It's amazing how flexible Aperture's interface really is. Just like some of the tools we use in our photography, such as the awesome Lensbaby 3G for example, we like flexibility.

In my previous blog entries, I've tackled several easy ways on how you can quickly and immediately configure Aperture's interface to make it look just the way you want it. With simple, intuitive and easy -to-remember shortcuts and keystrokes, you can configure the elements of the interface in many different ways, giving you options to primarily maximize the use of your monitor's real estate, and to aid you in moving elements around.

For sure, the Aperture interface is not configurable for the sake of being configurable. Its primary purpose is for the interface to be flexible enough to adapt to your individual working style. Aperture does a marvelous job of doing so.

To further extend this "configurability" factor, you can set and make the most out of one of its interface elements -- the Toolbar.

A lot of Aperture users may still not be aware that you can populate the ever-present Toolbar with several one-click icons that allows you instant access to some of the most commonly commands. This is a feature shared by many of Apple's applications, particularly the pro apps, as well as several other well-made 3rd-party software for the Mac.

The Toolbar is a prominent strip underneath the Menu bar that contains icons. In Aperture, it already contains a default set of recommended icons. With a single click on any of these icons, you can run or execute specific commands.

Over time, you might find that you use certain commands more than the others, and these commands may be nested and are not quickly accessible. Instead of repeatedly accessing these command via several clicks through the Menu bar, or trying to remember the 3-stroke keyboard shortcuts, you just put the icon up on the Toolbar where you can elegantly access it with a single click.

To populate the Toolbar with one-click icons of your most often used commands, put the cursor on any of the blank area of the Toolbar, press Control-Click. and then Customize Toolbar. A dialog box will appear, and you can just drag any or all of the icons that you want to put up in the Toolbar.

When putting icons in the Toolbar, it is best to organize or put together commands that naturally seem to go together. For example, commands such as Stack, Unstack, Split Stack, Extract From Stack, Auto-Stack, Pick, Promote, Demote, Album Pick, Previous Stack, Next Stack, Open All Stacks and Close Stacks can be displayed sequentially as a single grouping

Another set of commands that should be together are: Batch Change, Lift and Stamp.

You can also put together icons for different views such as Basic, Maximize Browser, Maximize Viewer, Projects Panel, Control Bar, Viewer, Histogram, Task List, Metadata, Adjustments, Rotate Workspace.

The best way to visually organize these sets of commands is by either putting a Separator or a Space in between the command groupings.

And, as an added organizational bonus, you can set the icons to be displayed as either Icon Only, Text Only, or as Icon & Text.

If the Toolbar becomes cluttered and unmanageable, you can just drag back in again the Default Set into the Toolbar, and everything will be back to how it was originally set. And if you wish, you can start all over again.

The Toolbar is yet another flexible element that you can configure to personalize your Aperture workspace.