If you walk down the software aisles of your local computer store, you might be surprised by the sheer volume of graphics- related software available. You can buy clip art and photography, fonts, scanning utilities, animation titles, photo- editing programs, desktop publishing applications, drawing tools, and so forth.
For the purposes of this discussion, I focus on software titles that offer you the best tools for creating web graphics. Two main categories of software titles exist: vector and bitmap.
Bitmap applications, also called raster applications, create graphic using tiny dots known as bits. Bitmap images are more difficult to resize because you must change each individual dot, but these image types have types have been around longer and enjoy more support from file formats. GIFs and JPEGs are bitmap images.
Vector applications, also called object-oriented applications, are based on mathematically calculated lines and curves that can be easily changed and updated. Images created with vectors tens to be smaller in file size and, for that reason, are increasing in popularity on the internet.
The programs discussed here are by no means the only products available for creating web graphics. Given the scope of this book, I thought it best to limit the discussion to the most popular programs. If none of these tools suits your needs, try searching in Yahoo! ( www.yahoo.com) or CNETs download center (www.downloads.com) for :web graphics, and perhaps youll find one more suitable for your purposes.
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe is the world leader in graphics and imaging software. It offers such renowned titles as Photoshop and illustrator, which have been used in the printing and
Web Design Phoenix industry for years.
In fact, if youve recently bought a new scanner, you might have acquires a scaled- black version of Photoshop with it. Illustrator, on the other hand, is a vector tool, more suited for freehand drawing and illustration. Both products can save and open web file formats.
In many
Pofessional Web design circles, Photoshop is the product to use. For the typical home user, the price for the full version is a bit steep, but for the professional, its likely worth the business expense. If youre familiar with adobes products and enjoy them, I recommend sticking with Photoshop. Likewise, if youre interested in creating web graphics as well as editing images for printed publications, Photoshop is your best bet.
If you dont fall into either of those categories, you might be interested in Photoshop Elements (the scaled-back, but still fabulous, version), which costs a lot less than the full version. While this version doesnt have all high- powered image- editing tools used by the professionals, its more than capable of handling the needs of someone just starting, and it even has a few bells and whistles that the full version doesnt offer. Photoshop Elements, available for both the Mac and the PC, is a superb gateway graphics program for the typical home of novice user.
