Photoshop Interface Tutorial: The View Menu

Zoom In, Zoom Out, Proof Colors, Screen Modes, Rulers, Guides, Snap, And More

In this Photoshop tutorial, we'll look at the View Menu, part of Photoshop's user interface.

Photoshop's View Menu, as you might expect, deals mostly with options related to viewing your document.. As with all the other menu categories, the View Menu is divided into groups of related options and commands as indicated by the horizontal lines (I've colorized the screenshot to make the groups for obvious). Let's take a closer look at the various sections of the View Menu. Proofing Your Document The first group in the View Menu deals primarily with making sure your image will look good when printed using a professional printing press. Devices such as the monitor you're reading this on use what's called RGB (Red, Green, Blue) color, which uses different combinations of red, green and blue to create every color you see on your screen. Printing presses, on the other hand, use CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) color to create every color you see in print. RGB color can produce a larger range of colors (known as the color "gamut") than CMYK is capable of, and sometimes while working on an image in RGBG color mode, you might end up using colors which cannot be reproduced by a printing press using CMYK. The options in this first group give you the ability to preview your image in CMYK color to make sure your image will still look good when printed.

Zoom

The second group in the View Menu allows us to zoom in and out of our image. We can also choose "Fit on Screen" which will resize the image to its largest possible size while still fitting entirely on the screen. "Actual Pixels" displays the image at a 1-to-1 ratio, meaning that each pixel in our image is displayed in one pixel on our screen. Finally, "Print Size" will display the image at approximately the size the image will print at, using the resolution information specified in the Image Size option of the Image Menu.

Going up to the View Menu simply to change the zoom settings of our image is a big waste of time though when the keyboard shortcuts are so much quicker and easier. To zoom in, simply press Ctrl++ (Win) or Command++ (Mac) on the keyboard. To zoom out, press Ctrl+- (Win) or Command+- (Mac). "Fit on Screen" can be selected with Ctrl+0 (Win) or Command+0 (Mac), and "Actual Pixels" is Alt+Ctrl+0 (Win) or Option+Command+0 (Mac).

Screen Mode

The third group in the View Menu contains only one option, "Screen Mode". There are three screen modes to choose from. "Standard Screen Mode" is the default screen mode that Photoshop uses, which displays your image in a document window.

"Full Screen Mode With Menu Bar" is similar to Standard Screen Mode except that rather than displaying your image in a document window, it displays it directly inside the work area. Also, Photoshop's title bar at the very top of the screen disappears.

Finally, "Full Screen Mode" is similar to "Full Screen mode With Menu Bar", except that as the name implies, the Menu Bar is no longer visible. Also, the work area background color changes from gray to black. Full Screen Mode is primarily for expert Photoshop users who use keyboard shortcuts to access what they need from the program rather than having to click on menu options. You should make a point of learning the keyboard shortcuts for commands as quickly as possible since keyboard shortcuts save a lot of time that would otherwise be spent dragging your mouse from menu option to menu option.

Show Extras

The fourth group under the View Menu is used simply to show and hide things like Guides, Grids, Slices, and new to Photoshop CS2, Smart Guides. A quick way to show and hide all the extras at once is to simply press Ctrl+H (Win) or Command+H (Mac) on the keyboard.

Rulers

The fifth group under the View Menu contains only one option, which is used to show and hide Photoshop's rulers, which, when enabled, run along the top and left of the document window or work area, depending on which Screen Mode you're using. The easiest way to show and hide the rulers is to press Ctrl+R (Win) or Command+R (Mac) on the keyboard.

Snap

Moving down the list, the next group in the View Menu is for turning the "Snap" option on and off. Having Snap turned on will force objects to snap to guides, grids, layers, slices, the document bounds, or any combination of those that you select from the "Snap To" option, as you move objects around on the screen.

Guides

The View Menu's seventh group allows us to create new guides, clear existing guides, and/or lock guides in place. Guides are vertical or horizontal lines that you can drag out from the rulers to help line up objects on the screen at precise measurement locations. The easiest way to create a new guide is to simply click inside the rulers and drag a guide out onto the screen. However, for more precise guide placement, choose New Guide from the menu option here, which will allow to specify whether you need a horizontal or vertical guide, and the exact distance in pixels from the top or left that you need the guide to appear at.

Lock and Clear Slices

The final group in the View Menu contains two options, "Lock Slices" and "Clear Slices". Slices are used for optimizing images for use on the web. You can choose to lock your slices in place after slicing your image so you don't accidentally move the slices around, or if you no longer require your slices, a quick and easy way to remove them all at once is to select the Clear Slices option.