Photoshop "Save" Dialog Considered Harmful

This is the "Save" dialog in Adobe Photoshop. Notice that the incredibly common and useful PNG file format appears semi-anonymously among a bunch of obscure, out of date file formats that no one ever needs. How obscure? From the wikipedia page for PCX:

PCX is an image file format developed by the ZSoft Corporation of Marietta, Georgia, USA. It was the native file format for PC Paintbrush (PCX = "Personal Computer Exchange") and became one of the first widely accepted DOS imaging standards, although its use has since been succeeded by more sophisticated image formats such as GIF, JPEG, and PNG.

Options the user is more likely to select should be more prominent. This is for two reasons:

1. It helps advanced users pick the option they're likely to want more quickly.
   
2. It guides beginning users to the option that's probably right for them. A beginner might spend time deciding between PNG and PCX in the existing menu because it does nothing to suggest that PNG is far more likely to be the right choice.

Here's a redesigned interface that obeys this principle:

This interface isn't perfect though. One problem is that the parenthetical text is much more useful than the actual file format names. Another more subtle problem is that this interface implies that all 3 main options are equally important. In reality though, there are only two choices:

1. I want to save this image and resume work later. When I open the file, the image should look exactly as it does now, including layers, history, etc. (In this case, the user wants a PSD)
2. I want to save this image and share it with someone else. I won't be able to pick up where I left off in Photoshop, but my friends will be able to view the image without having Photoshop installed. (The user wants PNG or JPG).
   

The interface should allow the user to use this mental model and make the correct technical decision internally:

This interface is better, but it still raises the question: Why should I have to choose between the ability to resume work later and the ability to share? Obviously you shouldn't, but this is a deeper problem -- one that Photoshop can't really solve, and perhaps the topic for a future post.