Re: I want to get away from frames

Okay I'm gonna wade in at the deep end in here and I don't mean to offend
anyone.

Why do I *have* to use Dreamweaver ? Why do I *have* to use PhotoShop ?

I've been lurking around the various freelance/contract type websites
looking at a variety of jobs/projects that are on offer and every one of
them that has anything to do with web design/graphics stipulate
Dreamweaver/PhotoShop/Homesite/FrontPage(ack!) and some other programs that
I don't have a handle on or a need for just yet.

Heck, if I'm a freelancer and working on my own, who the heck cares what I
use to produce the goods as long as what I produce is of good quality ?
Surely nobody is going to tell me that these are the only programs that
produce good quality. 

I understand the concept of "industry standards" but again, if what is
produced is of good quality, does it really matter? 

I have Dreamweaver and the first time I used it, I felt a compulsion to
reach for the superglue...it took half an hour to work out which bits I
wanted to nail down and which bits I could do without....I lie..try an hour
and a half and then I gave up.  I guess I have to perservere.

Fiddling with PhotoShop was just as confusing and although I have PSP, I
don't use it very often for the same reason but I will get what I want and
then cut and paste in to PhotoImpact to finish it off..PSP is so darned
convoluted. 

There doesn't seem to be much that can be done with PSP that can't be done
with PhotoImpact except for maybe the "instant" transparency deal but if I
have a graphic that I want to pick off a dark background and put on a light
one, I just grab it and move it...perhaps with a little tweaking needed.

I use CoffeeCup for my HTML and I love it.  Sure, I will hit an icon to put
in an image..I've done it 100 times by hand, so why do I need to do it
again ? ....I know the commands to insert a table...why do I want to do it
all manually, when I can click on a button that shoves down the code for me
and lets me get on with the creativity thing. I think the bottom line is
here, that yes, I know how to hand code, but it saves a lot of time being
able to just click on a button to do it for you and I can preview in both
Netscrape and IE... so in other words, I did the basics first and I think
that's important.

If you don't know the basics, it's difficult to fix problems when they
arise, but I guess what I'm asking is:

Do you *never* apply for a job/project because you don't use Dreamweaver or
PhotoShop as stipulated or do some programs just suit some better than
others or do I HAVE to use these products. To my way of thinking, if you
produce "the goods" that's the bottom line.

All opinions invited...along with flames LOL 

Kym <not *trying* to be rebellious>Jones





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