Photoshop vs Fireworks for web graphics?

definitive said:

I couldn't decide whether to put this question in the Graphics or the Web section, but since it primarily deals with graphics for web rather than for print, I decided to post it here:

What is the primary focus of Fireworks, and which of these two apps is better for designing graphics for web? In terms of icons, buttons, backgrounds? I've hardly ever used either for designing anything for web since my primary app of choice for designing such things has always been Illustrator with Photoshop in case I needed to fix some stuff up that Illustrator missed. I always saw Fireworks as a tool to make animated GIF's, and nothing more until a few people mentioned that they use it to make graphics for websites, and website layouts.

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Personally always used PS, i used CS5 now which is more capable than doing what you've stated.

Fireworks has better vector tools than Photoshop, and some capabilities Photoshop lacks, like creating drop-down menus and different states of rollover images (these used to be in ImageReady, Adobe's answer to Macromedia's Fireworks, but Adobe bought Macromedia, absorbed Fireworks, and killed off ImageReady).

There's a ton of overlap between the two programs, but as a long-time user of Illustrator and Photoshop, I find Fireworks to be redundant, and don't use it.

Most people just stick with whichever they know best. If you're choosing one to learn over the other, you really can't go wrong: they're both great programs (but Photoshop probably has the larger support community)

here's a good comparison that was posted at smashing magazine recently

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/201...adobe-fireworks-what-can-you-achieve-with-it/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/05/22/adobe-fireworks-is-it-worth-switching-to-cs5/

Fireworks generally generate images that are much more optimized for the web than photoshop "save for web" command can. Other than that, most of it's features are create specifically for web design and hence, it's easier/faster to do stuff like splicing images for html export, creating buttons etc. However, whatever image stuff you can do in fireworks can be replicated in photoshop.

I used to use fireworks quite extensively back in photoshop 7/cs days but now I use mainly photoshop and illustrator. (Ever since when I start to dislike auto-generated html codes)

There's no contest in my books...I have used Fireworks since version 2 and PS since version 4, and I find that Fireworks is superior for web design because it was built from day one as a web design _vector_ layout program. It can certainly handle bitmaps with aplomb (supports almost all Photoshop filters) and, of course, converts all optimized graphics to bitmap before export. Vectors are much easier and quicker, I think, to work with when prototyping a site. Initially, I thought Fireworks was much harder to use, but that was way back in version 2. Once I finally stuck with it, I much preferred it to photoshop for web capabilities. The downside is that I fear Adobe will axe it, as they did with Freehand/Illustrator, in favor of their cash cow Photoshop.

Hands down, Fireworks is the only image tool to use for web design

almedajohnson said:

I’m trying to switch from Photoshop to Fireworks right now. The first thing I tried to do was edit the A\V tracking to alter the space between words. Apparently in Fireworks you have to double click to select the blank space then add tracking to it. In Photoshop you just click at the end of the word then add tracking. This tiny difference adds like 10 minutes of messing around. I’m thinking that every little process may have this kind of subtle difference that will just make swapping over way to painful.

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If you're comfortable with PS, then I wouldn't switch. Yes, there are many FW idiosyncrasies, such as you mentioned with tracking, as formerly-Macromedia Fireworks has not been completely rewritten, as has PS. The interface is more Adobe-consistent in PS, and--if you're more conversant with PS--you'll save more time using it. Besides, I daresay there's little you can do in FW that you can't also do just as quickly in PS if you know PS well. Besides, it's hard to _unlearn_ PS shortcuts.

angelneo said:

I used to use fireworks quite extensively back in photoshop 7/cs days but now I use mainly photoshop and illustrator. (Ever since when I start to dislike auto-generated html codes)

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That's the reason why I went away from Fireworks. Fireworks just generates a lot of sloppy coding that I would have to tighten up significantly before I released it. That was back when the 56k Modem was king and every little bit of size reduction mattered but having high bandwidth these days doesn't excuse that practice.

If you can do the code on your own then PS would be your best bet because you gain much more than just having Fireworks.

Definitely Fireworks, no question.

Designing user interface elements in Photoshop is like painting with your elbow when compared to Fireworks.

Fireworks rocks web design. One of my favourite things is that it balances vector and bitmap in a way that Photoshop cannot, allowing easy and accurate resizing of UI elements and whatnot. I work with a professional designer who is by all means a great designer, however I still see him making a rounded rectangle in Photoshop for a web design, then later on using the transform tool on it. The distorted corners this results in makes me cry. None of that in Fireworks.
Oh, being able to stack multiple copies of the same layer style has come in handy for me as well more than once.

I use fireworks for web design when i'm running out of time, but when i'm on time, i use photoshop for web graphics and design. It depends on you. I have some friends that use fireworks for web design and they don't use photoshop, and i have friends that only use photoshop and not fireworks.

I disagree with some of the posts on here..Use the tool that works best for you as a designer be it PS or FW because neither can make you a better designer.

Warthog said:

Fireworks rocks web design. One of my favourite things is that it balances vector and bitmap in a way that Photoshop cannot, allowing easy and accurate resizing of UI elements and whatnot. I work with a professional designer who is by all means a great designer, however I still see him making a rounded rectangle in Photoshop for a web design, then later on using the transform tool on it. The distorted corners this results in makes me cry. None of that in Fireworks.
Oh, being able to stack multiple copies of the same layer style has come in handy for me as well more than once.

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That isn't a 'great designer'...

on topics, there used to be a massive difference between the exported graphics of FW, especially PNGs which PS used to have terrible transparency suppport. These days that's not so much the case. Personally I never got on that well with the FW interface and would say like others have that it's mostly a matter of preference for the way the tools work.

Actually, "a cat *miaow*", he is. When it comes down to it he designs fantastic looking and functional user interfaces. The means for which he accomplishes this are justified by the end result.

On topic and a case for Fireworks, it generally has better image compression in my experience.

Fireworks by a long mile.

I used Photoshop for a long time for web and once I gave Fireworks a shot, I have never looked back and now find Photoshop kind of awkward for doing anything, and downright frustrating for web design.

Here is a great article explaining why Fireworks is superior for web design.