Photoshop Express

As I’ve been training staff members on how to do various tasks in preparation for my departure I’ve run into a few situations where users need a simple photo editor to do simple tasks like cropping and resizing. Most of the PC’s in the office don’t have any sort of photo editing software on them and if they do they run really slow. So I remembered that Adobe launched a free online app called Photoshop Express a few months ago. I had looked at it but didn’t really have a use for it then.

But I gotta say, it’s a great solution for non-techie users who just need to do simple things with photos. The interface is really slick and user friendly and even kind of fun to play with. And it doesn’t require any software installation. You just sign up for a free account and 2GB of space is included. If you want to do more with it you can even import your photos from Flickr and Facebook to edit them. You can also create cool looking photo galleries and embed them on other websites. And it even has some tools for basic photo manipulation. I’ve just had users upload their photos, make their edits and then download them. It’s an extra step since it’s online, but it’s really not too much of a hassle.

This is really pushing the boundaries of what online apps can do vs desktop apps. I’m not opposed to a future where I can access my apps online from any computer connected to the internet. Next time you need to get some photos online check it out!

~ by Dave on July 22, 2008.