For this situation we would use the marquee tool. This can make outlining the states properly pretty difficult (like, what about the top part of Idaho and the slice bleeding into Montana?). In reality, the web designer probably didn’t use the slice tool because it doesn’t really let you “draw”, it more or less plops a square over whatever it is you’re trying to slice. For example, have you ever seen a map of the United States where you can click on the individual states for more information about a topic? That is the idea of the slice tool at work. The best part about the slice tool, I think, is how you can use it to create interactive images. Are you a photographer? Check out the course Photoshop for Photographers. Sliced images can also be saved as JPEGs which is better for photography. These images are usually saved as GIFs which is a great format for animations or interactive images. The slice tool is also good to use for creating animations and rollover images which can be taxing if you don’t know what you’re doing (trust me – I’ve been there). (To save for the web go to File>Save for the web.) The idea is when you save the slices for the web Photoshop organizes them into an HTML document for you. When you use this tool to create smaller images within an image, “slice” automatically numbers the images as you go. So if you’re working with a website template and need to extract say, a button from your design, you can easily do so by employing the slice tool. It makes these smaller images web-ready – primarily for use on web-sites.

Whatever the case is, let’s learn about what this tool can do and then use it in a real-world application.įor a crash course on Photoshop tools like slice and marquee check out the course Photoshop Tools.Īs the name implies, the slice tool slices up images into smaller pieces. However there is some contention over the use of this tool for that purpose as many argue the marquee tool is a better fit. Presumably, is was designed to help web designers slice up images and components of a web template for easy export to programs like Adobes Dreamweaver.

The slice tool is one of those underrated and overlooked tools in Photoshop.

Save for web slices