Adobe Photoshop offers two kinds of automation: actions and scripts. Actions are simple macros that Photoshop will create for you, by recording your actions and then repeating them exactly. Scripts are much more powerful. Scripts allow for conditional logic (that is, "if, then" statements). Photoshop scripts can be written in one of three of languages: Applescript, Visual Basic (VBscript) or Javascript. Since Javascript is cross-platform and the others aren't, the only good reason to use the others is if know them well but you don't know Javascript.

Yesterday a friend asked me how to write scripts in Photoshop. I attempted to write a simple tutorial. I'm the wrong person to write such a tutorial, since my understanding of Javascript is still weak. I am hungry for feedback. I'd like to improve this. Automation is one of the least used and most important aspects of Photoshop. This tutorial is aimed at graphic designers who have no understanding of programming. Please read this tutorial (a PDF file) and send me feedback.