Adobe Illustrator is one of my favorite design tools, and as part of the redesign of del.icio.us you can use it in a number of interesting ways. For example, I’ve seen JavaScript code that can pull in and parse del.icio.us RSS feeds then automatically render designs in Illustrator using real data. This allows us to rapidly iterate on design well before anyone has to write any real code.

I read on the new del.icio blog that it turns out that Illustrator users are constantly making excellent online descriptions of their tips, techniques, and tutorials, and Adobe wanted a good way to collect and share these with other users online and within Illustrator. and they are now offically using del.icio.us.

Adobe’s first step was to set up a del.icio.us account and start collecting the best bookmarks on Illustrator they could find. They then integrated del.icio.us into Illustrator CS3 as part of their “knowhow” palette, thereby allowing users to tap directly into Adobe’s bookmarks.

To try it out within Illustrator CS3, select the “Window” menu then “Adobe Labs” > “knowhow”. From the “knowhow” panel you can see contextual help for the tool you are using and search the Internet for more help. You will then notice that one of the tabs has the del.icio.us logo on it, which points you to the bookmarks Adobe has collected. Alternatively, if you don’t have CS3, you can also try out the “knowhow” palette on Adobe Labs or http://knowhow.adobe.com or of course you can always see all their bookmarks at http://del.icio.us/knowhow.

If you have found or have created any Web pages that you think other Illustrator users would find useful, simply tag them “for:knowhow” and the Adobe team will review and add them to their collection for all Illustrator users to enjoy.

Tags: adobe, delicious, illustrator, services, Web 2.0