Color-Coding Layers in Photoshop

To visually distinguish your layers in the Layers palette, Photoshop lets you color-code your layers or layer sets. Choose Layer-->Layer Properties or choose Layer Properties from the Layers palette pop-up menu. Choose a color from the drop-down list and click OK.

I find that color-coding works especially well with layer sets. First, organize your layers into sets, such as navigation buttons, type, images, border, background, and so on. Then assign a color to each set. By using the same color-coding system from one project to the next, you can get a little productivity boost by instinctively knowing where to find your elements.

Creating Layer Sets
I don’t know about you, but there’s something very satisfying about having a file cabinet full of neatly labeled manila folders containing all your vital paperwork. It’s compact. It’s organized. It’s “at the ready,” as they say in the military. Okay, so I need to get a life. But fellow geeks will revel in Photoshop’s digital answer to the physical world’s manila folder. You can group your layers into layer sets that you can expand to see or collapse to hide their contents. In their collapsed state, layer sets are a great antidote for the annoying scrolling that one must do to locate layers in an abundantly layered file.

To create a layer set, click the Create a New Set icon (the folder icon) at the bottom of the Layers palette. You can also choose New Layer Set from the Layers palette pop-up menu or choose Layer-->New-->Layer Set. The latter two methods prompt you for a set name in addition to a few other options (similar to regular layers). You can colorcode your set and specify a blend mode and opacity setting. Note that the default mode is Pass Through, which lets the blend modes applied to the individual layers remain intact. If you choose any other mode, it overrides all the layers in the set.

After you have created your set, drag your layers into the set folder in the Layers palette. If the set is collapsed when you drag or if you drag a layer on top of the layer set icon itself, Photoshop places the layer at the bottom of the layer set. If the set is expanded, you can drag the layer to a specific location within the set. To collapse or expand the set, click the triangle icon to the left of the folder icon.

Although layer sets are pretty straightforward, here are a few points to keep in mind:
- As with regular layers, you can select, duplicate, show, hide, lock, and rearrange layer sets. See other sections in this chapter for more on these commands.
- You can now nest layer sets. This means that one layer set can be created (or dragged into) in another layer set.
Photoshop CS supports up to five levels of nested layer sets.
- You can create a layer set from linked layers. Link the layers you want in a set and choose New Set from Linked from the Layers palette pop-up menu or choose Layer-->New-->Layer Set from Linked. Name the set and click OK.
- If you select a layer within a set and then choose Layer-->Arrange, the command applies to the stacking order only within the layer set.
- You can merge layer sets. Select the set and choose Merge Layer Set from the Layers palette pop-up menu or choose Layer-->Merge Layer Set.
- You can rename your set by double-clicking the set name in the Layers palette. Or choose Layer-->Layer Set Properties or choose Layer Set Properties from the Layers palette pop-up menu.