Photoshop Elements 6 hack?

[beacher]

I remember, back when this version of Elements came out, the big kerfluffle about it taking over all the "real estate" on the screen.  I didn't have it, so I  didn't follow the threads, and, now that I have it, I wish I HAD! So, my question is, since I'm stuck with this version, because of my Mac Quad (motorola chips), I can't move to a newer version, and was wondering if anybody came up with a "hack" to fix this little problem.  It really is quite frustrating!  As usual, thanks in advance!

[kimmer]

Well, you can't get rid of all of it, but you can remove the "workspace fill":

Preferences / General / uncheck the box "Fill Workspace Background"


I'm not aware of any hack that will allow you shrink/remove the rest of the stuff in PSE 6 (and PSE 8 is worse, imho - and I hate the way they mucked with the palette menus in PSE 8 as well. I do most of my stuff in PSE 6.

[Xairbusdriver]

Maybe it's time to look around for other 'layers-based' editors?

There are lots of irritating pieces/dialogs/etc. in 6 and 8. But, you can let your desktop 'punch through' if you really want to. I'm beginning to see the advantage of not having distracting colors or even worse, conflicting colors that might be on some desktop picture affect ones judgement as to the corrections that might be applied to the image being edited.

You can keep the Project Bin hidden. I also keep the "Edit full," "Create" and "Share" areas hidden. I used command-tab for so long that I seldom bother looking for any particular apps windows on the Desktop, so having them covered is no big deal. And the whole Elements GUI completely disappears should you make any thing else active, except for any image you are working on.

But, even if you let your Desktop show, you will still have Elements taking over the entire window when you "Save for Web..." and your last choice for jpeg quality is still something Adobe can't seem to figure out how to do... Nor have I been able to discern the need for two Print dialog boxes every single time I want to print something...

On the other hand, it's great to be able to download free plug-ins, actions and filters that only run on Photoshop or Elements. Of course, there are lots more that cost. That's just the advantage of having the majority position in the market.