Here is my problem. I am currently using Jasc Paint Shop Pro to do graphics for my designs and pages. I don't have much money if any I can throw at new software.

So my question is this:

Is there much difference between - Adobe Photoshop 5 andJasc PaintShop Pro?

The 5 version is all I can really afford at the moment.

I use PSP as well and love it. Version 7 has so many of the features that _used_ to be only available on PhotoShop (lighting effects, distortion effects, etc), that I no longer even consider switching.

One thing I do like from Adobe is ImageReady ... which really does a great job optimizing your images for web. PSP saves OK files as far as size goes, but IR really packs them in tight. IR comes with PhotoShop, but you can also buy it standalone for a lot less (check MySimon.com)

So I use the combo and would recommend it to anybody

Personally, I couldn't live without Photoshop 6.0. I use it so much now that Illustrator is almost obsolete to me.

I do have to disagree on ImageReady. Personally, I think Fireworks 4 does a MUCH better job on image compression.

You know I would like to run a test of the two. Is anyone willing to agree on an image in a TIFF format in certain size. Then you compress it in ImageReady and I'll use Fireworks 4 and we can have people vote on what looks/downloads the best in 3 predetermined file sizes?

Thanks for replying. I looked at photoshop 6 but for the price of that I could get photoshop 7 cheaper or the same. That's the problem they're just to expensive for me. And just after reading the Adobe website 've found that they even say PSP is the same as photoshop 5. As for fireworks 4 what is the cost of that? or illistrator?

As with alot of us price is an issue.

Photoshop is expensive but its a worthwhile investment if you plan on doing a lot of graphics work. If you're not planning on churning out tons of graphics, then choose a less expensive alternative. I know that for both Macromedia & Adobe there are discounts depending on who you are and where you live.

Students & teachers as an example, who live and reside in the US can get end user discounts on Macromedia products, but not Adobe (AFAIK, there aren't discounts on Adobe but I could be wrong here). Students and teachers, who live & reside in Canada can get end user discounts on Adobe products, but not Macromedia. I'd check out each product carefully.

You'll also find that if you buy a bundle you can sometimes get a discount which makes it worthwhile to buy either one or the other. I think Macromedia offers a discount on bundles of Dreamweaver & Fireworks together. Macromedia & Adobe are the two major players http://www.macromedia.com & http://www.adobe.com . I'm not sure you can really compare the quality of the work that can be accomplished in Adobe with PS, but then again you work with what you've got. The other thing that is really nice about Adobe is the Adobe exchange coupled with all of the tutorials they have on site. Macromedia does have a similar section but I think Adobe does it better.

Have you tried the Win32 version of GIMP?

I use it quite often and is excellent.

Illustrator is not something I hear people using for web anymore ... it's almost always either PSP (Paint Shop Pro) or Photo Shop. And there are solid believers in both camps; it can get like the PC/Mac wars (let's not start that...)

I was happily using PSP for years when my company merged and the new leaders said thou shalt use PhotoShop. So I evaluated. It was better for a while; not now. Not for my needs, anyway. So I do my primary work in PSP and export to psd format so my company doesn't know the difference.

I should note that besides ImageReady, I also keep DeBabelizer on hand when I get that CD full of product images that all have to be resized, copyrighted and saved as jpg for a client's catalog. That's a wonderful automation tool ... do it once to one image, save what you did and run it on an entire directory of images. Come back in an hour and it's done.

I'd be interested in the graphics compression test, too. I posted the following
http://www.effierover.com/test01.tif (397,547) http://www.effierover.com/test02.tif (323,960) http://www.effierover.com/test03.tif (294,150)

PSP save as JPG produces 139,039 - 118,986 - 107,505.

ImageReady set to medium quality jpg (which is as low as I like to go) produces 28,640 - 21,064 - 15,884. I saved these online as
http://www.effierover.com/test01-opt.jpg http://www.effierover.com/test02-opt.jpg http://www.effierover.com/test03-opt-jpg

because I believe no file size test is complete without a visual comparison. Some graphics programs compress and damage the image.

So, how does fireworks do?

Hmmm. My server is not responding on the TIF files. I'll see what I can do.

Loy,

I was trying to open the TIFF files but my photoshop was unable to open them. The same goes for my Fireworks 4.

Are they in Mac or PC format? I'd really like to run this test, so it would be cool if I was able to open the TIFFs.

Try zipping the TIFF files in one ZIP file.

Now there's an idea

It should be up there under http://www.effierover.com/test.zip

That zip file seems to be corrupt.