Fireworks v Photoshop

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Does anyone out there have any preferences between Macromedia Fireworks and Photoshop for creating web graphics?

Both are very comprehensive packages and I dare so each one has its strengths and weaknesses in different areas. But I would be interested to hear some opinions from web designers out there.

 

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I'm no graphics expert but when I was doing web designing as part of my degree I found using Fireworks was excellent as it's specifically geared towards web graphics and was pretty easy to get to grips with and thats saying something from someone who is clueless about graphics.

 

I am no web expert either but I know a man who is

He uses Fireworks and does the most incredible stuff with it!

I have used Photoshop and find it a real drag. Everything seems to make things too difficult and it is in no way easy to learn. I know it can produce fantastic results in the right hands but for a casual user it is a pain in the bum. Just my opinion btw.

I now only use Fireworks, it is superb and even I can produce nice looking imagery without too much hair pulling. It is very well integrated with Dreamweaver to, which can help a lot.

Therefore Fireworks gets my vote

 

i will vouch for photoshop because, while the learning curve is much steeper, once you know it well you can produce anything you want without difficulty.

whereas with fireworks it may be easier to get a grasp of, but you will never have that absolute liberty that comes with photoshop.

 

I don't use photoshop, for me it's between Paint Shop Pro and Fireworks when doing images for websites.
If you need to create something complex from scratch I go with Paint Shop Pro. If I just need to quickly crop an image, add some text or a bit of an effect, then I go with Fireworks.

Fireworks has some excellent and easy to use tools such as creating buttons, menus, rollovers and animation. It's fast and simple but does have some limitations.

Actaully I'm a big fan of Flash for doing images too, not necessarily for animation. Again, some great tools for buttons etc.

 

Well thats food for thought! The reason I ask is that I've just started developing a website, and for that reason as well, I'm also interested to know which out of Dreamweaver and Frontpage is the prefered.

I've been using Photoshop of late to process CCD astrophotographs, but obviously creating graphics for the web requires different features. I want to make the site look attractive, but the focus mkust be on functionality, and navigability.

Anyway keep the comments coming and thanks in advance. Oh and happy christmas to all as well.

 

Dreamweaver = Probably the best web page developing app there is and has been for yonks.

Frontpage = dog poo

 

Ditto

 

Actually, I'm a bit of a FrontPage convert.

I've been using DreamWeaver for many years, and you can't beat it for ease and simplicity when it comes to visual layouts, drag and drop link references etc. Esecially if you are using the other Macromedia packages.

But in terms of site functionality, especially if you are using lots of forms or ASP.NET stuff, then I find FrontPage much better. It's hard work getting stuff to go in the right places though.

 

I tend to agree about Dreamweaver. I'm currently assessing the Beta 1 version of what effectively is Frontpage 12 although at present its called Sharepoint Designer.

Frontpage obviously shares tight integration with the other MS Office apps to create an overall website. However the Macromedia suite are much more web orientated and therefore designed for the purpose. Using Frontpage also requires your hosting server to support Server Extensions.

I'm expecting a copy of Xara Webstyle 4 to drop through the letterbox today. Loads of templates and themes to explore. I know there is a plugin for Xara in Dreamweaver but not sure about Frontpage.

I've heard another opinion expressed that many web designers say the best web design software is simply Notepad.

 

For sure Phil, but this kind of comment comes from people that really know what they are doing or just wish they did and are being posey

 

I'm a big fan of Notepad.
Sometimes you just can't get the other two to behave and do what you want them to. The only alternative is to open it up in notepad and try and sort the mess out.

I originally learned web design with HTML and notepad when I was with the OU, and thoroughly recommend it as a grounding for getting started.

 

Boyce analogy:

Anyone can use a car until it stops .....

 

with the course im doing you get the whole macromedia studio package, which to me suggests it's the best package for web design.

I would say, if you don't know much xhtml and arent really bothered then using a gui html editor is the way forward , but if
you actually want to learn xhtml etc, then notepad is a good way to go. Also, when you use a gui, you can simply click a tab that shows you the page in its html form and you can usually edit it from there.

 

Being given it doesn't make it the best!
Maybe your course provider could get it cheapest.

I used Dreamweave for many years and I agree with you, it is a great package. But when you start doing more advanced stuff the time comes when you just want to throw it out the window.

It's really good for making things look nice. At the other end of the spectrum is Visual Studio. Great for functionality but a pig to get things looking right...

 

you are, of course, aware that macromedia has ceased to exist?
adobe bought it awhile ago.

 

I didn't know that, what a shame

 

Isn't that why someone invented CSS

 

Surely all this Notepaddery is nothing but being posey considering both Frontpage and Dreamweaver offer you manual code editing options too? Imagine the nightmare of updating a site that goes beyond the complexities of a mere "Me and my favourite fings" personal website? Something as complex as Certforums for instance? Talk about the nightmare of "The Missing Link" scenario

 

Maybe, but we're not talking about CSS over older versions of HTML. Everything has its place. I was just trying to express a preference between one design tool and another.
Before you start messing with CSS you need to produce a layout. We often do this with a graphics package rather than an HTML package so that you can see the effect before worrying about the code.

CSS gives powerful control over layout, but it's a pig to develop with until you are sure what your layout needs to be!

It's all good though!