There's a new Photoshop CS4 panel for output sharpening. It's a free download for the digital photography community. It loads right into Photoshop CS4 and (optionally) docks as a panel there.

http://www.thelightsright.com/TLRProOutputSharpeningPanel

There are 43 presets tailored for different output media and resolutions. The presets fall in four broad categories: halftone press, continuous tone printers, inkjet printers, and Web/multimedia.

You can create your own presets. Find that the 240ppi Inkjet sharpening settings for glossy paper are too aggressive? Tone it down and save your own preset.

Sorry. CS4 only. This panel uses two emerging technologies from Adobe Labs that are supported by Photoshop CS4 and later.

Comments and suggestions are welcome!

Enjoy!

Cheers,

Mitch

fantastic tool - love how it docks to my panels.

Works great with one of your photoshop scripts that I also downloaded:
http://www.thelightsright.com/tlredgeandsurfacemasks
Allows me to quickly sharpen non-destructively on a separate layer using a customizable edge mask.
Your site is a godsend to the community. Thanks for your efforts.

Trying to install it on a Mac. Can't seem to get it to operate.

Have you installed it to the correct folder?

The files go under your Photoshop CS4 folder in the Plug-Ins\Panels folder.

Then you find it under Window|Extensions

Cheers,

Mitch

Got it. Thanks Mitch. I didn't know what to open in Window>>Extensions. I tries to open the actual "Output" file in the Panels folder, and Opera kept launching. I'll have to take a look at some of your other things as well.

When I am downsizing for web, do you suggest using plain bicubic since I am then using your sharpening routine last?

Check out his TLR Image Resizer
http://www.thelightsright.com/TLRImageResizer
It can be used to decrease an image by 10% with the new Bicublic Sharper interpolation. I use it multiple times to arrive at the desired size. Reducing in steps is better than a one time reduction. Try it once and you'll see a noticiable difference.