A few weeks ago, when I was up to my ears in a certain Photoshop CS4 Channels and Masks One-on-One book (that will otherwise remain nameless), I was thinking, “Gosh, I wonder what kind of documentation Adobe provides these days?” I happened to have a copy of the Design Premium SKU of Creative Suite 4 sitting on my comically cluttered desk, so I opened the box and poured through its contents. There was very little there. The DVD box and some legal stuff. But nothing resembling a manual. In fact, the only thing that passed for printed documentation was a trifold that read “Learn CS4.” So I opened it up and saw this:

A bare-bones sketch of how you can search Adobe’s online resources for assistance. But then I looked closer, and right there — smack dab in the center, on one of the folds — I noticed this:

I mention this not to draw attention to myself . . . oh, to hell with that. Yes, I’m psyched that the one guy, out of about 50+ presenters who got a picture in the one-and-only, passes-for-printed-documentation trifold is me. I am and will forevermore remain flabbergasted.

But my larger point is that there’s a world of altogether-free, check-it-out-today, online video training that I’m guessing most of you don’t know about. And because it’s the holiday season, when traditional people traditionally exchange gifts, I thought I’d traditionally do just that.

I haven’t made much of this, but lynda.com provided the official training videos for Adobe’s entire Creative Suite 4, filmed not just my me but also by such respected names in the business as Mordy Golding, David Blatner, Tanya Staples, the Perkins brothers (Chad & Todd),  James Williamson, and the gloriously over-energized Chris Orwig — all real, actual people whom I like and respect and have consumed beers, wine, and Sprites with. I’m just saying, they’re good, down-to-Earth, training folk.

Here’s how it works: When inside Photoshop, choose Help > Photoshop Help. The program should launch your default browser and take you to the Photoshop Help and Support page at adobe.com. On the left side of the page, after the ALERT message, you should see this graphic:

For the optimal, get-to-the-training results, click on the Introducing Photoshop CS4 link as you see me (with my impossibly purple cursor) doing above. Or just click this link here. (I so have you covered.)

After a handful of random screen flashes and branding animations, you’ll be confronted with a video in which I — with no introduction whatsoever — begin telling you what Photoshop CS4 is and how it works. It’s by-the-books, button-down training by a guy who knows how to button down his unbuttoned mind when The Man makes him.

Scroll down and you should see lots more videos by me and others. Let me know what you think. But mostly, consider your stockings stuffed. And Happy New Year!

(Remember, every time you watch a training video, an angle gets its wings.)