1st EVER Competition (closed)

February 23rd, 2009 in Competitions by Richard Carpenter

1st EVER Competition (closed)

13 Votes, Rating: 4.69

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1st ever competition launched on hv-designs….. JOIN IT NOW

Welcome to the 1st EVER competition hosted on hv-designs

*Please Note* The competition is pointless and just for fun, although for everyones efforts there is a prize for one lucky participator.

Objective:
Be the first person to post the 100th comment

The Prizes:
5 PSD Files from the hv-designs online shop, chosen by the winner
OR
1 CSS Template from the hv-designs online shop, chosen by the winner

The Rules:
There can only be one winner
NO Spamming
No posting under different names (il be checking)
Persons must use a valid e-mail address, failure to do so will result in no prize
There has to be a comment infront of yours before posting again
All comments must be photoshop related

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE
There will be a more serious competition soon.

About The Author: Richard Carpenter

Hi im Richard Carpenter and im a freelance web and graphics designer from England. I am also a regular Blogger, Tutorial Writer, and owner of Photoshop Plus. You can follow me on twitter HERE. You may also view my portfolio HERE.

Richard Carpenter has written 364 posts.

120 Responses to “1st EVER Competition (closed)”

Ben Lind says:

Hold down the spacebar while using any tool in Photoshop – click and drag around to move the document! This is just like using the Hand tool from the toolbox, but a lot faster.

P.S. It could take a while to get to 100. ;)

Cookie says:

What would be cool is if the winner could send you guys a dummy of a website and you do the coding xD

OK so..Applying a Lens Flare does’nt necessarily makes you’r work stand out :P

Ben Lind says:

@ADMIN
I can’t believe Google would let something like that happen! :P Then again, they did mark all their sites as malware the other day…

Learn to use shortcut keys in Photoshop – they can save you a lot of time! For example, if you want to make a selection with a marquee tool, press M. If you want to use the Move tool, press V.

ADMIN says:

@SHAN,

read the rules. you can post as many times as you want, just as long as your posts arnt together. there has to be someone infront of you before you can post again.

Ben Lind says:

You can increase/decrease the brush size by pressing “[" and "]” on the keyboard.

Mahdi says:

The first copy of Photoshop, Photoshop 1.0, was a small product only for macintosh and sales of only 200 copies. Now, 20 years later Photoshop is considered the most dominate of raster grahpic applications.

btw: fun contest!

Ben Lind says:

Photoshop was originally intended to just touch up photos, but now it is being used to create websites, make posters, and almost everything else possible with images!

helpfull hand says:

@admin, thanks for the tip, I always hated it that it didn’t go back any further :)

Quickly want to desaturize something? Use Control+Shift+U. Note: It might look like black and white, but it’s pretty much just gray tone, so not real black and white image i suppose.

And besides from that, your subscribers counter is broken, im still getting the RSS feed tough, but it says 0 subscribers.

Lacorp says:

Adobe is trying to get people to stop using the word “photoshopping” since if people continue to do that then it will fall under public usage.

Abhisek says:

It’s not pointless. The tips in the comments would be great for all.

HOLD ALT AND DRAG A LAYER TO THE NEW LAYER ICON IN THE LAYER BROWSER TO EXPORT A LAYER FROM ONE DOCUMENT TO OTHER. :)

Poison3k says:

I like to use ctrl + x to switch the foreground and background colours and ctrl + d to reset them to the default black and white.

Scott says:

ALT / Option + Backspace will fill the document with the foreground colour and CTRL / CMND + Backspace will fill it with the background colour

Ben Lind says:

You can use a basic version of Photoshop online at photoshop.com.

Ryan says:

If you hold CTRL+ALT and drag an image, it will make a duplicate. Much quicker than having to Right click layer and hit duplicate.

skullzy says:

after using the slice tool hit “ctrl + shift + s”

rycore says:

simple shortcuts for the narrow minded
ctrl + a =SELECT ALL, ctrl + D=DESELECT ALL, ctrl + x=CUT, ctrl + c=COPY, ctrl + v=PASTE, ctrl + shift + alt + s= save for web and devices, ctrl + s=SAVE, ctrl + n = new layout, ctrl + o= open file, alt + shift + ctrl + o =open as

Ben Lind says:

Press D to reset your foreground/background colors to black/white, and X to switch the foreground/background colors.

We’ll get there!

Kirryn Mountford says:

Photoshop 1.0 was released in 1990 for Macintosh exclusively.

Nice idea with the introduction of competitions. I’m a huge fan of this site (i’ve learnt so much) and think competitions add yet another reason for me to drop by daily.

helpfull hand says:

Ok, then ill make my addition to Admin now:

You can go back more steps using Ctrl+Alt+Z
But you can jump 1 step foward again by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Z
And with Ctrl+Z you will jump straight to the last step you made.

Osiris says:

I’m not sure if it is the case with CS3 or higher but in CS2 if you hold ALT and click “about photoshop” in help at the top of the window it shows you what photoshop was originally called.

Poison3k says:

it is going to take a long time to get to 100 posts…

My first experience with photoshop was version 5.5 before then I was using jasc paint shop pro.

HiSimon says:

Hold Ctrl and press ‘ . Voila! The grid has arrived :)

Gary says:

I’v been making web pages now for 3 years & now that i’v found this site i know a lot more about making them the right way thank you.

Joe says:

I have an idea to speed up the countdown! If its cool with “admin” that is! Photoshop Newbies like myself, (or anyone for that matter) can post generic photoshop questions and have them answered by other folks. That way, the quest for knowledge would be the driving force behind this competition and everyone wins at the end. Only one person will win the prize… but a whole bunch of us will gain some valuable knowlege. So here’s my first question:

Whats the “standard”, or most widely used pixel “width” for web layouts created in photoshop? I’ve seen 750, 960, 1000, and 1020…. but I’m not sure which to use for my mock up designs!

ADMIN says:

@JOE sounds like a good idea ;)

and the answer to your question is…..

The most popular resolution on most internet users computers is still 1024×768 as stated by W3 SCHOOL hourly statistics, so anything up to 850 pixels wide would be your best choice.

there is a website you can use called browsershots http://browsershots.org/ this will take screenshots in all major browsers in the sizes you specify so you’l no what fits and works the best.

hope this helps

Cookie says:

OK answer this and we’ll get some more comments….What do you prefer, Mac or PC??

Personally, I’ve been using a PC all my life and about 4 years ago I bought my first mac, now I have 3..For me, working with mac is much more smooth and easy when I’m working on new designs

Joe says:

@ADMIN…. thanks! That Helped!
Another question… I was working on some of your layout tutorials and noticed you used different pixel widths for the canvas size of several of your layouts (i.e. 800, 900, 850, 950) …. does that matter! I guess what I’m trying to figure out here is whether or not there’s a specific width that I have use for my layouts.

Question #2: Can anyone tell me how i can draw out a rectangle or square with a specific pixel size in PhotoShop when using the rectangle tool ? Is there a field box where i can enter a specific size when drawing it out instead of having to eyeball it?

ADMIN says:

@JOE: Q1:

If im creating a website with a width of 800px i generally always make it slightly bigger say 850 or even 900px as i like a big working space. ;)

Q2:

When you click the rectangular marquee tool there is a box at the top “style” click that then click “fixed size”, enter your dimensions in the boxes, dont forget to put “PX” = pixels “PT” = points “CM” = cm etc… etc…

hope this helps

.RevO says:

Okay just wondering what would be the best way to design a web 2.0 design?

also woot 43 comment xD yes I counted.

kevinsturf says:

When making websites, I usually make it in dimensions of 960px as in 960 grid system but don’t actually use it. I fins make it this way makes it compatible with screen resolutions of all sizes.

c4gamerz says:

hey i thought everyone would spam but i am surprised to see such useful comments which are going to help me a lot in future!! Thanks everyone ;)

I am a regular visitor of hv-designs.co.uk since this site was launched and i am really happy to see such a good progress this site has made so i would like to congratulate the owner for such a nice effort!!

Keep it up :)

Kirryn Mountford says:

I am hopefully getting a macbook in a few months and look forward to designing on that but I was wondering if people preferred mac or pc and why?

Also, for current designers: When using Photoshop for logo design, what are the main tools you use? e.g. the pen tool most or…?

Poison3k says:

@.RevO:

the best way to design a web 2.0 site in my view is ‘just keep it simple’. Simple colours, simple gradients, simple logo’s and font and most importantly, simple navigation.

Gary says:

Thank you all for you help. @ ADMIN I thank you for making this site big time.

.RevO says:

Thanks for the help Poision, and lol I did count yours but then i subtracted and now i know the real total.

Okay here is a easy way to center your web site:

Now in today’s world, coders are tending to use DIV tags more than tables so look into your CSS file and look for your container/wrapper or whatever you called your div that keeps everything intact.

Once you found it add this to it
margin: 0 auto;

Some people have not found how people manage to center their whole webpage in the middle of any resolution size.

If your website is made with tables,

Find this
CODE

Now the last symbol you may not have because it has obtain other properties like width, height, border, etc so it can be like

CODE

or something along that side.

anyways once you found it add this to it

CODE
align=”center”

So in the end your code should look like this

CODE

Once you found it add this to it
CODE
margin: 0 auto;

What that does it puts 0 on the top and bottom and automatically adds the margin on the left and right evenly so it looks like your webpage is centered.

So in the end it should be like this
#wrapper {
width: 768px;
margin: 0 auto;
}

Jan says:

Heey how can you adjust the grid again?

Poison3k says:

it’s a long shot, but does anyone have any tips, info or know of some good resources for presenting oracle data on the web using php (not via crystal reports or visual studio) we want to hand code it all so we can make it look fancy :D

Ethan Ellis says:

Well since the comment should eb about PS I like to use the smart guide tool to show me if my designs align.

:D good luck

ADMIN says:

yea true…. ive sorted through the comments, PHOTOSHOP QUESTIONS AND PHOTOSHOP POSTS ONLY PLEASE.

Gary says:

I use actions for making a shadow of some of my work is there a ez way to do this?

Joe says:

Can anyone tell me how i can view the size (pixel width and height) of a selected object in Photoshop? Not the size of the canvas! …. whenever i draw out… say a box for instance… i often forget how big it actually is.. so i’m wondering if there is a way to click on it and find out its exact dimensions.

Thanks!!!!

Gary says:

& Joe an ez way to do that is to ctrl click on your box then copy it doing this will make it show what you need to know by clicking on file new this will show you the size of the box. I hope that will help you out.

helpfull hand says:

We’re almost half.
With the Healing Brush tool you can manually set a source by holding the alt key and clicking the point you want as source. Don’t want to set a source but let photoshop fix it up itself? Then use the Spot Healing Brush.

DanielPK says:

Whant to bring some life to your PS projects??? Use “brushes” they give pretty good effect and with quite a dozen of them to chose from ;) and not forgetting the “Blending options” getting the right settings will totally bring new look to your design! experiment with different options and settings to suit your needs :)

.RevO says:

Which type of navigation is best when designing? A nav in the header or a nav that has its own seperate strip.

DanielPK says:

@ RevO:
I’d say, a nav in its own separator….this is just from experience i had with designing templates!!! its just in case that something goes wrong with your header file!! nothing else will be affected…but…but!!! if you want the page to load faster…then you should include it into the header!!! and not to forget USE a “Top” “text link/image” at the end of the page, so that users won’t have to scroll up till they reach the nav bar, for easy back and forth navigation.

Zoom in – Ctrl+ + / Ctrl+Space “You can you this keyboard shortcut to quickly zoom in on your image”.
Zoom out – Ctrl+ – / Alt+Space “You can you this keyboard shortcut to quickly zoom out on your image”

Gary says:

Keyboard shortcuts

ctrl+ A = select all
ctrl+ c = Copy
ctrl+ v = past
ctrl+ e = merge layers
ctrl+ f = last filter
ctrl+ j = layer via copy

bjorn says:

windows key + e

DanielPK says:

Press SHIFT + TAB to show/hide only Your palette.
Press F repeatedly to cycle screen modes.
Press CTRL + TAB to switch to Your next document.
Press CTRL + SHIFT + TAB to switch to Your previous document.
Press CTRL + T to enter free transform mode.
Press ALT + DELETE to fill the layer with foreground color
Press SHIFT + DELETE to fill with background color.
press CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + S to bring up ’save for web & devices ‘ dialog.
You can use ALT + BACKSPACE or SHIFT + BACKSPACE to fill non-transparent pixels.’
to approve and escape text editing mode, Just press Your numeric ENTER or CTRL + ENTER

helpfull hand says:

ctrl+ u = hue/saturation
ctrl+ x = cut
ctrl+shift j = duplicate via cut
ctrl+l = levels
ctrl+s + save
ctrl+p = print…
ctrl+o = open

Control + Me = World Domination :P J/k

Gary says:

Is there a way to save a image to PNG with a transparent background in photoshop with out it looking like some one killed it?

Poison3k says:

Make brush smaller = [
Make brush bigger = ]
Keep brush size but soften = SHIFT+[
Keep brush size but harden = SHIFT+]
Return toolbar color swatches to b&w = D
Switch foreground and background colors = X

Kirryn Mountford says:

As DanielPK has already stated, Brushes add design flow and detail that just makes it look that much better.

DeviantART is a great resource for brushes, as well as inspirational artwork!

Ctrl + J when a layer is highlighted in the layer palette duplicates that layer!

Ethan Ellis says:

I got a question. How many of you guys work with more then one type of designing like making wbe sites and making large art?

I used to create really bad large art then moved over to web design and now moving back to large art and it seems that I have gotten better in large art then before but still not great.

Also do you guys use more then one graphic editor like photoshop and illu coz with this new large art that I am trying I am thinking if it is worth while to try my hand at illu?

DanielPK says:

@ Kirryn thanks for emphasizing more on brushes ;) and just keying in the search term “free photoshop brushes” in (Yahoo, Google, Msn….etc) will bring you MILLIONS of sites which provide free brushes!

New Document Ctrl+N
New Document (last settings) Ctrl+Alt+N
Save As (Copy) Ctrl+Alt+S
Save for Web Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S
Airbrush (Brush Tool) Alt+Shift+P
Toggle Rectangular / Elliptical Marquee Shift+M
Menubar (show / hide) Shift+F
Gaussian Blur Ctrl+Alt+Shift+G
Liquify Ctrl+Shift+X
Smart Blur Ctrl+Alt+Shift+D

Pim W. says:

If you don’t have enough money for photoshop try to use GIMP =)

Poison3k says:

Have lots of layers in your design? can see what is on the layer but can’t find it in the layers browser? select the move tool (V) and then press and hold ctrl while you select part of the layer you want and hey presto!

Gary says:

Alt + delete = fill

Javagon says:

Save your psd file periodically

Gary says:

When saving a image to psd make sure you have it save a preview.

Cain says:

What two keys do you press to make a 3.D effect for your text?

DanielPK says:

Am still hopping to be the 100th commenter! lol,

You can easily see keyboard shortcut by mouseover on certain tool.
Double click on zoom tool to zoom Your document 100% size.
You can press CTRL + ALT + 0 to get actual pixels too (100 % size).
Mouse click on active layer and press SHIFT to select several layers.
Use CTRL + SHIFT + G to ungroup layers.
Press CAPSLOCK to show cursor precise/standard mode.
Reselect previous selection by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + D.

Poison3k says:

Still a way off the 100th post, it’s going to sneak up on us and then a flurry of activity to hit 100. good luck all.

Shortcuts for changing you views;
Hide all tools = TAB
Make just palettes, not toolbar, disappear = SHIFT+TAB
Zoom in = CTRL +
Zoom out = CTRL –
Get the Hand tool temporarily = SPACE BAR
Fit image on screen = CTRL + 0

Gary says:

All ways make a copy of your psd this way you can play around with the copy & still have your good one if you need it.

.RevO says:

60% there!

Also what would make this hosting template im designing more extravagent like make it pop out? or what would make you guys say ahhhhh in amazment?

Ronay says:

How do i make a good Glass/windows vista effect?

Kirryn Mountford says:

@Rev0 – Websites tend to be very linear and flat, adding an image that perhaps comes from your header of your navigation bar or sits voer the corner of a content box makes the website seem more alive and well, more extravegently designed. At least that’s my opinion. Getting the CSS right for it can be annoying, though.

Hint – When transforming a shape like a content box (Ctrl + T), you can specify its exact height and width using the bar at the top, it will likely have ’100%’ written in it, but replace ii with 400px for example, and it’ll become 400px wide / high.

flipsyde92 says:

@Ronay – You can try this tutoriel : http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=468442

netsnake says:

Well, there’s an iPhone & iPod app in the iTunes Store, called PhotoKeys, which simply works like an additional keyboard for Photoshop, with shortcuts for different things. My opinion: Nice, but actually, memorizing the keyboard shortcuts themselves is still faster than this “extra tablet”. Costs about $4, I think.

Diego says:

Do you know where to find High quality tutorials of typography? or how to recreate this effect?
http://img234.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batmanvo6.jpg

Poison3k says:

If you love fonts and have hundreds if not thousands of them, then dont install them in the windws\fonts folder, use a font-management utility. I’ve got about 2000 fonts and if I was to put them all in the windwos\fonts folder it would take about 10 minutes to load photoshop or word or any other program that preloads fonts. Use a font-management utility to create sets of fonts according to style and activate only those sets that you need at any given time. Too many active fonts can choke the Photoshop type engine, slowing performance. The Mac OS has Font Book built right in, or you can use the excellent Suitcase Fusion from Extensis (www.extensis.com). Extensis also offers Suitcase for Windows.

Gary says:

Hold ctrl & alt then click on the left or right of your work then pull it make a copy of it.

Kirryn Mountford says:

We’re very close indeed…

I’m sure it’s been mentioned somewhere already, can’t be bothered reading all of the comments but i’ve only just recently started using the (V) shortcut for the move tool, which is a tool we all use a lot, and it really cuts time off the design process….

ADMIN says:

timings going to be critical in the last couple of comments to get to the 100th post. This should be fun, im kind of getting excited now haha

Gary says:

I some times think it is had to use the pen tool for overlay shine is there a ez way to do this with out using it?

Ben Lind says:

Hold down the spacebar while using any tool in Photoshop – click and drag around to move the document! This is just like using the Hand tool from the toolbox, but a lot faster.

P.S. It could take a while to get to 100. ;)
Cookie says:

What would be cool is if the winner could send you guys a dummy of a website and you do the coding xD

OK so..Applying a Lens Flare does’nt necessarily makes you’r work stand out :P
Ben Lind says:

@ADMIN
I can’t believe Google would let something like that happen! :P Then again, they did mark all their sites as malware the other day…

Learn to use shortcut keys in Photoshop – they can save you a lot of time! For example, if you want to make a selection with a marquee tool, press M. If you want to use the Move tool, press V.
ADMIN says:

@SHAN,

read the rules. you can post as many times as you want, just as long as your posts arnt together. there has to be someone infront of you before you can post again.
Ben Lind says:

You can increase/decrease the brush size by pressing “[" and "]” on the keyboard.
Mahdi says:

The first copy of Photoshop, Photoshop 1.0, was a small product only for macintosh and sales of only 200 copies. Now, 20 years later Photoshop is considered the most dominate of raster grahpic applications.

btw: fun contest!
Ben Lind says:

Photoshop was originally intended to just touch up photos, but now it is being used to create websites, make posters, and almost everything else possible with images!
helpfull hand says:

@admin, thanks for the tip, I always hated it that it didn’t go back any further :)

Quickly want to desaturize something? Use Control+Shift+U. Note: It might look like black and white, but it’s pretty much just gray tone, so not real black and white image i suppose.

And besides from that, your subscribers counter is broken, im still getting the RSS feed tough, but it says 0 subscribers.
Lacorp says:

Adobe is trying to get people to stop using the word “photoshopping” since if people continue to do that then it will fall under public usage.
Abhisek says:

It’s not pointless. The tips in the comments would be great for all.

HOLD ALT AND DRAG A LAYER TO THE NEW LAYER ICON IN THE LAYER BROWSER TO EXPORT A LAYER FROM ONE DOCUMENT TO OTHER. :)
Poison3k says:

I like to use ctrl + x to switch the foreground and background colours and ctrl + d to reset them to the default black and white.
Scott says:

ALT / Option + Backspace will fill the document with the foreground colour and CTRL / CMND + Backspace will fill it with the background colour
Ben Lind says:

You can use a basic version of Photoshop online at photoshop.com.
Ryan says:

If you hold CTRL+ALT and drag an image, it will make a duplicate. Much quicker than having to Right click layer and hit duplicate.
skullzy says:

after using the slice tool hit “ctrl + shift + s”
rycore says:

simple shortcuts for the narrow minded
ctrl + a =SELECT ALL, ctrl + D=DESELECT ALL, ctrl + x=CUT, ctrl + c=COPY, ctrl + v=PASTE, ctrl + shift + alt + s= save for web and devices, ctrl + s=SAVE, ctrl + n = new layout, ctrl + o= open file, alt + shift + ctrl + o =open as
Ben Lind says:

Press D to reset your foreground/background colors to black/white, and X to switch the foreground/background colors.

We’ll get there!
Kirryn Mountford says:

Photoshop 1.0 was released in 1990 for Macintosh exclusively.

Nice idea with the introduction of competitions. I’m a huge fan of this site (i’ve learnt so much) and think competitions add yet another reason for me to drop by daily.
helpfull hand says:

Ok, then ill make my addition to Admin now:

You can go back more steps using Ctrl+Alt+Z
But you can jump 1 step foward again by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Z
And with Ctrl+Z you will jump straight to the last step you made.
Osiris says:

I’m not sure if it is the case with CS3 or higher but in CS2 if you hold ALT and click “about photoshop” in help at the top of the window it shows you what photoshop was originally called.
Poison3k says:

it is going to take a long time to get to 100 posts…

My first experience with photoshop was version 5.5 before then I was using jasc paint shop pro.
HiSimon says:

Hold Ctrl and press ‘ . Voila! The grid has arrived :)
Gary says:

I’v been making web pages now for 3 years & now that i’v found this site i know a lot more about making them the right way thank you.
Joe says:

I have an idea to speed up the countdown! If its cool with “admin” that is! Photoshop Newbies like myself, (or anyone for that matter) can post generic photoshop questions and have them answered by other folks. That way, the quest for knowledge would be the driving force behind this competition and everyone wins at the end. Only one person will win the prize… but a whole bunch of us will gain some valuable knowlege. So here’s my first question:

Whats the “standard”, or most widely used pixel “width” for web layouts created in photoshop? I’ve seen 750, 960, 1000, and 1020…. but I’m not sure which to use for my mock up designs!
ADMIN says:

@JOE sounds like a good idea ;)

and the answer to your question is…..

The most popular resolution on most internet users computers is still 1024×768 as stated by W3 SCHOOL hourly statistics, so anything up to 850 pixels wide would be your best choice.

there is a website you can use called browsershots http://browsershots.org/ this will take screenshots in all major browsers in the sizes you specify so you’l no what fits and works the best.

hope this helps
Cookie says:

OK answer this and we’ll get some more comments….What do you prefer, Mac or PC??

Personally, I’ve been using a PC all my life and about 4 years ago I bought my first mac, now I have 3..For me, working with mac is much more smooth and easy when I’m working on new designs
Joe says:

@ADMIN…. thanks! That Helped!
Another question… I was working on some of your layout tutorials and noticed you used different pixel widths for the canvas size of several of your layouts (i.e. 800, 900, 850, 950) …. does that matter! I guess what I’m trying to figure out here is whether or not there’s a specific width that I have use for my layouts.

Question #2: Can anyone tell me how i can draw out a rectangle or square with a specific pixel size in PhotoShop when using the rectangle tool ? Is there a field box where i can enter a specific size when drawing it out instead of having to eyeball it?
ADMIN says:

@JOE: Q1:

If im creating a website with a width of 800px i generally always make it slightly bigger say 850 or even 900px as i like a big working space. ;)

Q2:

When you click the rectangular marquee tool there is a box at the top “style” click that then click “fixed size”, enter your dimensions in the boxes, dont forget to put “PX” = pixels “PT” = points “CM” = cm etc… etc…

hope this helps
.RevO says:

Okay just wondering what would be the best way to design a web 2.0 design?

also woot 43 comment xD yes I counted.
kevinsturf says:

When making websites, I usually make it in dimensions of 960px as in 960 grid system but don’t actually use it. I fins make it this way makes it compatible with screen resolutions of all sizes.
c4gamerz says:

hey i thought everyone would spam but i am surprised to see such useful comments which are going to help me a lot in future!! Thanks everyone ;)

I am a regular visitor of hv-designs.co.uk since this site was launched and i am really happy to see such a good progress this site has made so i would like to congratulate the owner for such a nice effort!!

Keep it up :)
Kirryn Mountford says:

I am hopefully getting a macbook in a few months and look forward to designing on that but I was wondering if people preferred mac or pc and why?

Also, for current designers: When using Photoshop for logo design, what are the main tools you use? e.g. the pen tool most or…?
Poison3k says:

@.RevO:

the best way to design a web 2.0 site in my view is ‘just keep it simple’. Simple colours, simple gradients, simple logo’s and font and most importantly, simple navigation.
Gary says:

Thank you all for you help. @ ADMIN I thank you for making this site big time.
.RevO says:

Thanks for the help Poision, and lol I did count yours but then i subtracted and now i know the real total.

Okay here is a easy way to center your web site:

Now in today’s world, coders are tending to use DIV tags more than tables so look into your CSS file and look for your container/wrapper or whatever you called your div that keeps everything intact.

Once you found it add this to it
margin: 0 auto;

Some people have not found how people manage to center their whole webpage in the middle of any resolution size.

If your website is made with tables,

Find this
CODE

Now the last symbol you may not have because it has obtain other properties like width, height, border, etc so it can be like

CODE

or something along that side.

anyways once you found it add this to it

CODE
align=”center”

So in the end your code should look like this

CODE

Now in today’s world, coders are tending to use DIV tags more than tables so look into your CSS file and look for your container/wrapper or whatever you called your div that keeps everything intact.

Once you found it add this to it
CODE
margin: 0 auto;

What that does it puts 0 on the top and bottom and automatically adds the margin on the left and right evenly so it looks like your webpage is centered.

So in the end it should be like this
#wrapper {
width: 768px;
margin: 0 auto;
}
Jan says:

Heey how can you adjust the grid again?
Poison3k says:

it’s a long shot, but does anyone have any tips, info or know of some good resources for presenting oracle data on the web using php (not via crystal reports or visual studio) we want to hand code it all so we can make it look fancy :D
Ethan Ellis says:

Well since the comment should eb about PS I like to use the smart guide tool to show me if my designs align.

:D good luck
ADMIN says:

yea true…. ive sorted through the comments, PHOTOSHOP QUESTIONS AND PHOTOSHOP POSTS ONLY PLEASE.
Gary says:

I use actions for making a shadow of some of my work is there a ez way to do this?
Joe says:

Can anyone tell me how i can view the size (pixel width and height) of a selected object in Photoshop? Not the size of the canvas! …. whenever i draw out… say a box for instance… i often forget how big it actually is.. so i’m wondering if there is a way to click on it and find out its exact dimensions.

Thanks!!!!
Gary says:

& Joe an ez way to do that is to ctrl click on your box then copy it doing this will make it show what you need to know by clicking on file new this will show you the size of the box. I hope that will help you out.
helpfull hand says:

We’re almost half.
With the Healing Brush tool you can manually set a source by holding the alt key and clicking the point you want as source. Don’t want to set a source but let photoshop fix it up itself? Then use the Spot Healing Brush.
DanielPK says:

Whant to bring some life to your PS projects??? Use “brushes” they give pretty good effect and with quite a dozen of them to chose from ;) and not forgetting the “Blending options” getting the right settings will totally bring new look to your design! experiment with different options and settings to suit your needs :)
.RevO says:

Which type of navigation is best when designing? A nav in the header or a nav that has its own seperate strip.
DanielPK says:

@ RevO:
I’d say, a nav in its own separator….this is just from experience i had with designing templates!!! its just in case that something goes wrong with your header file!! nothing else will be affected…but…but!!! if you want the page to load faster…then you should include it into the header!!! and not to forget USE a “Top” “text link/image” at the end of the page, so that users won’t have to scroll up till they reach the nav bar, for easy back and forth navigation.

Zoom in – Ctrl+ + / Ctrl+Space “You can you this keyboard shortcut to quickly zoom in on your image”.
Zoom out – Ctrl+ – / Alt+Space “You can you this keyboard shortcut to quickly zoom out on your image”
Gary says:

Keyboard shortcuts

ctrl+ A = select all
ctrl+ c = Copy
ctrl+ v = past
ctrl+ e = merge layers
ctrl+ f = last filter
ctrl+ j = layer via copy
bjorn says:

windows key + e
DanielPK says:

Press SHIFT + TAB to show/hide only Your palette.
Press F repeatedly to cycle screen modes.
Press CTRL + TAB to switch to Your next document.
Press CTRL + SHIFT + TAB to switch to Your previous document.
Press CTRL + T to enter free transform mode.
Press ALT + DELETE to fill the layer with foreground color
Press SHIFT + DELETE to fill with background color.
press CTRL + ALT + SHIFT + S to bring up ’save for web & devices ‘ dialog.
You can use ALT + BACKSPACE or SHIFT + BACKSPACE to fill non-transparent pixels.’
to approve and escape text editing mode, Just press Your numeric ENTER or CTRL + ENTER
helpfull hand says:

ctrl+ u = hue/saturation
ctrl+ x = cut
ctrl+shift j = duplicate via cut
ctrl+l = levels
ctrl+s + save
ctrl+p = print…
ctrl+o = open

Control + Me = World Domination :P J/k
Gary says:

Is there a way to save a image to PNG with a transparent background in photoshop with out it looking like some one killed it?
Poison3k says:

Make brush smaller = [
Make brush bigger = ]
Keep brush size but soften = SHIFT+[
Keep brush size but harden = SHIFT+]
Return toolbar color swatches to b&w = D
Switch foreground and background colors = X
Kirryn Mountford says:

As DanielPK has already stated, Brushes add design flow and detail that just makes it look that much better.

DeviantART is a great resource for brushes, as well as inspirational artwork!

Ctrl + J when a layer is highlighted in the layer palette duplicates that layer!
Ethan Ellis says:

I got a question. How many of you guys work with more then one type of designing like making wbe sites and making large art?

I used to create really bad large art then moved over to web design and now moving back to large art and it seems that I have gotten better in large art then before but still not great.

Also do you guys use more then one graphic editor like photoshop and illu coz with this new large art that I am trying I am thinking if it is worth while to try my hand at illu?
DanielPK says:

@ Kirryn thanks for emphasizing more on brushes ;) and just keying in the search term “free photoshop brushes” in (Yahoo, Google, Msn….etc) will bring you MILLIONS of sites which provide free brushes!

New Document Ctrl+N
New Document (last settings) Ctrl+Alt+N
Save As (Copy) Ctrl+Alt+S
Save for Web Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S
Airbrush (Brush Tool) Alt+Shift+P
Toggle Rectangular / Elliptical Marquee Shift+M
Menubar (show / hide) Shift+F
Gaussian Blur Ctrl+Alt+Shift+G
Liquify Ctrl+Shift+X
Smart Blur Ctrl+Alt+Shift+D
Pim W. says:

If you don’t have enough money for photoshop try to use GIMP =)
Poison3k says:

Have lots of layers in your design? can see what is on the layer but can’t find it in the layers browser? select the move tool (V) and then press and hold ctrl while you select part of the layer you want and hey presto!
Gary says:

Alt + delete = fill
Javagon says:

Save your psd file periodically
Gary says:

When saving a image to psd make sure you have it save a preview.
Cain says:

What two keys do you press to make a 3.D effect for your text?
DanielPK says:

Am still hopping to be the 100th commenter! lol,

You can easily see keyboard shortcut by mouseover on certain tool.
Double click on zoom tool to zoom Your document 100% size.
You can press CTRL + ALT + 0 to get actual pixels too (100 % size).
Mouse click on active layer and press SHIFT to select several layers.
Use CTRL + SHIFT + G to ungroup layers.
Press CAPSLOCK to show cursor precise/standard mode.
Reselect previous selection by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + D.
Poison3k says:

Still a way off the 100th post, it’s going to sneak up on us and then a flurry of activity to hit 100. good luck all.

Shortcuts for changing you views;
Hide all tools = TAB
Make just palettes, not toolbar, disappear = SHIFT+TAB
Zoom in = CTRL +
Zoom out = CTRL –
Get the Hand tool temporarily = SPACE BAR
Fit image on screen = CTRL + 0
Gary says:

All ways make a copy of your psd this way you can play around with the copy & still have your good one if you need it.
.RevO says:

60% there!

Also what would make this hosting template im designing more extravagent like make it pop out? or what would make you guys say ahhhhh in amazment?
Ronay says:

How do i make a good Glass/windows vista effect?
Kirryn Mountford says:

@Rev0 – Websites tend to be very linear and flat, adding an image that perhaps comes from your header of your navigation bar or sits voer the corner of a content box makes the website seem more alive and well, more extravegently designed. At least that’s my opinion. Getting the CSS right for it can be annoying, though.

Hint – When transforming a shape like a content box (Ctrl + T), you can specify its exact height and width using the bar at the top, it will likely have ’100%’ written in it, but replace ii with 400px for example, and it’ll become 400px wide / high.
flipsyde92 says:

@Ronay – You can try this tutoriel : http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=468442
netsnake says:

Well, there’s an iPhone & iPod app in the iTunes Store, called PhotoKeys, which simply works like an additional keyboard for Photoshop, with shortcuts for different things. My opinion: Nice, but actually, memorizing the keyboard shortcuts themselves is still faster than this “extra tablet”. Costs about $4, I think.
Diego says:

Do you know where to find High quality tutorials of typography? or how to recreate this effect?
http://img234.imageshack.us/my.php?image=batmanvo6.jpg
Poison3k says:

If you love fonts and have hundreds if not thousands of them, then dont install them in the windws\fonts folder, use a font-management utility. I’ve got about 2000 fonts and if I was to put them all in the windwos\fonts folder it would take about 10 minutes to load photoshop or word or any other program that preloads fonts. Use a font-management utility to create sets of fonts according to style and activate only those sets that you need at any given time. Too many active fonts can choke the Photoshop type engine, slowing performance. The Mac OS has Font Book built right in, or you can use the excellent Suitcase Fusion from Extensis (www.extensis.com). Extensis also offers Suitcase for Windows.
Gary says:

Hold ctrl & alt then click on the left or right of your work then pull it make a copy of it.
Kirryn Mountford says:

We’re very close indeed…

I’m sure it’s been mentioned somewhere already, can’t be bothered reading all of the comments but i’ve only just recently started using the (V) shortcut for the move tool, which is a tool we all use a lot, and it really cuts time off the design process….
ADMIN says:

timings going to be critical in the last couple of comments to get to the 100th post. This should be fun, im kind of getting excited now haha
Gary says:

I some times think it is had to use the pen tool for overlay shine is there a ez way to do this with out using it?

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