Adobe Photoshop

**jerry525** · 03-23-2006, 03:07 PM

Hi Everyone!

I'm new to this forum and it's been years since I set up a web site for a friend. I used Frontpage back then and I don't remember it being too difficult to use. Now I'm getting ready to set up a web site for my son's new business and I'm trying to decide what to use.

I've been using Photoshop CS2 for a while strictly for image improvement and manipulation. Sometimes adding some text to the bottom of the image, etc.

I've not used Photoshop for any real design work. For those of you who have used Photoshop as well as one of the other leading programs such as Frontpage or Dreamweaver what advice can you give me on choices.

Should I try to use Photoshop CS2 as my web design tool or should I purchase something like Frontpage ($87 with my student discount).

The templates I've looked at using Photoshop have dozens of layers, each one having a single item on it. A line, a bit of text, a picture, etc. Seems very involved. Is Frontpage easier to learn and is using it for HTML and other necessary web specific techniques easier to master?

Thanks for any advice you wish to give me.

jerry525

**danlefeb** · 03-23-2006, 09:21 PM

Personally, I use Photoshop CS 2 for all my designs and while I have access to Dreamweaver at work - I choose to use my personal copy of FrontPage instead. They're basically the same, except I've found that FrontPage creates cleaner code and I can manage things easier in it...hence why I use that.

As far as having designs that "look involved" in Photoshop, that's a matter of the design. Some of my designs will have hundreds and hundreds of layers in Photoshop before I even start breaking things down for the web. Others will have only a handful....really it depends on how involved you want the site to be.

**pipers dragon** · 03-24-2006, 05:27 PM

I like Photoshop a lot, and for Image Mapping and things it is great to have ImageRedy and such. I would recommend using this for all image needs.

FrontPage Verses DreamWeaver is a harder topic. I thin kthat dreamweaver is great, but like most adobe products, it is made for the advanced. I think that you should stick to Frontpage if you are starting fresh.

As for the layers, all I really have to say is get used to it. I dont mean to be a downer but even while coding in html, I have at LEAST 6-7 <div>'s per page. Layers are a GOOD thing, and it helps you with flexibiliy. If you mess up in one layer, the other layers are fine. I do recommend frontpage, though.

**danlefeb** · 03-27-2006, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pipers dragon

...I thin kthat dreamweaver is great, but like most adobe products, it is made for the advanced. I think that you should stick to Frontpage if you are starting fresh.

See, I'd say almost the exact opposite. Dreamweaver is great for beginners, in my opinion, because it generates a lot of code automatically. FrontPage can generate code if you want, or you can do things more manually without having to worry about it adding tons of code -- which is much more advanced.

Really, its all a matter of opinion. Whatever you can use to achieve your results, thats what you should use.

**roosevelt** · 03-27-2006, 08:56 PM

I used Photoshop CS2 and Dreamweaver MX for my all kinds of web design related works. Yes you do have lots of layer in Photoshop, but it can have lots of layers if you choose to have it there. Then, after slicing the photoshop file and exporting it as HTML/XHTML, Dreamweaver comes really handy to edit the code to make it actually work as a web site template. Finally Dreamweaver is the only software I found so far which can fix your site template to be W3C Complaint. At first it will be really tough to use Dreamweaver because it was for me. But after playing around with it for sometime it was a breeze.

PHOTOSHOPC + DREAMWEAVER = GREAT WEB DESIGN!!

**Flash_Ace** · 03-28-2006, 10:30 AM

PHOTOSHOPC + DREAMWEAVER + FLASH = GREAT WEB DESIGN!!

**mvi** · 03-29-2006, 05:38 PM

I use Photoshop CS2 for making the General graphics, then use Dreamweaver MX 2004 to make a CSS PHP website out of it.

**3pointRoss** · 03-30-2006, 11:14 PM

I have not used the more recent version of Frontpage, but the version I have used were mind numbing.

I would spend the time to learn as much coding as possible, and try and do most of it by hand instead of relying on WYSIWYG editors.

HTH

-Ross =)

**danlefeb** · 04-07-2006, 09:17 AM

If you use FrontPage, don't use anything before 2003. When they did 2003, they integrated tons of cool stuff that made it, in my opinion, far outweigh Dreamweaver in capabilities.

I've also had a chance to work with the preview of SharePoint Designer 12 (the next version of FrontPage), and Dreamweaver can't hold a stick to that version. Of course, it'll be interesting to see what Adobe/Macromedia come out with...some sort of integration of GoLive and Dreamweaver perhaps?

**amygdela** · 04-15-2006, 01:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danlefeb

If you use FrontPage, don't use anything before 2003. When they did 2003, they integrated tons of cool stuff that made it, in my opinion, far outweigh Dreamweaver in capabilities.

I've also had a chance to work with the preview of SharePoint Designer 12 (the next version of FrontPage), and Dreamweaver can't hold a stick to that version. Of course, it'll be interesting to see what Adobe/Macromedia come out with...some sort of integration of GoLive and Dreamweaver perhaps?

I think it will even be bigger... Macromedia was always powerful with Dreamweaver and Adobe with Photoshop, so I guess a combination of those two will be wicked!

**sirkibble2** · 04-15-2006, 07:59 AM

Personally I think Dreanweaver combined are awesome. I hate the way Front Page sites look. Dreamweaver sites tend to look more proffessional and not generically flat. Of course, some don't know how to get everything out of Front Page. I've seen some awesome FP sites but DW seems to the common professional choice also. But go with what you feel more comfortable with.

**blue-dreamer** · 04-15-2006, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerry525

Should I try to use Photoshop CS2 as my web design tool or should I purchase something like Frontpage ($87 with my student discount).

Always remember that Photoshop is a graphics tool and not a web design tool. Web pages are primarily a text medium that can support display of images!

For a business site what you actually say in your copy text is going to bring in business, and not necessarily pretty images.

The actual html editor you use is the least of your worries, if you're on a budget there are many free html and graphics editors available, you should spend time actually planning the site content, structure and layout before deciding what tools you need.