hi i would like to make my own site, i can do the whole layout and overall design but i'm having difficulties making good grpahics, i would like to ask you what graphics programs you use and which the best and easiest for making good web graphics????
thanks

Macromedia Fireworks is best if you are starting out.

Another popular is Adobe Photoshop.

I like MS paint ;)

I will have to throw my recommendation in for Paint Shop Pro.
There are several good graphics programs but PSP comes with a free trial, or I think you can still purchase it for $99.
www.jasc.com
There are tons of tutorial sites but a really good one with a forum for PSP is
http://pspiz.com/

MS Paint is definitely the way to go for economical users :P

If you're on a buget, go with Paint Shop Pro.

Adobe Photoshop is the best all-around utility, imo, but it's pricey.

Fireworks is very simple to use.

I just wish these programmes were affordable for students and people who can't shell out the $300 or whatever to pay for them. On that note I think it is the price which causes Warez and piracy.

Try imagemagick. It's pretty good... and it is FREE! There's even an online version. Check out http://www.imagemagick.org/MagickStudio/scripts/MagickStudio.cgi

WE use XaraX http://www.xara.com
There is a 30 day free trial if you want to give it a try.

Adobe Photoshop is definitely the best graphics program in my opinion. I use it for everything and nothing else. There is a program that is supposedly "similar" to it, and free, called the "Gimp". However, I have never used it so I cannot provide any real feedback on that program.

EDIT:
Here's the URL for the "Gimp": http://www.gimp.org/

Just curious, what's the cheapest all-around graphics program that also does flash?

I don't think any do, perhaps somewhere hidden in Fireworks you can do it somehow that I don't know of.

Originally posted by chrisb
Just curious, what's the cheapest all-around graphics program that also does flash?
Get Swish at www.swishzone.com ...15 day free trial then US$49.99

Download SWiSH v2.0
Discover how easy it is to create cool Flash animations. Click Here to Download »»

What does SWiSH do?
» Animated text effects
» Flash intros for websites
» Attention-grabbing banners
» Popup menu systems
» Animated rollover buttons
» Interactive presentations

Photoshop 7 for PC/Mac
Gimp for Linux

:)

Just my $0.02 :)

MS Paint = Absolute Beginners
Paint Shop Pro = Good all round, and easy to master
Fireworks = Same sort of thing as PSP
Adobe Photoshop = Best, but hardest to master.

I use PSP :)

Fireworks is great because it integrates very well with Flash & Dreamweaver

I like to use Fireworks and PSP.

Corel. I said COREL!

Vector: Corel Draw
Raster: Corel PhotoPaint

NO Photoshop, NO Fireworks, not at all!

PhotoPaint is powerful enough, Draw is amazing. They have everything you need and I'm not a big fan of Adobe's interface.... these floating panels... However, PhotoPaint and Draw support Photoshop like interface layout - for fans only.

PS: But, actually I like an image optimizer/converter in Fireworks: ).

I'd recommend Adobe Photoshop. Another great program, whether you're advanced or a beginner is Paint Shop Pro 7.

I've been working with Corel's products for years and I've used Illustrator/Photoshop for some time - I vote for Corel.

Well, I use Fireworks MX, Photoshop 7, and Dreamweaver MX. I actually am a beginner and trying to make everything myself. I was thinking about hire a person draw for me, but I thought that they still had to learn ti use them. Therefore, I'm doing that right now. It's not that hard actually but you have to spend some amount of time on it.:stickout

To The Laughing Cow

I just wish these programmes were affordable for students
I guess you are not aware of Academic Software.
Check-Out
http://www.journeyed.com
http://www.academicsuperstore.com

If you can prove you are a student.
I believe Fireworks is around $100
Full Macromedia Suite is about $ 300.00
Photo Shop About 200-250
JFWS

Hands down - Photoshop

I'd say Photoshop 7 is the best graphics program.
I've never really got the hang of Paint Shop Pro. Everyone says that Phososhop is more comlicated, but I disagree.

In order:

MS Paint (free) < Gimp (free) < Fireworks (couple hundred $) < Paint Shop Pro (30day free, $99) < Photoshop (couple hundred $)

Originally posted by daveyboy
hi i would like to make my own site, i can do the whole layout and overall design but i'm having difficulties making good grpahics, i would like to ask you what graphics programs you use and which the best and easiest for making good web graphics????
thanks

Making good graphics doesn't just happen with one of these programs, you need the skills in that program and the creativity I guess..

Originally posted by caS
Corel. I said COREL!

Vector: Corel Draw
Raster: Corel PhotoPaint

NO Photoshop, NO Fireworks, not at all!

PhotoPaint is powerful enough, Draw is amazing. They have everything you need and I'm not a big fan of Adobe's interface.... these floating panels... However, PhotoPaint and Draw support Photoshop like interface layout - for fans only.

PS: But, actually I like an image optimizer/converter in Fireworks: ).

caS, don't those coral products cost even more than photoshop? heh.. I heard it was really nice though.

I like illustrator more than photoshop. Photoshop is really a photo-manipulation software. Illustrator is geared towards graphics/web-design.

Originally posted by The Laughing Cow
I like MS paint ;)

:rolleyes: I hate when people say that :rolleyes:

Originally posted by The Laughing Cow
Fireworks is very simple to use.

I just wish these programmes were affordable for students and people who can't shell out the $300 or whatever to pay for them. On that note I think it is the price which causes Warez and piracy. There are places that do this. But you need to show proof that you are a student. There is one called Academic SuperStore.

Originally posted by dgessler
caS, don't those coral products cost even more than photoshop? heh.. I heard it was really nice though.

Take a look (Corel's suite):
http://www3.corel.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=CorelStore/ProductOverview&cur=US&id=CC1IOY1YKCC

($550)

Illustrator:
http://www.adobe.com/store/products/master.jhtml?id=catIllustrator

($400)

Photoshop:
http://www.adobe.com/store/products/master.jhtml?id=catPhotoshop

($610)

So it's $550 for Corel's suite and $1010 for Adobe's one.

THE best graphics program IMO is PhotoImpact from Ulead. I've used a fair number of them and its great! All I can say is downkoad the trial version at http://www.ulead.com and judge for yourself. Also tryout PhotoExplorer while your there. Second best in my book is Corel PhotoPaint - you can pickup an oem version of PP8 on ebay for not much more than peanuts.

hornsmoker -

I like Lview Pro. Dont remember the site but do a google search. It was cheap, easy to use, and had pretty much everything that all the other listed have. I also heard GIMP which is nice because its free ;) .

Ive been using paintshop pro and Adbobe Photoshop for basically years now. There great programs and truthfully none come close in the world of graphic's.

Originally posted by caS


Take a look (Corel's suite):
http://www3.corel.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=CorelStore/ProductOverview&cur=US&id=CC1IOY1YKCC

($550)

Illustrator:
http://www.adobe.com/store/products/master.jhtml?id=catIllustrator

($400)

Photoshop:
http://www.adobe.com/store/products/master.jhtml?id=catPhotoshop

($610)

So it's $550 for Corel's suite and $1010 for Adobe's one. Actually for $999 you can get, Adobe® GoLive® 6.0, Adobe® Photoshop® 7.0, Adobe® Illustrator® 10, and Adobe® LiveMotion™ 2.0.
http://www.adobe.com/store/products/master.jhtml?id=catWebColl

So, let's see if I can get this right.

If you have no money to spare, use GIMP.

If you only can spare $50, use Swish.

If you only can spare $100, use Paint Shop Pro.

If you only can spare $300, use PhotoShop.

If you can only spare $300-$500 to spare, try Dreamweaver or Fireworks

If you can spare $1000, use Adobe.

If money's no object, use Corel.

Is the above fairly accurate?

Well Daveboy, I think the best graphics program around is none other than Ulead's PhotoImpact. It is easy to use, can do virtually anything the 4x-the-price PhotoShop does, and a whole lot more.

Our board is a PhotoImpact board and we have somewhere aorund 650 members that all use PhotoImpact. That in itself says a lot for the program. There is also a lot of support for it - my database has listings for well over 1100 tutorials that have been written to teach ou how to us it. We also have a group for Newbies where you can follow the "lesson plan" (no cost) and learn the ins and outs.

You can't beat all of this. The nice thing is, the cost of the program is less than $100. It not only does graphics, it has some spectacular photo editing capabilities as well as the ability to generate web pages that you design right on the screen.

That's a lot of punch for the dollar! And.. before anyone asks, Yes, I was a PSP user for several years and I also own PhotoShop and I do not get paid to advertise PhotoImpact. :)

They have a 30 day trial you can download from http://www.ulead.com .

Whats the best graphics programs?

actually your question is very difficult to answer !!!! :D

we use all the above programs + a few more which haven't been mentioned here because they probably aren't as popular or versatile.

my personal view is that there really isn't any BEST graphic program. There are many very good ones though and plenty of terrible ones! A good skilled designer would need to get familiar with most of the good ones because each of these programs have their own individual benefits and some of them have a few features that other good programs may lack.

for example, PaintShop Pro, though cheaper than Photoshop, can provide a designer with some very nice effects faster than can be created with Photoshop.

Same goes for with Ulead's PhotoImpact. There are things you can do with PhotoImpact much quicker that would be possible in Photoshop or PSP.

So its best to start out by learning how to use one or two of the above mentioned programs... and then as you feel you're become reasonably familiar with them... move on to start becoming familiar with the others.

also, read good books on graphic design, learn from nature (god is the best designer out there in my opinion... anyone disagree?!!!)

habitually browse through some good magazines (our studio subscribes to over 30 magazines which is a worthy investment) because one can often get a lot of inspiriation from such magazines.

create relationships with other more experienced designers in public chatrooms or forums and learn from their opinions and suggestions.

devote yourself *religiously* by spending some time *regularly* to creating new designs. even if its for a little while. the more time you spend the faster you will climb the learning curve.

start out with some good training books and interactive CDs (www.amazon.com is a good place to start getting opinions on such training material).

but, what i think is the best suggestion of all... if possible, get hold of an experienced teacher to start you on your learning curve. nothing is best than having a super-guru to teach you... you will learn fastest this way.

i hope my post here helps you in your quest in making good graphics. practice all the suggestions above if you wish to make design your career, or just some of them if you wish to have a working knowledge so that you can be reasonably adept at creating good graphics for your own websites.

Chow for now! :)

I see a couple of others have already mentioned PhotoImpact by Ulead, but I'd like to add my vote for PI. I've been using it for about 5 or 6 years now and even though I've tried others to see if I was missing anything I've found I wasn't. As a matter of fact, PhotoImpact has more features for the dollar than any other image editing program I've used! You can read a pretty good review of the product here: http://graphicssoft.about.com/library/products/aafpr_photoimpact7.htm

~ Ginger

I try to write in english :)

When I want to work for a web site, I always use Fireworks (optimization, creation of buttons, logos, etc.). And when I want to improve photographs for me, I use an old version of Photoshop (excellent effects).

According to my experiment, Fireworks is more effective and more adapted for the web. But it is only my experiment of course.

Adobe Photoshop gets my vote. Awesome graphics software.

I have to say that Uleads Photo Impact has all the other programs beat. Its userfriendly and priced right.
~Polly

Another vote for PhotoImpact here. I'd give PaintShopPro a close 2nd though. Not very fond of PhotoShop....it may be powerful, but at that price, it should be! It all depends on what you intend to do, and with loads more work on the web these days, PSP or PI will work just spiffy fine for almost anything one needs to do.

I recommend checking out the trials you can as well, as some might fit your own way of working better than others. I came from a Vector background in DOS(yes, anybody remember Artline?), so paint programs are awkward to me. PhotoImpact had the nicest feel to me, and allows you to work(in ways) with objects like they indeed are vectors. This is comfortable to me and works better for me, so is my preference. PhotoShop was just plain awkward. PaintShopPro is very, very nice, but not quite as nice as PI in my opinion.

There is plenty of support for any of the above, so you can look around the net(MaryLou's site Pircnet site noted above is a good starting place for PI information!), so poke around and try things out....see what works best for you.

On a side note, GIMP is a nice freebie, but not overly stable on Windows yet. Corel's PhotoPaint is also nice, and now that they have Painter, look at that too, though also a bit pricey, they are worthy programs in their own rights. For Vector work, I lean toward CorelDraw as it also fits my working style better than Adobe or MacroMedia's products. But, check things out, and don't hesitate to try a version that's 1 or 2 back.....pretty much any PSP, PI, PS, or Painter, v.4 or v5 and up are worthy programs, and can do quite a bit(and can usually be found loads cheaper than latest releases).

Anyway.....just another chime on the PhotoImpact bell......a good program at a good price....definitely worth trying!

Take care...
Michael

Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro.

Good programs

Originally posted by iamdave
Actually for $999 you can get, Adobe® GoLive® 6.0, Adobe® Photoshop® 7.0, Adobe® Illustrator® 10, and Adobe® LiveMotion™ 2.0.
http://www.adobe.com/store/products/master.jhtml?id=catWebColl

Whatever :), Corel's suite is cheaper if you don't need LiveMotion or GoLive.

Another PI7 user here.
A former PSP power user. I seldom open PSP anymore. PhotoImpact does everything that I need and does it with fewer steps, thereby saving me time and energy.

Not to mention that this wonderful easy to use program is under $100 making it the best bargin around.

Lots of tutorials available via Stephanie's PIBB and MaryLou's PIRC BB. Both places are full of helpful PI users willing to share techniques.

Ulead PhotoImpact 7 (http://www.ulead.com)

Stephanie's PIBB (http://pibb.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x?a=cfrm&s=91260413)

Marylou's PIRC BB (http://pub118.ezboard.com/bpirc67276)



Bellcrest Web Design (http://www.bellcrest.net)
Bellcrest Boxers Reg'd (http://www.bellcrestboxers.com)