Thought this might be helpful for Family Tree Diagrams.

It covers two topics:
1. How to draw straight lines in Photoshop using the pencil tool.
2. How to save images with decent picture quality without the massive file size.


I have Photoshop CS3 installed, but what this tutorial covers should be the same down to at least Photoshop 5.5 (which was the first version I bought). The button icons should be the same, though their positions on the left toolbar has altered slightly.

This tutorial assumes you already know the basics of layers & have laid out your images where you want them.

1. Select the pencil tool.
If its icon isn't visible on the left toolbar, look for the paintbrush. Left-click & hold the button to show the hidden options & you'll find the pencil there.
If you aren't sure of the difference, the pencil tool has a (default) square tip shape while the brush tool has a round one. Tip shapes are alterable in the same menu as their dimensions (explained below). The paintbrush will technically have a softer look to the edges of the lines than the pencil.



2. Select the pencil's tip diameter.
I can't recall if this option is up top left in v5.5, but if you right click within your workspace the option should be in the right-click menu for the pencil/brush tools. You can also alter the shape of the pencil/brush tip here should you wish.



3. Left click & hold where you want to start your line. Press & hold the shift key on your keyboard. Drag the cursor to draw your line & then release the left mouse button. Now let go of the shift key.
Repeat.
If you press the shift key before the left mouse button, a line will appear to link where the last line finished to where the next one starts.

4. Save As.
Name your image & select Jpeg (.jpg) from the drop down menu. Another box will appear asking you which settings you wish the jpeg to have. Set your Image Quality to 10 & check the Baseline Optimised option. This will give you a manageable file size without the loss of too much image quality.



Hope that helped =)

Feel free to question this or tell me what changed from 5.5 to CS3 that I should include above. It's been a while since I've used the older Photoshop versions.