Adobe Photoshop 5.5 vs. Fireworks 4

[ID10T]

Ok, I have both Adobe Photoshop 5.5 and Fireworks 4 on my computer. I've hardly used PS for more than viewing images and simple edits, and I just recently downloaded FW and have only gotten as far as to open it. They both look about the same at glance, but I want to know the opinions of the experts as to which is better. I want to get into graphics design, but am just too lazy to jump right into tutorials and comparing programs, so I decided to start here. So if you could all leave your opinions and maybe some good tutorials that you know of, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

[da beat man]

Hey,

I like photoshop better than i do fireworks, but that is just my opinion.

I like photoshop better because i am more used to the shortcut keys, the filters, and the way things are done.

I use fireworks, but i mostly just use it for my text on ym site.

L8

P.S. if you want some awesome PS tutorials http://www.phong.com has some good ones.

[megatoon]

I preferr PS because of the batching and actions feature. And the fact that I use it at work. I have Fireworks here somewhere but have never installed it. So, honestley I've never used it. Does Fireworks have batching or actions? Or do you find it has better capabilities when using it with other Macromedia Progs? It is worth taking a look at even if I have Photoshop?

[ID10T]

Originally posted by megatoon
I preferr PS because of the batching and actions feature. And the fact that I use it at work. I have Fireworks here somewhere but have never installed it. So, honestley I've never used it. Does Fireworks have batching or actions? Or do you find it has better capabilities when using it with other Macromedia Progs? It is worth taking a look at even if I have Photoshop?

That's exactly what I want to know.

And what versions of PS do you guys have? As I said, I have 5.5, but I had another version that I liked the feel of it better, but I forget what it was. Now, with 5.5, I'm lost again. I'll check out phong.com tomorrow and see if I can get back into it again. Thanks for your replies.

[aversion]

i use both i don't think they're really 100% comparable, i use photoshop for all my image editing but i use fireworks for creating elements like buttons.

PhotoShop is far superior as an image editing program but fireworks has better web features, though i haven't used imageready (that comes bundled with PS) and some people think that's a good app.

i think fireworks has superior image optimisation and all my stuff goes through it before it hits the web.

i think the fireworks and imageready are more comparable, though imageready doesn't have great image editing capabilities it is bundled with PS!

If you haven't tried imageready give it a go.

fireworks can record actions and it is worth looking at if you have photoshop but not in the same context




ps. i use xara x for most of my image work anyway, great app

[megatoon]

Thanx. I will take a look at Fireworks. It's sounds like Image Ready with PS features. Sounds a little easire to use for web graphix. But of course I'll always be partial to PS

[aversion]

Originally posted by megatoon
Thanx. I will take a look at Fireworks. It's sounds like Image Ready with PS features. Sounds a little easire to use for web graphix. But of course I'll always be partial to PS

there's definitely a case to be made for learning both PS and fireworks, PS is of course best for image creation and editing, whereas fireworks does stuff like create dhtml drop down menus for you, and the html it exports is seamless if you're using dreamweaver

[ID10T]

Then I'm glad I have both of them! Just as everything else, the most I've really done is open Image Ready just to see what it was. But I did create an animation with layers in Image Ready, which was the only thing that I found that set it apart in my short 5 minutes of work. So I guess I gotta learn BOTH proggies

Thanks for the replies. I'm gonna go take a look at http://www.phong.com now. I haven't checked out the macromedia tutorial for Fireworks, but are there better ones (for lazy idiots)?

[kb1827]

I use PS6...prefer it over but now that I know that there is the capability for drop down menu's and superior optimization in FW...I might take a look at it.

[Hellsbellboy]

Fireworks 4 is great, I use it like Aversion does. Great for making Navigation bars and small animations. I use Photoshop 6 for croping images , resizing and some simple editing.. I'm not very good with it, and more comfortable with Fireworks. And also like Aversion said.. it's great if you using Dreamweaver 4 with it.

here are some links that I use..

http://www.lynda.com/tips/index.html

http://polaris.it.rit.edu/~black_cats/intro.php

http://www.mystery-productions.com/drmissy/fwtut/

http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/98/30/index2a.html

http://www.webthang.co.uk/tutorials/.../gor_fwks1.htm


OR LOL u can find a listing of site here.. that are good.. some are ones I have listed..

http://www.macromediatrainingcentral.com/fireworks.html

[megatoon]

Thanx. There's some really good stuff there.

http://www.lynda.com/tips/index.html A ton of of tuts on nearly every graphix prog

http://www.macromediatrainingcentral.com/fireworks.html
Lots of Fireworks add ons and downloads, it'll take a while to look at all of them

Both these sites are book marks for sure. The others are exeellent also containing lots of tuts. Definatley worth a look at.

[CarolCameron]

I would use Fireworks rather than ImageReady for the web.
For printwork Photoshop offers a lot more. But for working with Dreamweaver or Flash it is quicker to use Fireworks.
I think people have got carried away to much with the effects you can do with Photshop, and a lot of Photshoppy sites look like a kids toy catalogue.