The Ink Spot

Dominic

11:00 PM

could never measure it, just have faith

Yisela

just added the result image

you can re-edit if you want to take the note text

Dominic

Yh I'm just figuring where to stick it in my answer

Yisela

I didn't touch the PSD part, should I do that?

Dominic

yh but maybe a screenshot of the the PSD open in Photoshop would provide any additional info, such as layer structure, clipping mask etc

I can do that if you think it's helpful?

Yisela

I added "this is the result I'm getting using Multiply blending mode and 50% opacity in the texture layer", but I'm not sure if we need to clarify any other 'settings'

maybe the layer structure, yes

Dominic

11:03 PM

for someone who's using Photoshop for the first time, even getting these simple parts ready might seem overwhelmingly hard

Yisela

I wonder if we should create a new question with "how to apply a texture" hehe

Johannes

That's why the answer should be clear :)

We are sculpting this question hardcore.

Yisela

I don't think this is the place to come if you are using photoshop for the first time, though

Johannes

Well, I assumed OP was just starting out

in my opinion that question is rather basic.

Dominic

From a lot of the questions it would seem that it is, or is becoming

Yisela

11:04 PM

(that sounded harsh, I meant, you should probably start with tutorials and basic stuff, and then come if you find an issue)

Johannes

But I don't think there's a problem with that.

Dominic

thing is, there aren't too many text based Photoshop tutorials

its all videos

Johannes

it's like stack overflow -- when I'm teaching myself something new I have so many little stupid questions, but the first result on google is always stack overflow. We shouldn't discourage simple questions just because they're simple.

Yisela

(first google result: photoshopessentials.com/photoshop-text/text-effects/…)

Dominic

well said

Yisela

11:05 PM

no, I agree

I just don't want it to become something like "open Photoshop using the icon in your desktop, go to New, create a...."

xD

JohnB

if we answer enough simple ones then eventually we can close everything as a duplicate!!

Yisela

but I re-read myself and I sound very elitist, so I take the previous statements back

Dominic

couldn't scroll for first 15 seconds.. annoying

Johannes

I mean I change how specific I get in an answer depending on the level I think the OP is at.

Dominic

annoying because in that 15 seconds you can't know how long it'll take to load fully, and some forums are ridiculous

Yisela

11:07 PM

(Ideal questions could be sort of wikipedia-like, where every key concept links to a related question with a basic technique)

but see, this guy already knows how to create a clipping mask. Should we include that instruction, in case someone new sees the question?

Johannes

I'd say that in that question, they should be asking a new question.

but that's just my opinion.

Because if we start saying "well this question involves knowing this.. so we need to make sure to cover that too.."

then things get far too complicated

Yisela

yep, that was my (elitist) point

Johannes

The thing is, the clipping mask was never part of the original question.

It was edited in later as a response to answers suggesting a clipping mask

So I don't even think it's necessary

Yisela

I seriously wonder now if we should leave this one as it is and create a new one with detailed instructions, to appear in google searches

Johannes

since the answer doesn't use a clipping mask

A wiki question with different techniques?

Yisela

11:12 PM

maybe?

Johannes

I just think the question in question is getting too bloaty.

Yisela

maybe turn this one into something like "What blending modes should I be using to apply a texture to a text layer?"

Johannes

Yes, then we could eliminate a lot of bloat.

Yisela

what do you think @Dominic?

Johannes

But maybe not the blending modes part

Yisela

11:13 PM

something like that...

Dominic

I was thinking what if we just take it right back to basics.. 'I have an image that I want to apply as a texture to a layer, how do I do it?' and then the answer covers every step

Yisela

this opens a whole new world of wiki questions we might want to be covering for seo reasons

Johannes

^^

That.

Bring the question back to its roots, and have the answer walk it through.

Done.

You can also generalize the answer to apply to any type of layer, not just text.

Dominic

It would then easily cover so many situations

and others could provide alternate answers

Johannes

Exactly, and then maybe we'll still have time to bake that cake.

Dominic

11:15 PM

I think this type of question does have a lot of SEO potential

as long as we can hit the right keywords

that's the only problem I have with short questions, they don't have much substance for SEO

Johannes

I disagree.

As long as you're using the right terms, it should be fine.

apply, texture, layer

I didn't know that, thanks @Yisela.

How else would you search that?

Dominic

but others may say blend or overlay

and pattern instead of texture

Johannes

and that would go in your answer

answers are still picked up I think.

Dominic

but are they treated exactly the same as questions?

Yisela

@Johannes if you use your up arrow key you can edit your entries

Dominic

11:18 PM

I know they are on the in site search

but not sure with Google

Yisela

the question title is an h1

Dominic

yh that's the main element with this type of site structure I think

Johannes

Answers are part of it too.

Dominic

another question, do you think it impacts SEO by using slashes like apply/blend/overlay?

Johannes

I just searched "Special thanks to escalation746" and I got one of my answers returned on Google.

Dominic

11:20 PM

I've been opting for apply / blend / overlay recently

Yisela

me too, easier to read as well

Johannes

I think Google is smart enough for both though.

But the latter looks cleaner.

Dominic

so what about the rather ugly title of 'How to apply / blend / overlay a texture / pattern on a layer in Photoshop'?

Johannes

hahaha

Yisela

haha

Johannes

11:22 PM

maybe we need some order of operations too

How to ( apply / blend / overlay ) a ( texture / pattern ) on a ( layer / image ) in Adobe Photoshop

Dominic

or three simple statements each using a different keyword in the question body

Yisela

How to apply, blend or overlay a texture or pattern on a layer in Photoshop?

Dominic

@Yisela that looks much nicer!

Yisela

it's very "or"y

maybe combining "or" "and" and "/" xD

Johannes

you could do one slash

How to apply, blend or overlay a texture / pattern on a layer in Photoshop?

Dominic

11:23 PM

that's odd though lol

Johannes

THIS WILL BE THE MOST OPTIMIZED QUESTION EVER!

Dominic

I think BESW would have something to say :P

Johannes

You won't be able to google your own address without landing on this question that's how potent it will be.

Dominic

hahaha!!

Yisela

hahaha

Dominic

11:25 PM

Ok I think either Yiselas last suggestion or using the keywords in the question body?

or both!

JohnB

I can't wait to downvote whatever it is you guys are working on

Yisela

as long as the keywords are somewhere, I doubt it matters where

Johannes

hahaha

Yeah Google will pick it up.

Yisela

the only thing we might need to consider is that the h1 will be the search result title

Dominic

hahaa! It's on +3/-2 at the moment

Yisela

11:28 PM

so maybe it should lose one of the variations for blending

Johannes

Two and a half year on GD.SE first time in chat. I should do this more often.

JohnB

Google will also pick up tags very well, most sites discourage putting tags in the title

Yisela

@Johannes making us work? yeah, very cool Johannes

Dominic

so no need for 'in Photoshop'?

Yisela

wait, there's a meta post about that

JohnB

11:29 PM

it's up to you, I don't really have a solidified preference either way

is there?

Yisela

2

Q: Software name in a question's title: good or repetitive?

I couldn't find anyone asking this in here before, but there might be a similar question in other metas. And it might be a silly one, but here it goes: If a title is too short, or too specific, should the name of the software (ex. illustrator question, inkscape, gimp) be in it? "Enlarge path", t...

JohnB

well that's that

Johannes

Yeah I prefer the software name.

Yisela

me too

Dominic

me to lol

Johannes

11:30 PM

Plus if you do come from Google is even more clear.

Dominic

I think I've answered two questions with a Photoshop answer because I missed the little GIMP tag or mention

I think that title really covers everything, the one Yisela suggested

JohnB

@Johannes this is actually the most I've ever seen the site actually being talked about in chat, so maybe this is a ~~bad~~ inaccurate first impression :P

usually it's kittens

Johannes

Haha, well there you go.

Dominic

'blend pattern photoshop', 'overlay texture photoshop', 'apply texture layer photoshop'

so many good variations

Johannes