Ease of Use in Version X5

[Mocasta]

It seems to me that the older versions of Paint Shop Pro were more user friendly and intuitive. I skipped a few versions and it doesn't even look like the software I used to love. My older version allowed me to work wonders with photographs and new graphics without having to take a course in computer science. It seems that since Corel purchased the software, it has become more and more like Corel Photo Paint. The Hints/Help section doesn't seem to be too helpful either. It's a shame really; it used to be such a great program that let me be creative without having to take a computer graphics course first or hunt around for instructions.

That said, I own it and now I am determined to master it. Can someone please tell me why I cannot see the outline of my selection when I use the tool to manually select? It seems like the color swapper is also not working - I tried to replace a white background with a transparent one and nothing I tried worked. Frutrating! It also seems to hang on certain operations such as image resize, etc. Can someone please point me in the right direction for help?

[LeviFiction]

See, my first experience with PSP, back when Jasc owned and mastered it, was one of pure frustration. I couldn't figure out how anything worked, I was stuck on understanding what that weird checkerboard background was when I started. It took a lot of searching and reading to understand how the program worked. It felt like I had to be an expert at the program, and that is what intrigued me and kept me going. I thought I had purchased a truly professional program. And that was back with version 7. I skipped 8 and 9 was a little harder to grasp the concept of but it was the same program for the most part. I then bought every single edition since then and grew with the program.

So the question comes, are the impressions of lack of usability the result of being used to the older version or is it real? Having used every version since version 9 my perception is eternally skewed. So I am very interested in hearing what you think has been lost in terms of usability that used to be there.

As for selections, this is sometimes dependent on the tool you have selected, the layer you have selected, or if you have "Hide Marquee" turned on. Try hitting "Ctrl + Shift + M" and see if that helps.

And what do you mean by "color swapper?" Maybe I was always doing it the hard way but even since version 7 of the program I always made sure the layer was a raster layer, selected the color I wanted to make transparent using a selection tool, then just hit "Delete" on my keyboard and the color was erased leaving a transparent area. Was there an easier way back in the day that would be nice to have back?

[teknisyan]

You can find a number of tutorials at http://www.corel.com/discoverycenter as for the transparent background, you may want to read this -- http://corel.force.com/index/articles/e ... background

[JStanley]

In my own personal opinion:

Earlier Jasc PSP versions were easier to use but were limited by the OS.
Later Corel PSPP/PSP were more powerful, but harder to use due to the UI changes, especially if you mastered an earlier pre-Corel version.

I, personally, like X4 (I haven't tried X5, yet) for most of my editing needs, but I fall back to Jasc v.7 for some of the operations that the newer can't handle properly (which is relatively few and far between). I had to read through a lot of tutorials and such to master X4 (and X3, X2, ...), but the pay off was worth it.

Jumping from version 7 to version 15 (X5), in computer terms, is like jumping from MS-DOS 5.0 to Windows 8; there's a big learning curve.

[brucet]

I just purchased a new car. It has so many bells and whistle that I'm struggling to read the 300+ page manual. I'm having trouble loading music and photos onto the built it hard drive. The USB connection and Ipod connections won't recognize some formats. My old manual, 5 speed, car was simple and gave me no trouble. Not that there was much to go wrong or to give me trouble with.

My point being is that new cars/software has/have so many features that we struggle to master them straight away. Yet it is us, the consumer, who 'demands' more features. We get those features and jump up and down when the new 'stuff' isn't as easy to manage as the 'old' stuff.

So we have a choice. Simple and easy to use. Or complicated and harder to use/learn.

regards

[LeviFiction]

That is a comparison I understand. Considering going from MSDOS 5.0 to Windows 3.1 was enough to make me scratch my head for days. (Notepad wasn't nearly as easy to use as EDIT, and even harder was getting used to icons) Can't imagine going from there to Windows 8.

[hartpaul]

I agree that the older versions (PSP8) seemed to be simpler but for me that was because they only had edit mode which for me IS Paintshop Pro.
For me they can drop the Manage and Adjust modes which just take up more space.
For someone starting out they can be useful, but for me having over 2 terabytes of images on external drives the cataloging and rating of images would not be worth my trouble.
I would prefer a PSP where you can get a streamlined totally debugged Edit mode only and for others they could get the Adjust and Manage modes as extras.

[Mocasta]

Thanks to all of you who have given me your suggestions and feedback! I guess there is no way around it; I will have to look at all available tutorials and instructions.