How to stair step text in Photoshop CS3?

Question

I don't know how else to word this question. This is literally it. HOW do I stair step?

I have never heard of such an option, until now, and need a visual guide with screenshots, otherwise I'm lost.

I have diagonal text sitting on a path, but I just don't know how to stair step it.

There is a related question: Typesetting on a diagonal path. But the solution there is not available in Photoshop.

Answer 1

You can still do it in Photoshop, it takes a little more effort than on Illustrator or Indesign. It will not work with just diagonal text.

Activate the grid (Show > Grid) and (View > Snap to Grid) to make the following steps easier.

1. Use the Pen tool (P) to draw a "staircase" Path.
2. Type your text in the staircase: Use a monospaced font (I used Courier in my example), and adjust the tracking until the letters fall horizontally each one on a step.
3. If you want different sized texts, duplicate and convert it to a Smart Object, then just resize the Smart Object. You can then edit the text.

The image below shows my attempt, I turned off the grid so you can see the Path. to create more text just duplicate the first one and edit with the Text (T) tool.