Jun 25
The Adobe Knowhow palette
2007 at 08.12 am posted by Veerle Pieters
I have been fortunate enough to watch Illustrator CS3 grow into a very nice update during its beta cycle. A more closer look at the new application is forthcoming, but for this article I want to focus on something that isn’t commonly known to everybody. That’s maybe because it’s buried a bit deep in the application because of its preview technology status.
The giant that doesn't listen to its minions
Before we start I just want to point out the critiques that say that Adobe isn't listening to its customers to think otherwise. I can vouch that this statement doesn't hold any ground and that people like Adobe Illustrator’s product manager, Philip Guindi (to name one), is very actively involved in making Illustrator the best vector application out there. They do that by listening and asking advice from people like me and others. I never had the feeling during this beta that Adobe knows best and our opinion doesn't count.
KnowHow Palette what is it?
So what's this knowhow about? When we look at Adobe labs we read:
knowhow is a technology preview that delivers single-click, contextual access to relevant help information from a panel in Adobe® Illustrator CS3. Knowhow gives users access to a wide variety of information—basic tool descriptions and short cuts, Adobe Help content, as well as community-generated tutorials, tips, and techniques on the web.
So it's something that was built entirely in Adobe Flash and looks just like a standard palette in the application. The content found in knowhow is pulled from community-generated content from a user account on del.icio.us. Anyone with a del.icio.us account can suggest new content for knowhow by simply tagging it 'knowhow' and the Adobe team will review and add them to their collection.
So how do I get to it?
To try it out within Illustrator CS3, go to the 'Window' menu and select 'knowhow' from the 'Adobe Labs' menu item.
How does it work?
You'll notice two logos, the Adobe logo and del.icio.us logo on it. When you perform a search you'll see the same two logos. The Adobe one stands for Illustrator’s help topics and the other one pulls in related links from the community-generated del.icio.us account.
When you select any tool you'll immediately notice that the knowhow panel tells you more about that selected tool. In addition when you press Cmd, Option, or Shift key, knowhow will highlight the key features.
Alternatively, if you don't have CS3 yet, you can also try out the 'knowhow' palette on Adobe Labs or http://knowhow.adobe.com or of course you can always see all their bookmarks at http://del.icio.us/knowhow.
My thoughts and feedback
If I'm looking at this from a pure UI point of view, I think this feature is too much tucked away, but they are aware of this already and it's still a technology preview. There is one thing that annoys me a bit and that's the fact that this palette can't be resized. I also often confuse the active/inactive states of the Adobe and Delicious icons at the top, but this could just be me :) I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to implement this feature in another way (not as a palette I mean) and another place. For example the toolbar maybe? It should appear in a more prominent and more flexible way so people can resize it, place or 'dock' it the way they prefer. I think it would also be cool if you could see a bit more information about the source of the Delicious links. Maybe a small icon button on the right might do the trick.
I have to admit that I haven't used this palette not enough as I should have so far. I guess it's in my nature to always throw myself upon the job, take less time to explore or read manuals and stick too much to my old working habits. Ever since I'm running this blog I try to break this habit, but during production work I'm thinking deadlines and I'm trying to focus only on the job. Still, I think this palette is very useful and deserves my attention more because it might give me tips I didn't know that could save me time in the end. Knowhow is useful especially for beginners, but with Illustrator or any other advanced application you never stop learning and discover new things. I wouldn't mind having this feature in all CS3 applications. Oh and in case you're wondering I have been submitting a few articles on Delicious. So there are a few of my tutorials in this palette.
Your thoughts and feedback
Adobe is looking for your input and thoughts about this new panel. So feedback would be greatly appreciated. They really need to hear from people like you as to whether you see value in what they've done.
- What do you think about it?
- What is missing or can be imporoved?
- Does this need to be in other Adobe software such as Photoshop, Flash, and Dreamweaver too?
- Will you participate in submitting content like links or tutorials?
Want to learn more?
A good and not expensive source to learn more about Illustrator, Photoshop, or web design is by joining the Tuts+ sites. You get access to the source files for just $9 a month. So your ONE membership gives you access to members-only content for ALL the Plus sites. I've written a tutorial for the Vector Tuts section.
13served
1
I just checked it out and I think you’re right about the usability of the pallets. The fact they’re not resizable is a indeed annoying.
But, it seems a clever idea to me and with a few adjustments this could become a very handy tool.
I noticed that kuler works a bit in the same way. Probably because it’s Flash, the type in the dropdown box is blurry.
Delicious is certainly a webtool I couldn’t live without and it maybe would be nice if you could link directly from Illustrator to your own online library.
There’s one thing about illustrator I just can’t get around and that has nothing to do with these two features.
Why is the zero point of an illustrator document at the bottom of the artboard?
While working I switch a lot between programs and I really dislike the fact I have to change my working habits when switching between Photoshop, or Indesign, and Illustrator.
2
Once again Veerle, great find. I’ve never even heard about this, and I’ve been using CS3 for about a month now. I love the idea of being able to take outside tutorial sources and bring them into the application itself, however it just seems rushed, and they need to polish it.
When I first read the title of the post I was expecting an article about the color palette in Adobe Illustrator. Adobe seriously should work on the color picking/defining in Illustrator, especially for things such as gradients and so on.
Thanks though!
++recommend
3
Thanks for sharing this feature, it will come in handy later on I’m sure!
I just tried it out and was impressed to see a few tutorials listed on the Adobe side, but unfortunately was unable to establish an internet connection and tap into the del.icio.us side. Guess there are still a few kinks to work out there.
I agree that this would be a great feature to implement in other Adobe software, you can never know too much and having tutorials right at your fingertips can certainly help you when you’re in a pinch.
In regards to submitting content, I would be glad to do that, but it will just be a matter of whether or not I remember to, as I frequently bookmark tutorials to del.icio.us.
4
I think it’s great of Adobe to harness the power of social sites like del.icio.us and it’s useful even to those of us who cannot afford CS3 yet :( I see they integrated Kuler, too. Cool!
It would be great if Adobe would put this in other programs, too. They will just make it that much easier for users to access information and tutorials about Adobe products and that will definitely strengthen brand loyalty (as if we aren’t all fanboys and girls already!) Thank you for sharing this!
5
Thanks for sharing your find. Nick from Ndesign also posted a similar post earlier.
You guys are awesome in term of Illustrator stuffs. I’ve learned a lot.
6
Thanks yet again for a handy illustrator tip. I’m loving the tutorials that I’ve found already.
I don’t know about anyone else , but I find the tutorials can be a really nice way to get over a creative block.
7
Thanks Veerle,
I saw this presented at an Adobe roadshow and thought it was fantastic for someone like me who is an occasional user of Illustrator.
Forgot about it til I read it here again.
Thanks.
8
That’s a great idea!
I never noticed it until now, because I never use Illustrator, but I’d love to see this rolled out across the rest of CS3… I’d use this kind of thing a lot.
How do we give Adobe feedback to let them know about it? You didn’t say in the post :)
9
Adobe Creative Suite product like was made for professional users. It costs more then few dollars. Most of its users knows what to do and how to do it. Implementing such features is only marketing tool.
You’re right nobody asks us what we really want. I installed Illustrator CS3 and it was very slow on my iMac G5. I found old good CS1 and now I’m feeling happy with it.
I really wonder why Adobe leaving so many error in Illustrator from version to version and even adding new ones.
10
Now I’ll try what is it. As though it must be something good. Thank you.
11
Jonic said:
You can leave your feedback on my blog. Adobe reads it ;)
12
Thanks yet again for a handy illustrator tip
13
I have enabled these palettes, but noticed that Illustrator takes up to 20-30% of CPU even when idle. Maybe because the know-how and kuler are flash based.
Anyway my MBP was getting hotter so I better turned that off.
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