Page 2 of 2

Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 2:40 am
by matthijs
Since this thread is alive again, I'll ad some more food for thought here.

The thing is in comparisons like these: there are many pitfalls possible. Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, PS elements, Fireworks and others are different programs, each with it's specific targets, strengths and weaknesses and lastly price. You are comparing apples and oranges.

To be able to compare them well you'll have to do some thorough research. Don't forget many factor's have their influence and consider:
- The history of a product
- The marketing of a product
- The fact that "everybody" uses product A and not so many product B doesn't always say so much about the quality (microsoft anyone?)
- Learning curve of a product. Sometimes a product has a steep learning curve but might be THE thing for you in the end.
- Individual needs and habits. Can be very specific and different from someone doing exactly the same job.
- etc

So to anyone looking around for a good graphic program, I would recommend to consider all these points. Price should be the last on the list, in my opinion (if you do design for a living). Well, not entirely, otherwise you should just buy all of them, isn't it?

Some good links I found:
Photoshop + Fireworks: Where to from here? on blogs.adobe.com
Why choose fireworks on pixelyzed.com, very comprehensive comparison
Adobe, Macromedia & Fireworks
Fireworks Is Better Than Photoshop! Challenge #1 On communityMX another comparison
Ask the Geeks Short post with some good thoughts
Illustrator vs Fireworks
Paint Shop Pro review and another

(there are some more about Fireworks here, but they seem like thorough comparisons and since probably more people know Photoshop then Fireworks they might be usefull)

And of course you can download almost all programs for a free trial period, so nothing will stop you from doing the comparison yourself.
At the moment I'm using paint shop pro, photoshop and since shortly Fireworks. But I'll have to use them more before I can give my final judgement :)

Posted: Fri Sep 01, 2006 2:43 am
by RobertGonzalez
That was a great resource. Thanks for the post.