Complete and total frustration!

I have a new Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0. My operating system is Windows XP, Hewlett Parkard Pavillion, Printer is HP 940C, 128 mb Ram. What do I do when trying to learn to the use the thing and from the git-go, my screen doesn't look like the one in the book? Specifically, pg. 11, G. palette well. Later on, it tells me to click on the tab for tha palette I want. There are no tabs. It says "How to"and "Help". Neither of these get me anywhere because I can't click on a palette to get how to or help on. Also complete disillusioned with support. I can't afford any. Can anyone help? I am a casual photographer whose main interest is in getting pix of my grandkids into scrapbooks. Thought I was reasonably intelligent, am starting to wonder. Thanks for any response. Anne

Anne, a lot of people find this forum is a much better source of information for learning Elements than the Help files or, especially, Adobe support. Support is designed primarily for problems getting the software to run properly, not for questions about how to use it.

If there's some way you "learn better" - on screen tutorials, books, etc., let us know. We have a lot of different kinds of "learners" here, so collectively we can make excellent suggestions for books, CDs, online tutorials, etc. We're also pretty good at giving instructions about how to accomplish specific tasks, too. We were all new to Elements not long ago, so we remember what it's like trying to learn enough so this program is fun and not frustrating.

Anne,

Specifically, pg. 11, G. palette well. Later on, it tells me to click on the tab for tha palette I

want.

Click on Window menu, then How To... A new window will open (called palette). Click on the More button (near the top of that palette, to the right), a menu will be displayed. Click on "Close
palette to palette well", then click on the X of that window, to close it. It will now be on the
Palette Well.

That's true for all other palettes as well.

Post back any other question you might have, we'll try to help as much as we can!

Ray

Anne - A great startup help to me was Photoshp Elements 2 Solutions by Mikkel Aland. He spends the first chapter showing you haw to set up the screens and pakettes. You can oder it from Amazon.com, or, if you're near a Borders, get one there. That book and this ng saved my sanity.

wrote in message

I have a new Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0. My operating system is Windows

XP, Hewlett Parkard Pavillion, Printer is HP 940C, 128 mb Ram. What do I do when trying to learn to the use the thing and from the git-go, my screen doesn't look like the one in the book? Specifically, pg. 11, G. palette well. Later on, it tells me to click on the tab for tha palette I want. There are no tabs. It says "How to"and "Help". Neither of these get me anywhere because I can't click on a palette to get how to or help on. Also complete disillusioned with support. I can't afford any. Can anyone help? I am a casual photographer whose main interest is in getting pix of my grandkids into scrapbooks. Thought I was reasonably intelligent, am starting to wonder. Thanks for any response. Anne

After reading my reply to you, I see that the book did nothing for my typing.

wrote in message

I have a new Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0. My operating system is Windows

XP, Hewlett Parkard Pavillion, Printer is HP 940C, 128 mb Ram. What do I do when trying to learn to the use the thing and from the git-go, my screen doesn't look like the one in the book? Specifically, pg. 11, G. palette well. Later on, it tells me to click on the tab for tha palette I want. There are no tabs. It says "How to"and "Help". Neither of these get me anywhere because I can't click on a palette to get how to or help on. Also complete disillusioned with support. I can't afford any. Can anyone help? I am a casual photographer whose main interest is in getting pix of my grandkids into scrapbooks. Thought I was reasonably intelligent, am starting to wonder. Thanks for any response. Anne