PhotoBars Supplement for PS6/PS7 Users of Extensis PhotoTools

[Daryl Pritchard]

Hello All,

I guess I need yet another good forum to distract me away from my job...if I get fired, I'll blame Doug Nelson for making me aware of these forums. Actually, I'm not sure how often I'll visit, but hopeully I can contribute some help from time to time.

For now, I'd like to take an opportunity to further spread the news of the PhotoBars supplements that I provide through my website. I hope this doesn't come across seemingly as "spam"; if it does, I apologize:

For those who are familiar with the Extensis PhotoTools plug-in for Photoshop, you may also know that the product originally included a component called PhotoBars that provided customizable toolbar functionality to Photoshop. While a very useful feature for those who like a toolbar style of user interface, it did require periodic updates from Extensis to maintain compatibility as Photoshop evolved through new versions. With Photoshop 6, Extensis apparently decided continued updates of the PhotoBars files were a diminishing return on their investment, so they issued PhotoTools 3.06 as the PS6-compatible version of their plug-in, but with the PhotoBars component deleted.

Working from an older version of PhotoTools, I recovered the PhotoBars functionality and remapped it for full compatibility with the menu structure of Photoshop 6.0. The resulting "PhotoBars 6.0 Supplement" was and is provided as "donation ware" to augment the functionality of PhotoTools 3.06. With the release of Photoshop 7.0, again there was a need to remap and expand upon PhotoBars, hence a "PhotoBars 7.0 Supplement" for which I am charging a remapping fee of $6 USD, payable through PayPal.

Unlike the original PhotoTools product which provided 2 or 3 pre-defined toolbars (but which could still be customized), both of my supplements provide toolbars corresponding to the full menu structure of Photoshop, so that even the most deeply nested command can be enabled on a toolbar for one-click access.

Full details and screenshots of the toolbars for these two supplements are provided at http://jazzdiver.com/photoshop/photobars.htm

Thank you,

Daryl Pritchard

[DannyRaphael]

Daryl:

Given your prominence within the Photoshop community, I chuckled a bit when I noticed your "Junior Member" status at this site with 1 post as of 7/10/02. That's like referring to Barry Bonds as a "Little Leaguer."

IMHO your work to preserve and extend the functionality of PhotoBars to beyond PS 5 ranks right up there with the discovery of penicillin. (Well, maybe not quite that high... )

On behalf of those of us who prefer mouseclicks to obscure keyboard shortcuts, a BIG Thank You.

~DannyR~

[Daryl Pritchard]

Hahahaa...Hi Danny,

Thanks for the kind words. Frankly, I'd really consider myself truly more of a little leaguer given that my actual skills in the use of Photoshop remain on what I'd perhaps call an amateur level at best. I'd hate to admit how many books I've bought over the years to try and boost my skills, yet which have spines that aren't even cracked. My PS6 Bible is a case in point...but hey, at least I know it is there as a good reference even if I'm now up to PS7. If I'd spent half the time in learning how to better use Photoshop that I spent in remapping the Photobars for PS6 and PS7, I'd be a good bit farther along. To think that I'm even "prominent" in the Photoshop community kinda' makes me laugh also, but certainly I do contribute my 2 cents worth every now and then.

Regardless, it is nice to be viewed with such esteem and I'm glad my efforts with Photobars have been helpful to PhotoTools users.

Thanks again,

Daryl

[Guest]

That screenshots url is dead, and I would like to know more about these bars.

[Daryl Pritchard]

Hi Greg,

Sorry about that bad URL....being new here, I should've checked the link to be sure it was good and I didn't. As it turns out, the period at the end of the URL was treated to be part of the URL and caused the error. I've edited the URL so that it is a good one now and I'll repeat it here for good measure: http://jazzdiver.com/photoshop/photobars.htm

Thanks for catching this!

Daryl

[Sharon Brunson]

Danny,

I thought the same thing when I saw Daryl's post. I lurk on the PS forum and Daryl is always knowledgeable and a gentleman.

It's nice to see you here, Daryl.

Sharon

[Daryl Pritchard]

Hi Sharon...

You know, I thought your name looked vaguely familar; it should be no surprise that I'd see familiar names in here of folks who also visit the Photoshop forum. Thanks for the compliments...even though I'm in Texas, I still try to be a Tennessee gentleman. No offense is meant toward Texans.

May I ask whereabouts you're at in Texas?

Thanks,

Daryl

[Sharon Brunson]

Daryl,

I live in Burleson...about 10 miles south of you.

Sharon

[Daryl Pritchard]

What? And you mean I uploaded that image of mine when I could've just dropped by to show you the framed one? (Albeit with broken glass from falling off the wall at work) ha! Tis' a small world, isn't it?

Daryl

[DJ Dubovsky]

Hi Daryl
Welcome to Retouch Pro and thanks for such a great contribution.
One of the hardest things to get used to when I upgraded from 5.5 a long time back was loosing my PhotoBars. Then I found out that 6 and beyond wouldn't be able to have them and itI really made the upgrade less attractive and alot more sluggish to work with. So, I decided to give yours a try. I haven't installed them yet but I just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to remap them for 6 and 7. It's one of the most usefull plugins I've come across and why they stopped them I will never understand.
You do realize you're committed now. If I get used to them all over again on 7, I will definately want them for versions 8, 9, 10.......
DJ

[Daryl Pritchard]

Hello Debra,

Thanks for the welcome. I'm glad this forum is helping me find PhotoTools users like yourself who weren't aware that there was a solution for recovering PhotoBars. As long as Adobe doesn't do anything too radical with Photoshop to cause an overall incompatibility with PhotoTools, then I suspect I'll continue in my efforts to maintain PhotoBars for future Photoshop versions. Since I'm not a software programmer, I can't provide any fixes for PhotoBars that would require anything more than remapping the buttons and toolbars. I'm still hopeful that Adobe might eventually provide a customizable toolbar enhancement of their GUI, but nothing yet has suggested that as likely to happen. However, I think the voice command interface of PS10 will eliminate the need for any toolbars. j/k

Thanks again,

Daryl

[DJ Dubovsky]

YES!!! I see bars!!! I have no idea what I did but I must have done it right!! Wow, I almost forgot how sweet those little bars looked. I can't wait to start setting them up. I'm like a kid with a new toy here. I'll let you know how it goes. At least I remember quite a few of the old symbols. Thanks again.
DJ