Adobe Photoshop CS3 - What's Happened After Ten Versions?

Adobe Photoshop has come a long way, considering the first version came out in 1990. What has it accomplished after 17 years and is the newest version, CS3, that much better than its predecessor?

Although I wasn't blessed with the first few versions, I did get an early start using Photoshop around the version 4.0 era. I remember sitting down and messing around, drawing and filling shapes. Then I was only 12 years old, but I had an avid sense of art and now I realize that it was due to Photoshop's ease of use that I was able to have so much fun creating digital art.

In the 8-9 years of seeing each new version due to my dad being a graphic designer, I've seen all of the new features added and all of the old features tweaked and some of the old features removed.

The latest version, CS3, improves upon the previous CS2 and adds some new features as well. The most apparent change you see right away when you open the program; the new user interface. It looks slightly better on a Mac because the grey containers to the toolbars are somewhat transparent. The new interface seems much more organized and compacted with the ability to show and hide or close each toolbar in a matter of only a click or two. You are also able to collapse and expand different columns of toolbars with only one click. I find the new interface to be amazing and congratulate Adobe on this feat.

The next most important feature is the addition of the "Refine Edge" option in the "Select" menu. I stumbled across it when I wanted to feather a selection but couldn't find the feather option. It was then that I noticed the two words I'd never seen before. This new option is a great addition to the Photoshop arsenal. Since discovered, I've used it countless times to refine my selection with the marquee tool. The different preview options in the popup box are great but I still prefer the default preview option. Now the user has a more versatile marquee when changing a selection with five different options packed into the popup dialog box.

There are more features that have been added in CS3 but I've never dealt with photos and cannot find any other real changes. Since I thought CS2 was pretty much perfect when I began using it, CS3 only makes Photoshop even more perfect. The ease of use has been perfected even though it's been there since day one. All-in-all, this is a great addition to the Photoshop family and well worth the investment to upgrade to the latest version. Easily a 10/10.