The Welcome Screen

Upon launching Adobe Illustrator CS2 for the first time, you are greeted with a Welcome screen (Figure 1.1) that offers several options.

Figure 1.1. The Adobe Illustrator CS2 Welcome screen gives you several options for exploring this new environment, including opening a new document and launching a new features Web page at Adobe.com.

• Tell Me What's New. Takes you to the Adobe Illustrator CS2 feature page on Adobe.com where you can download a PDF of new features and view a short Flash movie that covers features new to Illustrator CS2.

• Show Me What's New. Launches a mini application called Demonstrator, which lets you pick an Illustrator feature or a topic; then you can sit back and watch as the feature is demonstrated on your computer screen, right inside Illustrator. It's as if a teacher has taken control of your screen, and it's pretty cool. Check Adobe Studio (http://studio.adobe.com) for additional demos that you can download.

• Browse Cool Extras. Launches Adobe Bridge (Adobe's next-generation file browser, new in CS2) and automatically navigates to the Illustrator Sample Files and Templates folder so that you can browse through the free content that Illustrator CS2 includes.

• New Document. Brings up the New Document dialog (discussed later in this chapter) to create a new Illustrator document.

• New From Template. Brings up the Open dialog and enables you to choose an existing Illustrator template to use as a base to create a new Illustrator file.

• Open Document. Brings up the Open dialog and enables you to choose an existing file to open.

Unchecking the Show this dialog at startup check box keeps the Welcome screen from popping up each time you launch Illustrator. At any time, you can access the Welcome screen from the Help menu.