Software Reviews

The latest version of Adobe’s popular consumer image editing application. Adobe’s Photoshop Elements has been a popular image editor since it was introduced in April 2001 because it offered many of the features of the professional application (Photoshop) at roughly one sixth of the cost. Version 10, which was released in September 2011, maintains the key elements of the previous versions but updates or fine-tunes some of them and adds the ability to share images and video clips via popular social networks.

We focus on new apps developed to integrate Photoshop with mobile devices like tablets and smart phones. Photoshop received a minor revision when Adobe upgraded its software suites to Version 5.5 in May. The new version (12.0.4) was so slight as to be barely noticeable but included changes to the internal scripting engine to enable users to integrate Photoshop CS5 with new companion apps as they become available for mobile devices like tablets and smart phones and access added connectivity between Photoshop and these devices.

The release of Adobe’s Creative Suite 5 updates a number of popular applications and adds new facilities that will make is easier for professionals to ‘design and deliver’ across different media. The entire suite is available as a Master Collection, which contains Photoshop CS5 Extended, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat 9 Pro, Flash Catalyst, Flash Professional, Flash Builder, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Contribute, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Soundbooth, Encore and On Location. Additional components include Bridge, Device Central and Dynamic Link. All products also integrate with Adobe CS Live online services.