Why I won’t be upgrading to Adobe Photoshop Elements 6
Let me start by saying that I am a devoted Adobe Photoshop Elements Girl.
At Christmas last month I decided to give myself an extra present and upgrade from Photoshop Elements 4 to PSE6. So I downloaded the free trial that’s available on the Adobe website, taking a ‘try before I buy’ approach.
Thank heavens I did!
Now don’t get me wrong. PSE 6 has got all the functions that you would expect it to have. And one special one that really pushed my buttons was a huge level of control over the drop shadows, compared to PSE4. Photoshop Elements 6 lets you control not just the angle, and size of the shadow, but also its colour, opacity and distance from the object. If any of you have watched my video tutorials you’ll have seen how I compensate for the lack of drop shadow control in PSE4. With PSE6 I was in drop shadow heaven!
So what’s the problem, you may ask?
Why aren’t you hightailing it over to the Adobe website and downloading this wonderful new PSE version right now?
Well the reason I won’t be heading off to Adobe and upgrading to Version 6 is that the User Interface colour is truly truly terrible!!!
Whilst the black/charcoal screen may look very cool and modern. And whilst it serves to highlight all the tool bar icons that are now in colour, it is a nightmare to use!
Although the text is printed in white to contrast with the black background (this (white text on black background) actually flies in the face of accepted usability standards) all the other bits are still in black. Things like the arrows on the drop down menus and the slider bars for opacity and tolerance are black on charcoal. In other words all the control spots for managing your work. HOW DUMB IS THAT?
I went to the Adobe site to share my unhappiness with them and surprise, surprise. I was not alone. But it seems the general vibe is that this problem is unlikely to be fixed until PSE7!
And to add insult to injury, a suggestion was offered that users go and buy an ‘inexpensive’ calibrating program from Amazon for $60.
So I’m devastated! I can’t move to PSE6 when I have to click around like a mad thing to find the right spot on the screen to make things happen. It would drive me nuts.
If anyone out there has already upgraded and knows a solution please please let me know.
And thank you for letting me vent on you today.
Other related Posts:
Curled Edges Video Scrapbooking Tutorial
Blending your Own Backgrounds Video Tutorial
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23 Responses to “Why I won’t be upgrading to Adobe Photoshop Elements 6”
Wow, that sounds really frustrating, Karen!!
By Hannah on Jan 14, 2008
PSP X2 has the charcoal look too: I agree it’s cool to look at but it’s murder to work with for any length of time. However, PSP has the option of turning off the charcoal and reverting to “classic” colours: it’s a shame they didn’t do that for you in PSE6.
By Jane on Jan 14, 2008
Well I know I won’t be upgrading. Already frustrated with 5 as I can’t seem to load any actions in it. (if you know how, please let me know). That one really burned me.
By Tink on Jan 15, 2008
Can you give any description on look of the Mac version? What is the deal with loading actions? Second time I’ve heard this.
By lu on Jan 15, 2008
Hi! Come by my blog for a little surprise! Have a great day!
By Monique on Jan 15, 2008
This is some of the same reason I wont upgrade to PSP 12 I don’t like the GI. It is too much like the vista interface. I like the color of the PSP 9 interface and the earlier versions which all have the light grey interface with the tool bar font in black.
As long as PSP9 will still work and function the way I need it to I will just stay where I am at if I need anything super fancy I will use my Photoshop CS2 program.
By Joe Cheray on Jan 15, 2008
Thanks for all your support everyone.
I didn’t realise that PSP had the same issue. What’s with these designers? Are they nuts?
I tried to find the ‘Classic’ option but PSE6 doesn’t have one. That’s weird too. Most programs offer that when they make changes to their interface so they don’t alienate the people who don’t want to change from the old look. It’s almost like they’re deliberately shooting themselves in the foot.
I can’t help you with the Mac option Lu. I’m afraid I haven’t seen it. But I’d be surprised if it was any different from the PC one. Adobe don’t seem to have done very much homework on this one.
I usually like to skip a version when I upgrade (I went from 2 to 4 and intended going to 6) but I may need to investigate PSE5 as an option. Tink or any other PSE5 user, does id have the drop shadow control for colour and opacity?
By karooch on Jan 15, 2008
Today I downloaded the trial version of PSP X2 and I’m in love. Yes, it bugs me that I can’t find the buttons I know so well in PSP 7, but with a bit of determination that will be a matter of time.
At first I thought the granite look was cool – it makes the objects stand out more. But after experimenting quite some time with the different new (to me) features, the granite becomes a black hole.
The option to change the interface is under “view” in PSP, not sure if you’ve looked there in PS, but thought I’d mention it.
Oh and Karen, the best thing is that my pngs finally save as 300 dpi – WHOOT!
By Antoinette on Jan 17, 2008
Antoinette I am totally rapt that you’re so excited with PSP X2. It’s always worth the learning curve when you find that new feature that just pushes all your buttons and gets you really excited.
And you see what I mean about the charcoal background. it looks really cool until you start working with it. How realistic and sensible of PSP to have provided an option to switch back to the ‘classic’ look if you want. Unfortunately the arrogance of Adobe appears to have prevented them from considering their users in that way.
It makes me so mad that I like PSE so much.
Anyway, having got my head into the place where I’m ready to upgrade (you know how it is) I’ve just bought a copy of PSE 5 off eBay. Tink tells me that it can give me the drop shadow control which is the feature that pushes my buttons.
By karooch on Jan 17, 2008
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Jan 31, 2008
Regarding ‘Tink or any other PSE5 user, does id have the drop shadow control for colour and opacity?’ – yes, but there is a ‘bug’ in the program – selecting a white drop shadow (to be used on; for example, a black background) does not work.
Ambassador
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By Ambassador on Feb 1, 2008
Thanks for the warning Ambassador.
I got a copy of PSE5 and so far I’m pretty happy with it. Especially the shadow controls. But I’ll stay away from white shadows.
By karooch on Feb 1, 2008
PSE 6 will be out from my computer as soon as the un-install operation for the program has been fixed (!) by our computer engineer.
Being slightly poor-sighted, it is impossible for me work with the black user interface. I find it offending and intimidating by Adobe to provide this without a back-to-normal button.
By Harald E.K. on Jul 9, 2008
Yes I’m amazed and disappointed that they haven’t provided that option too Harold.
I run a program of video tutorials where I teach people how to digital scrapbook. And I can’t make the tutorials with PSE6 because they won’t be clear enough for my audience.
So I still use PSE 5 (which I find to be an excellent version by the way).
By karooch on Jul 10, 2008
I agree totally. It´s plain stupid with this dark user interface in Photoshop Elements 6 and Premiere Elements 4. I also refuse to upgrade.
Regards
Alexander
By Alexander on Aug 7, 2008
I have had problems as well with PSE6. It seems to me they were not thinking ahead about the poor user interface design. I would recommend sticking with PSE5 as I find it to be the most user-friendly.
By Taylor on Oct 29, 2008
Well I make video tutorials for my Step by Step Digital Scrapbook Program Taylor. And the PSE interface just doesn’t show up clearly enough. So I have stayed with PSE 5 (which I love anyway) We’ll have to see if they fix the problem in PSE 7.
By karooch on Oct 29, 2008
Im not having any problems with finding sliders or anything. What are you talking about?
One thing though: The photos look a little different when i open them with PSE 6 then when i open them normally in its file or whatever. Help?
By Brychan on Feb 8, 2009
Regarding the UI in Elements 7. Yes, it’s still too dark for me too. There’s a brightness adjustment slider in Preferences but it does nothing to lighten the File Menu bar which is what I really need to see in order to find the different tools. I’ve read that Elements 5 has a more user friendly interface and I’ll be trying that. Too bad.
By Bill on Aug 11, 2009
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Aug 11, 2009
Bill, the PSE5 user interface is indeed quite clear. Thus far, my particular use of PSE presents no compelling reason to purchase a newer version of PSE.
Ambassador
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By Ambassador on Aug 12, 2009
And I’m still on 5 as well. It’s very frustrating because I would like to upgrade but the interface colours are just not good to work with.
By karooch on Aug 12, 2009
Adobe Photoshop is the best photo editing tool in my opinion.Photoshop has been my bread and butter software on my current job which involves a lot of photo editing,
By detoxjulie2 on Oct 31, 2009