too...most Apple apps use the same basic set of menu items, commands, and keyboard combinations. It's a good thing to follow your lead here...until you get into the pro apps with all the dialog boxes that popup after selecting a menu/submenu item!

 

[Ric]

That's precisely what I mean, if someone wants to be the best retoucher in Photoshop they need to learn every which way of doing the same thing, and then when confronted with a specific task by a client...it's then not a question of how can I do that in Photoshop, it's 'which way' shall I do that in Photoshop. When you are armed with the knowledge that you 'know' a certain piece of software inside out you get to spend more time 'doing' rather than scratching your head not 'doing'.

As a side note, now that manuals come as PDF's nobody seems to read them anymore !!! I have always been one to 'dive' in first and read the manual second, (I do however always read the manuals a few times !). I seem to notice this more and more. Maybe it's because computers and the software they run are easier for people to use straight from the box, I don't know why ?