Choose a font size or type one in. You can easily choose a different font or click once in the font field and then use the up or down arrows to watch as your font changes until you find one you like for the particular project.
The checkmark in the window menu means that the palette is open somewhere on the workspace. Click it again to close it.
You can also choose fonts from within the Character palette and change the font style. I use the character palette more often than the options bar. After a while you'll decide what is more comfortable for you.
Remember to highlight the text in the editing field and then you can make changes. Changing the font size here is easy also.
You can also choose a font color from here as shown.
In the character palette you can change the vertical scale to make your text taller.
You can change the horizontal scale to make it wider or more scrunched.
Changing the tracking allows you more space between each of the highlighted letters. This is a great tool which pro's use a lot (to make more elegant looking text).
Negative numbers will bring letters closer together.
You can also 'kern' with the A/V Metrics box. This means that you can move individual letters closer together. Finally an explanation of kerning! Imagine what you could discover with the complete Basic Photoshop training!
You can change individual letters by highlighting them and then make it Italic, change the font or even the size. This is important stuff to know for creating typography.
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