For instance, I constantly use the cmd-space and cmd-opt-space shortcuts to zoom in and out while working, usually by drawing a marquee around the area I want to zoom to. What I just found though is that if you draw the marquee in the wrong place (something I do quite regularly), then releasing space bar and pressing it again (keeping the cmd and/or option key pressed) allows you to reposition the entire zoom marquee. Release space again and you can continue resizing the marquee. Genius.

While playing with this discovery, I also found that after pressing cmd-space to select the zoom tool, you can release the space bar and the zoom stays active. Am I stupid for not finding this sooner?

I really wish there was a modifier key that would temporarily disable the Smart Guide snapping, like the Ctrl key in Photoshop. This would make life much easier; fingers crossed for CS3.

I don’t know if these where also released today, or whether I missed them, but there were also updates to Bridge scripts, Photoshop scripts and InDesign CS2 available. These updates have cured the problems I’ve had switching to the Adobe Help Centre and Adobe Bridge from within Photoshop and Illustrator. The problem affected people like me who (for security or other reasons) work from an account that doesn’t have administrator privileges.

For some reason though, Adobe sent the confirmation e-mail in PDF format, with no clickable links for the order tracking or support page URL’s. So I had to open up the PDF in Preview, then copy the URL and the tracking number manually into my browser. Of course, after I’d done it, the UPS site was “unable to track shipment”. Has anyone ever had an order tracking number that worked?

Rather than expand into untapped creative markets, Adobe seems hell-bent on expanding into the jerks-wearing-suits market, a market that’s completely at odds with the creative market they’ve dominated for nearly two decades.

I’ve always been a fan of Adobe products. Right now I’m eagerly awaiting the arrival of my pre-ordered copy of Creative Suite 2. I can’t help but have a sneaking suspicion that John is right about the direction Adobe is taking. The fact that Adobe is introducing product activation into Creative Suite 2 seems to be a clear symptom of the sales driven road that they are heading down. I subscribe to the belief that the only people inconvenienced by product activation schemes are paying customers like myself. Those who want a pirate copy will just wait until some kind hearted hacker releases a patch that circumvents the whole thing and makes installing much easier.

Adobe products have a lot of momentum. The wealth of features in their current applications will power their dominance for some time. But, as John Gruber points out:

When is the last time Adobe has unveiled anything truly innovative for the graphics-and-design market? InDesign 1.0? That was nearly five years ago.

[...] the main reason Adobe Systems has been a success is that they created and developed terrific, innovative software. Engineering talent isn’t enough; you need passion for innovative products at the top of a company.

If that spirit continues to wither, Adobe will continue its slide into mediocrity, and will become just another software company. But if it becomes a bigger company while doing so, I suspect that will suit Bruce Chizen just fine.

I hope Adobe can keep creating effective, innovative products. I really don’t want to end up having to use CorelDraw.