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Adobe® Photoshop® CS2 Studio Techniques [Book]

The Navigator Palette

If you do a lot of detail work where you need to zoom in on your image as if you’re wearing glasses as thick as Coke bottles, you should love the Navigator palette (Figure 1.16). The Navigator palette floats above your document and allows you to quickly move around and zoom in and out of your image. A little red box indicates which area of the image you’re currently viewing. By dragging this box around the miniature image of your document that appears in the Navigator palette, you can change which area you’re viewing in the main image window. You can also just click outside the red box and the box will center itself on your cursor.

Figure 1.16. The Navigator palette.

Building a Navigation Bar : Adobe Photoshop

In this tutorial you’ll learn a variety of techniques for creating visually exciting graphics that support and enhance navigation.

If you’re not familiar with Photoshop then read this tutorial New file for the Web before working on this tutorial.

Navigation is the most important graphic element in a Web site. A good navigation scheme is one that is both easy to find on every page and easy to use. It communicates clearly and simply where the viewer is in the site, where she can go from that point, and how to get there.

Add a set of matching buttons to a navigation bar.

Switch to ImageReadyThis navigation bar image was made in Photoshop to take advantage of Photoshop’s wide range of image-editing features. You could continue to use Photoshop to add buttons to this bar, but we recommend you switch to ImageReady for that purpose to make use of ImageReady’s exclusive object-oriented tools (the Tab Rectangle tool, Smart Guides, multiple layer selection, layer groups, Move tool variations, and more).

With the file open in Photoshop, click the Edit in ImageReady button at the bottom of the Photoshop toolbox. ImageReady launches, and the open file is automatically moved to ImageReady. You’ll work in ImageReady for the rest of this project.Create a Button ShapeStart by creating one tab-shaped button. Select the Tab Rectangle tool in the ImageReady toolbox A. In the Options bar, make sure the Shape Layer icon is selected B. Set the button’s size by checking Fixed Size and entering Width: 106 px and Height: 24 px C. Set the button’s style by clicking the arrow on the Style field and choose Glass Table Cool style or just choose a different style. Select the Background layer in the Layers palette. Then click in the image to create a button on a new shape layer E. Give the layer a meaningful name by double-clicking Layer 1 and typing button 1 in its place F.

You can hide the blue border that appears around your new button by choosing View>Show>Layer Edges.

3. Move the Button

Now you’ll turn the button upside down and hang it from the navigation bar. Select the Move Tool in the toolbox A, and make sure the Layer Select tool is highlighted in the Options bar B. This variation of the Move tool automatically selects the layer or layer group that contains the object you click on in the image. Click on the button you just made to automatically select the button 1 layer. Choose Edit>Transform>Flip Vertical to invert the button. Click and drag the button into position under the navigation bar’s overhang C.

4. Add Button Text

Select the Type tool in the ImageReady toolbox. In the Options bar, set Font Family to Arial Narrow or a similar font A, set Font Size to around 14 px B, and set Font Color to black C. Click on the button in the image and type home. This creates a new home type layer above the button 1 layer. Don’t worry about where the text is positioned on the button for now.

5. Make a Layer Group

With the home type layer selected, hold the Shift key and click the button 1 layer in the Layers palette, so that both layers are selected A. Then choose Layer>Group Layers from the main menu bar. This gathers the two layers into a layer group labeled Group 1 B. Now that the button and text are grouped, it will be easy to duplicate them as a unit.

6. Make Duplicate Buttons

Duplicate button 1 along with its text by Control/right-clicking Group 1 in the Layers palette and choosing Duplicate Layer Group from the menu that appears in following image. You won’t see the duplicate button in the image yet because it is located directly on top of the original button.

You can select more than one layer at a time-but only in ImageReady, not Photoshop. To select multiple layers, Shift-click if the layers are next to one another in the Layers palette; Command/Ctrl-click if they are not.

Select the Move tool, and make sure its Layer Select tool variation is highlighted in the Options bar. Click on the button in the image and drag to the right to move the duplicate button and its text B.

Notice the light blue lines that appear and disappear as you move the button C. These are Smart Guides-temporary alignment guides that display automatically when you move an object. Use them to align the buttons horizontally as you drag. Release the mouse when a vertical Smart Guide appears in between the two buttons, indicating that they are no longer overlapping.

Layer Groups vs. Layer Sets.

ImageReady layer groups are similar to layer sets, but more useful for working with objects, because of the way layer groups react to the Move tool variations-the Layer Select tool and the Direct Select tool. If an object is on a layer that’s included in a layer group, clicking on the object with the Layer Select tool selects the entire layer group, while clicking with the Direct Select tool selects only the layer. If an object is on a layer that’s in a layer set, both tools select the layer, but not its set.Repeat this step five more times until you have a total of seven layer groups and seven buttons, all displaying the label home D.

7. Change the Button Text

Select the Type tool and click and drag to highlight the word home on the second button from the left. Type the word Info instead. Repeat this step on each button, renaming the next five buttons: tours, stories, pictures, booking, and links.

8. Edit Multiple Layers at Once

You can save time by editing multiple layers together. Command/Ctrl-click on each of the seven type layers in the Layers palette to select them all A. Open the Character palette (Window>Character). With the Type tool selected, click the All Caps icon in the Character palette to make all the button labels uppercase.

You must click directly on the word home to select the corresponding type layer so you replace that text. Otherwise you’ll create a new type layer. If that happens, use the History palette to back up and try again.Align Text to ButtonsNow align each text label to its button. Start with the home button. Shift-click the home type layer and the button 1 layer to select them both in the Layers palette A. Select the Move tool in the Options bar. Click the Align Layer Horizontal Centers button to move the text to the horizontal center of the button B. Then click the Align Layer Vertical Centers button to move the text to the vertical center of the button C. Repeat this step on each of the six remaining pairs of button and text.

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Congratulations! You’ve created a navigation bar of matching buttons and text with a minimum of fuss. The file is still in PSD (Photoshop Document format), which is a good format in which to save the source file because it retains program features like layers. However, this image is not ready to upload to the Web, because Web browsers cannot display a PSD file. The file must first be converted to a Web-ready format, like JPEG or GIF (Learn GIF Optimization Settings and JPEG Optimization Settings ).

How to use the Navigator Panel in Photoshop

How to use the Navigator Panel in Photoshop

This tutorial shows you how to use the Navigator panel in Photoshop to zoom and pan images, and why the Navigator panel is like having the Zoom Tool and the Hand Tool rolled into one!

Written by Steve Patterson.

So far in this series on navigating images in Photoshop, we’ve learned how to zoom in and zoom out of an image with the Zoom Tool and how to pan or scroll an image using the Hand Tool. But Photoshop also includes a Navigator panel designed specifically for zooming and panning. In fact, the Navigator panel is a lot like having the Zoom Tool and the Hand Tool rolled into one. Let’s see how it works.

I’m using Photoshop 2022 but any recent version will work. To get the most from this lesson, be sure to read through the first tutorial in this series to learn the basics of zooming and panning images before you continue.

Let’s get started!

Opening an image

You can follow along by opening any image in Photoshop. I’ll use this image from Adobe Stock.

An image newly opened in Photoshop.

Where do I find the Navigator panel?

The Navigator panel is not part of Photoshop’s default workspace, which means we need to open it ourselves. So to open it, go up to the Window menu in the Menu Bar.

Opening the Window menu.

Here you’ll find a list of all the panels available in Photoshop. Click the Navigator panel to open it.

Opening the Navigator panel.

The Navigator panel opens in the secondary panel column to the left of the main column. And these panels are displayed only as icons until we click on an icon to expand it.

The Navigator panel opens in the secondary panel column.

A quick tour of the Navigator panel

Photoshop’s Navigator panel is pretty simple. There’s a main preview window surrounded by a red outline (which we’ll come back to in a moment) where we see the image.

The current zoom level is displayed in the lower left of the panel. And a slider bar along the bottom lets us change the zoom level by dragging the slider left or right.

Photoshop’s Navigator panel.

How to resize the Navigator panel

But the first thing you’ll probably want to do is make the Navigator panel larger. And you can resize it by clicking and dragging the bottom left corner outward.

Dragging the bottom left corner to resize the Navigator panel.

The view box

The red outline around the image in the preview window is the view box. The box surrounds the section of the image that’s visible in Photoshop’s main document window at the current zoom level.

Since I’m zoomed out far enough to see my entire image in the document window, the box is surrounding the entire image.

The red outline is the view box.

Zooming with the slider bar

But if I zoom in on the image by dragging the bottom slider to the right, the view box shrinks to surround just the area I’m zoomed in to.

This makes it easy to keep track of exactly which part of the image you’re looking at in the document window since the entire image is always visible in the Navigator panel.

The view box in the preview window resizes as you zoom in closer.

Dragging the view box to pan the image

Once you’re zoomed in, you can pan around the image to inspect different areas by clicking inside the view box in the preview window and dragging it to different spots.

Here I’ve dragged the box around the sailboat on the right, which lets me view that part of the image in the document window.

Drag the outline to pan or scroll around the image.

The Zoom in and Zoom Out icons

Along with dragging the slider, you can zoom in by clicking the large mountain icon to the right of the slider, or zoom out by clicking the smaller mountain icon on the left.

Click the mountain icons to zoom in and out.

Entering a specific zoom value

You can also change the zoom level by highlighting the current value in the lower left, entering a new value, and then pressing Enter on a Windows PC or Return on a Mac.

Enter specific zoom values in the lower left.

Zooming with the hidden scrubby slider

And here’s a couple of tricks to use with the Navigator panel. First, if you hover your mouse cursor over the zoom level in the lower left, and press and hold the Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key on your keyboard, your cursor will change to a scrubby slider. You can then click and drag left or right with the scrubby slider to zoom in or out.

Hold Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) to access the scrubby slider.

Dragging a view box manually

Or if you press and hold the Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) key and hover over the image in the preview window, your cursor will change to a magnifying glass.

But instead of clicking to zoom in like you would with the Zoom Tool, you can click and drag a view box around whatever it is you want to zoom in on.

Holding Ctrl (Win) / Command (Mac) and dragging around an area to zoom in.

How to change the view box color

If you’re having trouble seeing the view box in front of your image, you can change its color by clicking the Navigator panel’s menu icon in the upper right:

Clicking the menu icon.

Choosing Panel Options:

Opening the Panel Options.

And then choosing a new color in the Panel Options dialog box, either from the list of presets or by clicking the color swatch and choosing one from the Color Picker.

The Panel Options dialog box.

How to hide the Navigator panel

Finally, to hide the Navigator panel when you’re done, just click its icon in that secondary panel column.

Click the icon to hide the Navigator panel.

Where to go next…

And there we have it! In the next lesson in this Navigating Images in Photoshop series, we’ll learn how a relatively new feature in Photoshop known as Overscroll lets us pan an image even when it already fits on the screen! Or visit my Photoshop Basics section for more topics for beginners!

So you have finished reading the how to open navigator in photoshop topic article, if you find this article useful, please share it. Thank you very much. See more: Rotate canvas Photoshop, Navigator Photoshop, Fill is the standard zoom level in the Navigator panel, Workspace Photoshop, Photoshop Basic, How to rotate in Photoshop, Photoshop tutorial for beginners, Overscroll Photoshop