As I mentioned previously, alot of this web output seems different to me. For instance, everything I created had to be CMYK or Pantone for the printshop and newspapers, an RGB would bring a job to a screeching halt.
From time to time I wonder, would I gain anything by using 4 channels of information, or would it be lost anyway when converting to RGB.
Similarly, every job had a different resolution before, but on the web it seems anything over 72 ppi is extraneous. Nevertheless I can't shake old ideas that a higher resolution would be better. Occasionally I work in 96 and 300.
Well, I never saw any need to change it for anything I do, so I always leave it at the default setting. Then again, I only do skins and pointless stupid projects in Photoshop, so my statement is useless.
On a related note, I've not looked at Windows 7 yet but I think I may be disappointed with the icon system unless MS have really fixed their shit.
To me it makes sense to make icons the biggest size in vectors @256 like Vista but the OS will then take that single vector and scale it and cache the other sizes it needs, meaning we don't have to create multiple versions at all the other sizes.
Going forward it should be about making life easier and quicker, not some process that takes 4 times as long.
For print jobs ALWAYS CMYK, and ALWAYS 300ppi...reason I say this is because...
If you make something in a higher resolution it can ALWAYS be scaled down. Things cannot be scaled up. So I ALWAYS use 300 for print and 72ppi for computer viewing...
ALL things on Screen (computer) are 72ppi unless it is a HD Monitor in which case will be a 1080dpi or 720dpi...but in most cases they view 72ppi just fine and EVERYTHING on Web is 72ppi because of this. It will be rare to see anything higher till HD becomes the standard definition.
BTW I speak from experience in case you question what I say, I am currently in college for this exact thing.
I've done paste up, flatbed, 35mm, and drum scanning. Line art scanning . Photo developing. Photo retouching. Imagesetting. Layout.Distilling.Pagination. For a newspaper and a print shop.The full list is several pages longer.
The simplest answer of the many is that there are thousands of people with much more experience than me. And of course, there are thousands with even more experience, ad infinitum...
And it's exciting to think there are always new approaches.In my googling, I've noticed some photoshop artists work at a higher res, and then downsize.