Welcome to the App Frame
If you're into Photoshop, and I mean really into Photoshop, there's no limit to your interest in learning everything you can about it, both related to its current incarnation and future versions. And for a look into the future, there's no better man to keep an eye on than John Nack, Senior Product Manager for Photoshop.
A Mac user since 1984, Nack joined Adobe in 2000 after leaving a position as web designer and animator at AGENCY.COM in New York, where he developed online content for clients that included Gucci, Nike and Coca-Cola. He joined the Photoshop team in 2002 and has been involved in such features as Adobe Camera Raw, Smart Objects, Vanishing Point and Adobe Bridge.
John Nack on Adobe began in 2005, when Adobe made a commitment to corporate blogging (still notably absent from competitor Quark). His first post drew 19 comments, which probably seemed like a lot at the time. In the intervening years he's developed a good groove by not sticking to just Adobe-related items but by making use of his extensive connections and general curiosity to share information about a wide variety of design and publishing trends.
But it's really his inside knowledge of ongoing development of the Creative Suite that keeps the Photoshop crowd glued to his blog, poised to respond en masse to anything affecting their beloved app. What am I saying—their world. His June 5 post, Future Photoshop UI Changes, is a great example. In speaking of the currently available betas of the next versions of Fireworks and Dreamweaver, he talks about one of the more dramatic changes for Mac users. Photoshop will now provide an interface approach Windows users are long familiar with, called an application frame—basically, using a single window with a gray background to contain both user interface elements and documents. In the clip above, Nack shows the app frame enabled and disabled, documents in and out of tabs, as well as some of the layout options available with or without the app frame enabled.
While the 161 (and counting) comments so far are mixed in terms of their acceptance of this, many Mac users are up in arms about the new direction, despite it being optional. Settle down, folks! In any case, his post, the comments, and his reponse to the comments, are classic Nack. If you're already a follower, you know what I mean. And if you're a Photoshop nut and have never heard of this dude—well, then you're in for a treat.
Chris Dickman
Graphics.com | Also blogging on Photos.com
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