Adobe Creative Suite 5 is a unified design environment that delivers the next level of integration in creative software. Discover powerful new creative tools for expressing your ideas and crafting artwork that stands out. Finish your work faster with numerous enhancements to the tools you use every day. Extend the reach of your designs to new media without writing code. Streamline creative reviews and other essential but time-consuming tasks.
This Classroom in a topic introduces you to the key elements and applications of Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium.
About Classroom in a topic
Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium Classroom in a topic is part of the official training series for Adobe graphics and publishing software developed with the support of Adobe product experts. Each lesson in this topic is made up of a series of self-paced projects that give you hands-on experience using the following Adobe products: Adobe In Design CS5, Adobe Photoshop CS5 Extended, Adobe Illustrator CS5, Adobe Flash CS5 Professional, Adobe Dreamweaver CS5, Fireworks CS5, Adobe Flash Catalyst CS5, Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro, Adobe Device Central CS5, Adobe Media Encoder, and Adobe Bridge CS5.
Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium Classroom in a topic includes a disc attached to the inside back cover. On the disc you’ll find all the files used for the lessons in this topic along with additional learning resources.
Prerequisites
Before you begin working on the lessons in this topic, make sure that you and your computer are ready.
Computer requirements
You’ll need about 1GB of free space on your hard disk to store all of the lesson files and the work files that you’ll create as you work through the exercises. You’ll need less space if don’t store all of the lesson folders on your hard disk at once.
Required skills
The lessons in this topic assume that you have a working knowledge of your computer and its operating system. Make sure that you know how to use the pointer and the standard menus and commands, and also how to open, save, and close files. Do you know how to use context menus, which open when you right-click/ Control-click items? Can you scroll (vertically and horizontally) within a window to see contents that may not be visible in the displayed area?
If you need to review these basic and generic computer skills, see the documentation included with your Microsoft Windows or Apple Mac OS X software.
Installing Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium
Before you begin using Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium Classroom in a topic, make sure that your system is set up correctly and that you’ve installed the required software and hardware. You must purchase the Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium software separately. For system requirements and complete instructions on installing the software, see the Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium Read Me file on the application installation disc or the Adobe Creative Suite Support Center on the web at www.adobe.com/support/creativesuite.
Make sure that your serial number is accessible before installing the software; you can find the serial number on the registration card or disc sleeve. For software you downloaded as an electronic purchase directly from Adobe, look for your serial number in the order confirmation e-mail and in your Adobe Store account on Adobe.com.
Copying the Classroom in a topic files
Each lesson has its own folder; you must copy the folders to your hard disk to complete the lessons. To save room on your hard disk, you can copy only the folder necessary for each lesson as you need it, and remove it when you’re done.
Copying the Lessons files from the disc
1 Insert the Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium Classroom in a topic disc into your optical disc drive.
2 Browse the contents and locate the Lessons folder.
3 Do one of the following:
• To copy all the lesson files, drag the Lessons folder from the disc onto your hard disk.
• To copy only individual lesson files, first create a new folder on your hard disk and name it Lessons. Then drag the lesson folder or folders that you want to copy from the disc into the Lessons folder on your hard disk.
4 When your computer has finished copying the files, remove the disc from your optical disc drive and put it away.
Additional resources
Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium CS5 Classroom in a topic is not meant to replace documentation that comes with the program or to be a comprehensive reference for every feature. Only the commands and options used in the lessons are explained in this topic. For comprehensive information about program features and tutorials, refer to these resources:
Adobe Community Help: Community Help brings together active Adobe product users, Adobe product team members, authors, and experts to give you the most useful, relevant, and up-to-date information about Adobe products. Whether you’re looking for a code sample or an answer to a problem, have a question about the software, or want to share a useful tip or recipe, you’ll benefit from Community Help. Search results will show you not only content from Adobe, but also from the community.
• Note: The files on the disc are practice files, provided for your personal use in these lessons. You are not authorized to use these files commercially or to publish or distribute them in any form without written permission from Adobe Systems, Inc., and the individual photographers who took the pictures, or other copyright holders.
With Adobe Community Help you can:
• Access up-to-date definitive reference content online and offline
• Find the most relevant content contributed by experts from the Adobe community, on and off Adobe.com
• Comment on, rate, and contribute to content in the Adobe community
• Download Help content directly to your desktop for offline use
• Find related content with dynamic search and navigation tools
To access Community Help: If you have any Adobe CS5 product, then you already have the Community Help application. To invoke Help, choose Help > [Application name] Help. (For example in Dreamwever, choose Help > Dreamweaver Help. This companion application lets you search and browse Adobe and community content, plus you can comment on and rate any article just like you would in the browser. However, you can also download Adobe Help and language reference content for use offline. You can also subscribe to new content updates (which can be automatically downloaded) so that you’ll always have the most up-to-date content for your Adobe product at all times. You can download the application from www.adobe.com/support/chc/index.html.
Adobe content is updated based on community feedback and contributions.Find out how to contribute: www.adobe.com/community/ publishing/download.html .
See http://community.adobe.com/help/profile/faq.html for answers to frequently asked questions about Community Help.
Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium Help and Support: www.adobe.com/ support/creativesuite where you can find and browse Help and Support content on adobe.com.
Adobe TV: http://tv.adobe.com is an online video resource for expert instruction and inspiration about Adobe products, including a How To channel to get you started with your product.
Adobe Design Center: www.adobe.com/designcenter offers thoughtful articles on design and design issues, a gallery showcasing the work of top-notch designers, tutorials, and more.
Adobe Developer Connection: www.adobe.com/devnet is your source for technical articles, code samples, and how-to videos that cover Adobe developer products and technologies.
Resources for educators: www.adobe.com/education includes three free curricu-lums that use an integrated approach to teaching Adobe software and can be used to prepare for the Adobe Certified Associate exams.
Also check out these useful links:
Adobe Forums: http://forums.adobe.com lets you tap into peer-to-peer discussions, questions, and answers on Adobe products.
Adobe Marketplace & Exchange: www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange is a central resource for finding tools, services, extensions, code samples, and more to supplement and extend your Adobe products.
Adobe Creative Suite 5 Design Premium CS5 product home page: www.adobe. com/products/creativesuite/design.
Adobe Labs: http://labs.adobe.com gives you access to early builds of cutting-edge technology, as well as forums where you can interact with both the Adobe development teams building that technology and other like-minded members of the community.
Adobe certification
The Adobe training and certification programs are designed to help Adobe customers improve and promote their product-proficiency skills. There are four levels of certification:
• Adobe Certified Associate (ACA)
• Adobe Certified Expert (ACE)
• Adobe Certified Instructor (ACI)
• Adobe Authorized Training Center (AATC)
The Adobe Certified Associate (ACA) credential certifies that individuals have the entry-level skills to plan, design, build, and maintain effective communications using different forms of digital media.
The Adobe Certified Expert program is a way for expert users to upgrade their credentials. You can use Adobe certification as a catalyst for getting a raise, finding a job, or promoting your expertise.
If you are an ACE-level instructor, the Adobe Certified Instructor program takes your skills to the next level and gives you access to a wide range of Adobe resources.
Adobe Authorized Training Centers offer instructor-led courses and training on Adobe products, employing only Adobe Certified Instructors. A directory of AATCs is available at http://partners.adobe.com.
For information on the Adobe Certified programs, visit www.adobe.com/support/ certification/main.html.
