However, its tool set is such that it??™s just
as capable as Photoshop for working up entire layouts. (In fact, the vector tools within
Fireworks are generally considered superior to Photoshop??™s equivalents), and at a much
lower cost.
Corel Paint Shop Pro (www.corel.com/) is a Windows-only graphics editor, which has historically
been seen as a low-budget alternative to Photoshop. Enabling users to edit both
bitmap and vector graphics, previous versions of the application were well suited to web
design, and its price point??”significantly lower than Photoshop??™s??”made it a good choice
for designers on a tight budget. More recent versions have seen the application focus
rather more significantly on photo editing, however.
GIMP (www.gimp.org/)??”the GNU Image Manipulation Program??”is the closest open
source equivalent to Photoshop, and is available in various flavors for Linux, Windows, and
Mac OS X (although the main Mac version requires X11 to run, with native ports being
rather flaky by comparison). Primarily a bitmap editor, the application includes a surprising
range of tools equivalent to those found in Adobe??™s market-leading application, although
it lacks strong color model support, and the omission of a free transform tool is a disappointment.
Adobe Illustrator (www.adobe.com/products/illustrator/) is a Mac and Windows application
for working with vector graphics. Although the majority of web graphics are
bitmap-based, there??™s nothing to stop you from using a vector-oriented application for
crafting the initial design, and Illustrator??™s tools prove flexible when creating sites with
clean lines and large blocks of color.
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