Can using text on Photoshop harm you?

Yes, man! And it can make you lose lot of time when there are superscript and subscript, letter-spacing, line-spacing, etc.

I usally spend one hour at day using Photoshop. Sometimes to fix bad photos, sometimes to create posters, but I also fought against text and it often won.

Now I want to show you some simple tips, tricks and keyboard shortcuts to simplify your works with text on Photoshop.

First of all select the Default Workspace of Photoshop (I use the CS3 Version)

Now you are sure to have the text Character & Paragraph tab on the right.

Quickly Preview Your Text With Different Fonts

Select the Type layer in the Layers palette, click on the font selection option in the Options Bar at the top of the screen, then use your Up or Down arrow keys to change font.

Letter Spacing

Letter Spacing could reminds you of the CSS property and here works in the same way: it sets the space bewteen letters.
If you want to change it in an entire text level open the Characther, select the letter-spacing area and set it.

You can also do this for a limited number of letters, just select the desired letters.

Keyboard Shortcut

Select the desired text and then “Ctrl+Alt” (Windows) or “Command+Option” (Mac) and use the Up and Down arrow keys to adjust linespacing by 10 points of default.

Line Spacing

This property is called “line-height” on CSS and it sets the space bewteen lines.
If you want to change it in an entire text level open the Characther, select the line-spacing area and set it.

You can also do this for a limited number of line, just select the desired line.

Keyboard Shortcut

Select the desired text and then “Alt” (Windows) or “Option” (Mac) and use the Up and Down arrow keys to adjust linespacing by 2 points of default.

Superscript Text

Keyboard Shortcut

Highlight the text and hold “Ctrl+Shift++” (Windows) / “Command+Shift++” (Mac)

Subscript Text

Keyboard Shortcut

Highlight the text and hold “Ctrl+Shift+Alt++” (Windows) / “Command+Shift+Option++” (Mac)

Convert Text To All Caps

Keyboard Shortcut

Highlight the text and hold “Ctrl+Shift+K” (Windows) / “Command+Shift+K” (Mac)

Convert Text To Small Caps

Keyboard Shortcut

Highlight the text and hold “Ctrl+Shift+H” (Windows) / “Command+Shift+H” (Mac)

Apply A Fake Bold Aspect

I often have to go up against some font designers ’cause they don’t include the bold style to their font.
With Photoshop you can fix this problem (in part))

Keyboard Shortcut

Highlight the text and hold “Ctrl+Shift+B” (Windows) / “Command+Shift+B” (Mac) to make text bold.

Apply A Fake Italic Aspect

The same goes for the italic style.

Keyboard Shortcut

Highlight the text and hold “Ctrl+Shift+I” (Windows) / “Command+Shift+I” (Mac) for italics.

About the Author

WebDesignDev.com welcomes our newest blogger, Andrea Pelizzardi, an Italian web/graphic designer who is the author of this article and many more to come. You can follow Andrea on TheGoldenFlux.com.
The list of his articles on WebDesignDev.com is available here.