Re: Photoshop vs. ImageReady

At 8:47 AM 1/3/99, Jordan Powell wrote:
> If you had to choose between Photoshop or ImageReady, which would
> you choose to be on your computer?

Sorry... it doesn't quite work like that.

If you're looking for a single tool from Adobe for web graphics, then look
at their ImageStyler -- it's self-contained and does not need other tools.
It's marketed to business people rather than web designers, but it's the
only self-contained Adobe tool for web graphics.

Photoshop needs ImageReady for animation and compression. ImageReady needs
Photoshop for anything beyond very basic brushstrokes. Both need
Illustrator for any kind of typography. If you buy one, you really need the
others too.

These tools are determined by technology: PostScript drawing, bitmap
layering, GIF compression. If you want to draw you must go here. Then if
you wish to color you must save the file and go here. Then if you want to
compress you must go to a third tool.


If you're looking for a single working environment dedicated to web
graphics, then Fireworks is in a league of its own. There is no comparison.
You can do your text on a curve, and texturize *superbly*, and animate and
compress far better than what's in ImageReady. Better yet, this is all in a
single file and any change can be made at any time... everything is always
editable, all the time.

Fireworks is determined by the job you need to do: producing web graphics
with quickness and versatility. It won't do the prepress work that
Photoshop does, and won't handle high-res work like Illustrator does...
Fireworks is focused on your job, not on its own underlying technology.

There's a fully-functional 30-day trial at
http://www.getfireworks.com/

Nothing like it out there... the groundswell is building. I guarantee it
will let you get more done, faster, and I believe you'll have a lot more
fun while doing so, too.

j "in an evangelistic mood" d






John Dowdell, Macromedia Tech Support, San Francisco CA US
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