Photoshop custom defaults?

[Darin Boville]

I'm a photoshop hater but still I must use it. Sigh.

Are there ways to customize CS5--to get rid of all the clutter--maybe even put the menu items that 99% of photographers use 99% of the time somewhere a little easier to get to?

Let's just focus on the print dialog box. I want to switch paper sizes. I have to click "Print" then "Print settings" then choose from a drop down menu containing about fifty or sixty options. I only use three (all three of which are in submenus of the submenu). Is there a way to reduce all this clutter? Maybe relegate all but the three most used selections to a submenu and keep what I use up front--or, god forbid, on the print dialog itself?

Or how about the "Send 16-bit data" checkbox. By default it is off. Why? I don't know. It doesn't seem any slower. Yet on some images I get banding with it not checked. All is fine with it checked. How many sheets of paper have I wasted and how much time wasted by forgetting to click this box? Ugh. Can it be clicked by default? Is there some harm in that?

Surely there must be a way to get control of the default printer profile. I think I used to know this but with the upgrade have forgotten. Usually it defaults to Adobe 1998 but it chooses other ones from time to time with no pattern. There are a hundred options--I will never use more than a few. Again, how to reduce all that clutter and to get it to default to my Ilford ICC?

I could go on and on...sigh.

--Darin

[Frank Petronio]

I've often wondered if they just gave us ~Photoshop 3.5 from the mid-1990s, with modern code, all lean and simple, how fast that would fly with today's machines?

Adobe has the same philosophy as Canon and Nikon... pile on features to justify upgrades you don't really need.

[Nathan Potter]

The more bloatware - the larger the customer base. It's a little like deficit spending - where will it all end.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Lenny Eiger]

Photoshop was an inspiration - at one time. However, they are now fully ensconced in bean-counter mentality. The last time I asked an Adobe employee about a feature he asked me how many more copies they could sell if they did it...
The adjustment layers are essential, but I agree, they really should cut a version just for photographers... without all the graphic arts stuff.

Lenny

[Peter Mounier]

Are there ways to customize CS5--to get rid of all the clutter--maybe even put the menu items that 99% of photographers use 99% of the time somewhere a little easier to get to?

I have CS4, but they are probably similar enough.
You can customize your "Workspace", then save it as a preset. So eliminate what you don't use, add what you do, arrange it how you like, then go to the top menu bar and click on Window > Workspace > Save Workspace.

That's all I've got.

Peter

[Nathan Potter]

I've often wondered if they just gave us ~Photoshop 3.5 from the mid-1990s, with modern code, all lean and simple, how fast that would fly with today's machines?

Adobe has the same philosophy as Canon and Nikon... pile on features to justify upgrades you don't really need.

By about 1995 all the available software packages I used had all the options I use today. Virtually all the enhancements since then are of little use to me - with damm few exceptions.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Kirk Gittings]

With each update I find useful tools that save me time-what I don't need is all the graphic arts crap which I resent paying for, but its easy enough to ignore by my workspace presets.