Hi

I am new in web designing. All this while I have been using dreamweaver to design pages. I edit images in Photoshop or Fireworks before using in dreamweaver.

Forgive me if it is a stupid question....I heard lately some completely design the template 'look and feel' in photoshop or fireworks and then use the photoshop/firework template in dreamweaver and design the page.

Is this possible and is this a norm among web designers? Is it easier and preferable compared to designing from scratch in dreamweaver?

Thank you in anticipation. All thoughts would be appreciated.

Some do it, but if you use the HTML output generated by Photoshop, you could run into some problems later on. I would just slice the images manually, and just use the image; you make the HTML yourself. This seems to be the best way to go about things, at least for me.

Cheers,
Josh

Sorry :)

I am 100% agree with VoxxitDesigns. I also always sliced images manual.

yeah, me too. I slice the images manually in Photoshop and then do the code in Dreamweaver. Its a pain in the ***, but the code is cleaner than having Photoshop do it........................ Hmmm, anybody knows if maybe the automated slicing done by Photoshop and the resulting javascript code generated is optimized for Adobe GoLive instead of Dreamweaver?

I have heard a lot of complaints about PS Slicing code, but my experience with Fireworks has been pretty good. Because of the close integration between FW and DW you can export your code from FW to DW, and then take the picture or what not and send it back to FW for editing.

If you use FW for slicing I strongly suggest that you plan your site design and your slicing ahead of time. When doing your first slices don't get frustrated and go with your first attempt. Sometimes it may take a couple attempts to get your design to cut out just right. I also recommend keeping it simple. If you keep the design and slices in logical section (header, nav, footer, body, etc...) you can put these elements into a DW Library and edit them at any time, meaning every page that uses these elements will be updated as well.

Just my 2 cents.

Thanks guys for your input.
Just one more thing. For web designers who are using dreamweaver, do you suggest using photoshop or fireworks. There has been a lot of discussion on the forum on this but it is difficult make up my mind as there are a lot of differing opinions. For me ease of use (user friendly) is important as I am still very new using both dreamweaver and photoshop/fireworks.

Bleh!

Hand coding all the way :D

At least that way you know the ins and outs of your site :)

I personally prefer Fireworks with Dreamweaver.

I always slice down my initial PSD file manually and then put the pieces together in Dreamweaver MX. I like to take full control of my design and I noticed through the years that programs like Adobe ImageReady and other programs that can do the slicing for you sometimes make a mess out of it.

Of course you can try it, and try it again and again, but I think it will bring much more advantage if you do it manually.

Really appreciate all the feedback. Thank you very much guys

The problem is "cross-company integration" as I like to call it. It's just that a certain company optimize their products for use with their other products - not with other company's.

So, this is why Fireworks and Dreamweaver integrate well (both made by Macromedia) and Photoshop will probably integrate well with GoLive (both made by Adobe). But Photoshop and Imageready have close integration and are both made by Adobe.

That's the way I look at it anyway ;) !!

Plainly: if you want your code to validate, and you want to comply to standards, I would suggest cutting the images out manually, saving them as .jpgs your self, and then writing your code.

Having custom code can help by eliminating any errors in the software's code generation, and you have a better chance to plan out the site in a more detailed manner.

Cheers,
Josh