Photoshop Or Fireworks?

[purplespider]

Just wondering what everyone's fav program for doing web site graphics/layouts is and why?

 

Adobe Photoshop or Macromedia Fireworks MX 2004?

 

I currently use Photoshop but was wondering if it would be worth giving Fireworks a go.

 

James

[borfast]

I think I prefer Photoshop but then again, the last Fireworks version I used was 4 and I know it has evolved quite a bit since then, so I'm not sure of which one I'd chose, now. Perhaps I'd still stay with Photoshop because with it I can do web graphics and photo editing and I don't think Fireworks is as good as Photoshop for photo editing.

 

But who am I to say such things, I haven't used Photoshop or Fireworks for quite a long time, since I now use Linux as my main operating system

 

By the way, I'm moving this to a more appropriate forum, for better organization

[TCH-Don]

In the commercial world, Photoshop is king

and knowledge of it required by employers.

 

I have tried other programs, but have yet to find anything as flexible and powerful.

 

If you take the time to learn all the options, it can be very fast to accomplish a project.

[Lonelydreamer]

Photoshop beats fireworks 100 (PS) to 1 (FW) I don't find fireworks to be a very good program... even though I only used the trial

[TCH-Rob]

For photo editing I dont think Fireworks is good but I use it often for general button creation and the like.

[purplespider]

Photoshop beats fireworks 100 (PS) to 1 (FW) I don't find fireworks to be a very good program... even though I only used the trial 

Yeh, your prob right for photo editing, I'd never consider using anything other than photoshop for that, but I've heard that for web design fireworks can be quite good, especially the latest version (MX 2004) which is a significant improvement over previous versions.

 

The thing that made me start this topic was in a UK internet magazine called .net they have a mini mag for web design, and show tutorials for creating web sites in fireworks, and using it to optimise images etc. However they also seem to like photoshop, and I just wondered if it would be worth giving Fireworks a try, but from your opinions it doesn't look like it!

 

James

 

Edit: Ooooo! My 100th post!

Edited August 18, 2004 by purplespider

[andypeat]

I think there are probably two schools of users:

those that use illustrator (who use photoshop)

and those that use freehand (who like to use fireworks, but then use photoshop to get the real work done)

 

So you can see where I stand then

 

In my opinion Adobe won the race.

[purplespider]

Can't say i've ever used illustrator or freehand! But while we're on that topic, anyone use ImageReady? i.e. "Adobe's equivalent to fireworks"

[andypeat]

I have used it (by accident) its all part of the CS suite. I must add that it was very easy to use and seemed very similar to photoshop.

 

Although I would be much happier if they just let photoshop do it all and not have another program to learn (but they have their reasons).

 

change of topic; Illustrator creates vector paths (as does freehand) but Photoshop has started to allow, what they call "shape layers" which puts 'useable' vector paths into photoshop (and not just clipping paths)

 

my tuppence worth.

[TCH-Dick]

I use ImageReady on occassion. You can use the "Jump To" option in PS and IR to switch back and forth between the two. I use this mainly to create templates. You can do all your editing in PS and then after you create your slices you can jump to IR and export to html.

[Prel]

I prefer fireworks therefore it is faster not necessary e of as many effect

 

Tto edit photos with some effect photoshop is better, but it one programs very slow and heavy.

 

Paulo

[TCH-Don]

ImageReady is nice for GIF animations too

 

and Photoshops save for web feature is great for saving an image and keeping it under a certain size.

I use small images 300x225

and save to 11k or less.

[torvan]

I use Photoshop CS for any *heavy* raster graphic work, but use Fireworks MX for the light stuff like banners and buttons. I use either Freehand or Illustrator for vector work-depending on the artwork in question and the filers I want to use.

[purplespider]

Well thank you all so much for the advice guys! You've been as helpful as ever!

 

Looks like I'll be sticking to Photoshop for the time being, now back to learning CSS so I can actually structure the designs properly!

 

James

[natimage]

Looks like you've gotten plenty of opinions, but thought I'd throw mine in there. I agree that for editing photos, whether simple edits or complex, PS beats FW hands down. However, the vector capabilities of Fireworks makes it good for a lot of web design aspects. I work back and forth between the two programs. But most of my web design related objects I do in Fireworks MX. It's not a bad program...I think if you have the opportunity to give it a try, you should.

[Deverill]

Not only that, but if you like Fireworks and can get the full package from Macromedia it includes (at least when I bought it) Illustrator which is a whole other animal. It's very powerful, especially for vector stuff, even though I have only used it for raised, embossed headers.

 

I like Fireworks a lot but never used Photoshop so I can't comment on the comparison, but Fireworks is a free working demo so it's worth looking at for sure.

[AlanV]

You bought FW and got Illustrator with it? That's strange... those are by two different companies.

(But yes, Illustrator is an amazingly powerful program. Its Macromedia relative is Freehand, which is almost as good)

 

Anyway, I think it depends on the kind of website you're creating.

 

I personally use Photoshop because I do a lot of photo editting, and I use photos and effects a lot in my web design. Photoshop is more a true image manipulator, but you pretty much have to do everything from scratch.

 

Fireworks is great for plain web design though. If you're doing general sites with buttons and graphics, FW makes everything a lot easier to edit. It has preset objects for buttons and navigation bars. Fireworks makes tasks such as changing a button background easier, since it can store objects with different values and leave them edittable.

 

Um... yeah. That's my two cents Even if I am a little late.

[Deverill]

Sorry about that - it was indeed Freehand. See how much I use it?

[allaboutmadonna.com]

Photoshop is much better, but very expensive too !

[pfeffer5308]

Just thought i would add that if you are a mac user, and using their newest OS, Photoshop is the only program I know as of yet that runs at the 64bit level! Don't know if it works on the new AMD 64 or not though, as our fastest computers in the field are still PIII's! Can't wait to get back state side and try the new goodies out!

[TheMovieman]

I prefer Photoshop but didn't really have to pay anything for it since it came with a new scanner I recently bought.

[Deverill]

Great point, Chris, about the Macs. Sometimes we assume everyone's on a PC and that's not the case, especially in artistic areas like web design.

[purplespider]

Nah, PC guy me. Was completely anti-mac until I was forced to use one for a week for a film competition, since then though the only thing stopping me using them more is compatibility issues with popular programs and the fact the PCs are much more widespread. If everyone used Macs then great, but unfortunately that's not the case.

 

James

[Deverill]

Same here, James. I recently bought a new laptop and those are the exact reasons I didn't go Mac. Too bad for them because they really do have some advantages in certain areas. There was just no way I was going to go out and buy new versions of everything I have.