Content Layouts

The full version of Adobe Bridge gives us four different layouts for how the thumbnails appear in the Content Panel and what information is displayed along with them, and Mini Bridge gives us access to these exact same layouts for the Content Pod. If we click again on the View icon, we see the four layouts listed at the bottom of the menu - As Thumbnails, As Filmstrip, As Details, and As List. The default layout is As Thumbnails, which is what we've seen so far, but I'll click on As Filmstrip to select it:

In the Filmstrip layout, the thumbnails appear in a single horizontal row that we can scroll through using the slider bar below them:

The As Details layout will display the thumbnails along with lots of information about them, like the date they were taken, the file size, file type, and so on. The As List layout will display them as a simple list, similar to how they would appear if you were viewing the contents of the folder with your computer's operating system. I'll switch back to the As Thumbnails layout.

Previewing Images

Directly to the left of the View icon is the Preview icon. Click on a thumbnail that you want to see a larger preview of, then click on the Preview icon:

You can also access the Preview command by pressing Shift+Spacebar if you prefer keyboard shortcuts. Either way, the Content Pod will temporarily be replaced with a larger version of the image, filling up as much of the space as possible. Click the Close button in the bottom right corner to close the preview and switch back to the normal Content Pod view:

Clicking on the small arrow to the right of the Preview icon will open a menu with additional options for previewing images (Slideshow, Review Mode and Full Screen Preview), all of which are brought over from the full version of Adobe Bridge. Click on any of them in the list to select them, or click anywhere outside of the menu to close it:

Selecting, Filtering And Sorting The Images

In the top right corner of the Content Pod are some options for selecting, filtering, and sorting the images. Starting from left to right, the Select icon gives us standard options for selecting and deselecting images and for showing or hiding certain files:

Next is the Filter icon, which lets us show or hide images based on the star rating or label we applied to them using the full version of Adobe Bridge:

By default, Mini Bridge sorts the images inside the Content Pod based on filename, but click on the Sort icon to bring up a menu with lots of other ways to sort them, including by file type, size, date created, and so on. Uncheck the Ascending Order option at the top of the menu if you'd prefer to view them in descending order:

The fourth and final icon in the Content Pod is the Tools icon, which has nothing to do with selecting, filtering or sorting images. Clicking on it gives us access to several of Photoshop's powerful features like Photomerge and Merge to HDR Pro, which is also new in Photoshop CS5:

We'll finish off our tour of Mini Bridge with a few more navigation options next!

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