People new to Adobe Illustrator often say that they find the program complex and hard work. When we hold Adobe Illustrator classes in London, we acknowledge the need to help delegates get rid of the belief that Illustrator is a difficult piece of software to use. We have found that there are three main aspects to showing users that Illustrator is no harder or more annoying than any other application.
The first thing is, we are always reminding new users of the ease with which you can change back your drawing to a state earlier than the point where it has gone wrong. Also, we constantly remind delegates that they must be on the right tool in order for a given operation is to work. As well as this, we give them an insight into the subtle and useful visual feedback provided by Illustrator as you create and manipulate elements within your drawing.
New users to Illustrator will often attempt to manipulate elements within their drawing without first activating the Selection tool. For example, they will create a shape with, say, the Ellipse tool and then, while the Ellipse tool is still active, they try to move or resize the shape they have just drawn or click on the page to attempt to deselect the shape. They then get puzzled and annoyed when little ellipses keep appearing in their drawing or Illustrator's shape dimension dialogue box keeps on appearing.
The key factor in avoiding these types of errors is to keep looking at the various signals that the program provides, in particular those signals relating to the cursor appearance. For example, if you are attempting to resize a rectangle, you can only do this when your cursor changes to a slanted line with an arrow at each end (This indicates that your cursor is now in the correct position).
Another thing that new users find is that they are unable to carry out a certain operation because it is not permissible under the current circumstances or at that point in time. For example, you want to resize an object and you end up rotating or moving it instead.
A simple way of avoiding this kind of problem is to keep an eye on the many visual clues that Illustrator gives you and, in particular, those that relate to the cursor. Let's take an example. Say you are attempting to change the size of a circle, you can only carry out this operation if your cursor has changed to a diagonal line with an arrow at both ends thus showing you that have positioned the cursor precisely over one of the resize handles.
If you a new user to a program like Illustrator, it is inevitable that you will make errors: things may go slightly wrong or even get completely messed up. The key thing here is to learn the Undo habit. For example, if you accidentally move an object don't try to manually put it back where it was, simply choose Edit - Undo or use the shortcut Control-Z (Command-Z on a Mac). If you Undo too far back, you can use the Redo command to come forward again. (The shortcut for Redo is Control-Shift-Z.)
If your effort to create a drawing has gone completely wrong, the best thing to do is to accept defeat and choose the Revert command from the File menu. This is a way of admitting "This just isn't working. I submit!" The Revert command abandons all of the modifications you have made to the document since it was last saved and can be another useful way of avoiding user headaches. - 32521
The first thing is, we are always reminding new users of the ease with which you can change back your drawing to a state earlier than the point where it has gone wrong. Also, we constantly remind delegates that they must be on the right tool in order for a given operation is to work. As well as this, we give them an insight into the subtle and useful visual feedback provided by Illustrator as you create and manipulate elements within your drawing.
New users to Illustrator will often attempt to manipulate elements within their drawing without first activating the Selection tool. For example, they will create a shape with, say, the Ellipse tool and then, while the Ellipse tool is still active, they try to move or resize the shape they have just drawn or click on the page to attempt to deselect the shape. They then get puzzled and annoyed when little ellipses keep appearing in their drawing or Illustrator's shape dimension dialogue box keeps on appearing.
The key factor in avoiding these types of errors is to keep looking at the various signals that the program provides, in particular those signals relating to the cursor appearance. For example, if you are attempting to resize a rectangle, you can only do this when your cursor changes to a slanted line with an arrow at each end (This indicates that your cursor is now in the correct position).
Another thing that new users find is that they are unable to carry out a certain operation because it is not permissible under the current circumstances or at that point in time. For example, you want to resize an object and you end up rotating or moving it instead.
A simple way of avoiding this kind of problem is to keep an eye on the many visual clues that Illustrator gives you and, in particular, those that relate to the cursor. Let's take an example. Say you are attempting to change the size of a circle, you can only carry out this operation if your cursor has changed to a diagonal line with an arrow at both ends thus showing you that have positioned the cursor precisely over one of the resize handles.
If you a new user to a program like Illustrator, it is inevitable that you will make errors: things may go slightly wrong or even get completely messed up. The key thing here is to learn the Undo habit. For example, if you accidentally move an object don't try to manually put it back where it was, simply choose Edit - Undo or use the shortcut Control-Z (Command-Z on a Mac). If you Undo too far back, you can use the Redo command to come forward again. (The shortcut for Redo is Control-Shift-Z.)
If your effort to create a drawing has gone completely wrong, the best thing to do is to accept defeat and choose the Revert command from the File menu. This is a way of admitting "This just isn't working. I submit!" The Revert command abandons all of the modifications you have made to the document since it was last saved and can be another useful way of avoiding user headaches. - 32521
About the Author:
Author is a developer and trainer with OnSiteTrainingCourses.Coms, an independent computer training company offering Adobe Illustrator Classes in London and throughout the UK.
