adobe Photoshop CS6 teaser demonstrates darkened UI

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Photoshop CS6 teaser demonstrates darkened UI

It's hard to tell when darkened UI elements and black or dark gray backgrounds became associated with "professional." While Apple's Aperture and Adobe's Lightroom are the best known proponents of the concept in image editing, they're certainly not the first pieces of software to bear the subdued look. Darkened graphics programs always seemed especially popular on "exotic" platforms like SGI and Amiga, and NeoChrome had a dark UI on Atari in the late 80s. These days most of Apple's "serious" applications are dark, or getting darker, and Adobe is close beside them.

Adobe just showed off a "sneak peak" of Photoshop CS6 on YouTube, which includes a darkened UI for "a more immersive experience." You can actually choose between four shades, with the lightest being the old look, and the darkest making everything nearly black. Of course, the age-old excuse of removing distraction and allowing you to "focus on the image" still applies, which just makes us wonder: why are lightened UIs are still the default in software design? And if a darkened UI is clearly superior, why did it take Adobe more than two decades to come around for its flagship product? Food for thought as graphic designers the world over begin lobbying their IT department for a rapid CS6 upgrade, and would-be graphic designers warm up BitTorrent.

Source: The Verge

[Pam14160]

I put this out a couple of months ago (Pre-trail version), and people called it fake. Been on the testing team now for eight months, and have to say that this is the best Photoshop version I have worked with. . . :)

[djdanster]

Been using the leaked CS6 Photoshop for a good few months now. It's UI is alot better, plus better performance :)

[LaP]

Been using the leaked CS6 Photoshop for a good few months now. It's UI is alot better, plus better performance :)

Does it still comes with the awesome price tag of a brand new car ? ;)

[feuniks]

Does it still comes with the awesome price tag of a brand new car ? ;)

No car prices went down because of the economic depression. ;)

[Dotdot]

Been using the leaked CS6 Photoshop for a good few months now. It's UI is alot better, plus better performance :)

Same, secretly ive wanted a dark ui for years. So win win :)

[Pam14160]

Does it still comes with the awesome price tag of a brand new car ? ;)

Yes. However, when you think about what the application can do and the work that goes into creating it; it actually is not all that expensive. Adobe is putting out a new Photoshop Elements (verison 10) that is similar in appearnance with photoshop and with a great deal of photoshops abilities for a great deal less. Elements is designed for the home user where Photosop CS6 is designed for the corperate world and hard professional camra folks.

[Quillz]

Is it likely this new UI will also be a part of Illustrator CS6?

[LaP]

Yes. However, when you think about what the application can do and the work that goes into creating it; it actually is not all that expensive. Adobe is putting out a new Photoshop Elements (verison 10) that is similar in appearnance with photoshop and with a great deal of photoshops abilities for a great deal less. Elements is designed for the home user where Photosop CS6 is designed for the corperate world and hard professional camra folks.

The problem with element is the ui is so different you can't use photoshop tutorials with it (anyway was not possible with last version i used couple of years ago). I'm not a pro artist. I'm (not) using photoshop to make gfx for web sites i'm working on. I'm not good so i like to use tutorials to help me making me own good looking web site elements like buttons, background, logo,, banner and such.

Photoshop is way too much expensive for my needs. And i don't really like gimp.

I had the choise between Painto Shop, Photshop Elements, Xara gfx and web deisgner and such. My choice would have been Element if the ui would have been the same because of all the awesome free tutorials around the world. I decide to go with Xara cause it was less expensive than element and you can make vectorial gfx (and export to swf wich is useful since i don't have Flash and use Flashdevelop to make flash animations) with it.

[ArialBlue]

Gentlemen, get your torrents ready

[Marshall Veteran]

What's up with the purple gradient on the right side of the menu bar? :x

Other than that I love the new UI.

[123456789A]

Not a big fan of that menu that's stuck at the top of the screen. Other than that, looks promising.

[Cosmin]

I put this out a couple of months ago (Pre-trail version), and people called it fake. Been on the testing team now for eight months, and have to say that this is the best Photoshop version I have worked with. . . :)

So you can tell us how far from final we are..

[Chasethebase Reporter]

What's up with the purple gradient on the right side of the menu bar? :x

Other than that I love the new UI.

Someone apparently doesn't know that OS X (Leopard onwards) has a translucent menubar (by default), meaning that the colours of the wallpaper can be seen from behind it. ;)

[Marshall Veteran]

Someone apparently doesn't know that OS X (Leopard onwards) has a translucent menubar (by default), meaning that the colours of the wallpaper can be seen from behind it. ;)

Didn't know that. I get around, but I don't do Macs :)

[Chasethebase Reporter]

Didn't know that. I get around, but I don't do Macs :)

Fair enough, it isn't exactly something you'd set out to find out anyways.

[Pam14160]

The problem with element is the ui is so different you can't use photoshop tutorials with it (anyway was not possible with last version i used couple of years ago). I'm not a pro artist. I'm (not) using photoshop to make gfx for web sites i'm working on. I'm not good so i like to use tutorials to help me making me own good looking web site elements like buttons, background, logo,, banner and such.

Photoshop is way too much expensive for my needs. And i don't really like gimp.

I had the choise between Painto Shop, Photshop Elements, Xara gfx and web deisgner and such. My choice would have been Element if the ui would have been the same because of all the awesome free tutorials around the world. I decide to go with Xara cause it was less expensive than element and you can make vectorial gfx (and export to swf wich is useful since i don't have Flash and use Flashdevelop to make flash animations) with it.

Download a trail version of Elements to see if it is something you might use. Trail version are good for thirty days.

So you can tell us how far from final we are..

Probably looking summer of 2012.

[c3ntury]

Is it likely this new UI will also be a part of Illustrator CS6?

It'll likely be across the board with Adobe software.

[Quillz]

Also, will all the CS6 apps finally be 64-bit on Mac?

[Ace]

Has the UI been created in Flash like some of the palettes/controls in their other programs?

[BoneyardBrew Member]

I'm always looking forward to updated Adobe applications. Bring it on!

[Growled Member]

Myself, I hate dark GUI's. I prefer lighter ones.

[Gerowen]

I was about to ask how he got it running on Linux, then I noticed the little Apple logo, :p

Ubuntu has a lighter theme with icons and colors that look a lot like the default OSX theme.

On a side-note, I've always liked darker GUIs, if they're done right.

[Pam14160]

Myself, I hate dark GUI's. I prefer lighter ones.

CS6 gives you the ability to have four different themes, hence everyone is happy.

[Chris123NT]

CS6 gives you the ability to have four different themes, hence everyone is happy.

Wow I didn't even know that until you just mentioned it, went and checked, and sure enough, 4 themes