Photoshope or Fireworks

Hi,
I am learning web designing in these day's and are in basic classes. I have learned HTML and Css so far. I can easily create basic static website. But by the next week Photoshop classes are getting started and I was looking to go for Firework as i have learned that it's the replacement of Photoshop and web designer's are opting fireworks in these day's. Now i am a bit confused.

Fireworks is more limited and meant more for creating buttons and graphics.
Photoshop is designed for (wait for it!) manipulating photos.

I wouldn't say Fireworks is meant to replace Photoshop, as they have different functions.

Hi

I would say you should definitely use Fireworks for any kind of digital graphics (use photoshop ONLY for photo manipulation).

These are some of my reasons for using FIREWORKS and not PHOTOSHOP when creating on-screen graphics:

FILTERS
PS: Adding a blur to a shape, you have to rasterize it.
FW: You can add any filter to any object

PS: Suddenly you can't use a certain filter for a certain layer. There are no explanations on why this is the case and you can't even see the fly-out menu with filters that "used to be there".
FW: You can apply anything to anything at any time

VECTORS
PS: Shape layers are more confusing than they have to be. You can't apply effects to vectors in Photoshop.
FW: You can interact with vectors directly in the artwork, just click on it and you can move it around without having to pay close attention to which layer the object is on.

OBJECT PROPERTIES
PS: Rounded rectangles: You can't change the radius after drawing it. You can't see the result of the radius until you have drawn it.
FW: Each object can be reviewed and analyzed quickly by looking at the property inspector when the object is selected. A rectangular shape has a "rounded corner" setting and when changing the value it updates in real time.

CONTROLLING & SELECTING
PS: You can select an object from the canvas by holding down ctrl (PC) but after adding a few objects to the artwork you basically have to work from the layers if you don't want to interact with pop-up dialogues telling you layers are empty or locked etc. You basically have to name every object you create in order to find it again. Selecting something from the canvas when you get a complex document is just impossible. You end up "searching" for your objects for way to long. This makes it trickier to "sketch" or make something quickly in PS. Example: Draw ten lines on top of each other in random directions. Try moving or changing one of the lines without interacting with the layer panel. It's pretty much impossible without naming every object. The objects you draw are "sinking into the artwork" and the more you create, the harder it will be to get hold of them.
FW: Every object lights up as soon as you hoover over it, letting you know you can select it by just clicking. If you need to select an object that lies below the highlighted one there is a "select behind" tool

PIXELS
PS: Nudging a pixel when zoomed in further than 100% or less than 100% and the object will move in half-pixels (etc). There isn't even a setting to get the nudging to snap to pixels.
FW: One nudge click equals one pixel. You can set each object to be anti-aliased or not, there is even a "snap to pixel" fuction for objects that might be off-pixel, real simple (when using sub selection tool you can move anchor points to half-pixels)

LOCKING
PS: Even if a layer is locked you can accidentally select that layer.
FW: A locked layer is locked and you will not be bothered by it.

TRANSFORMATIONS
PS: When a transform is ongoing, or a text field is being altered, you can do nothing except work with the transformation. You can't close a document, you can't "unselect" by clicking on the outside, in other words you are locked until you press enter (or ctrl-enter when working with text). Because of this you have to let go of the mouse/pen and interrupt your workflow.
FW: You hold down ctrl and press outside of the object and you are ready to interact with other objects. A very quick way to work.

HIDING
PS: When you press ctrl-H it means you want to hide all the stuff around an object but when you do that for a text you still have the "transformation box" around the string.
FW: Ctrl-H hides everything and you can see the artwork clearly.

MULTIPLE OBJECTS
PS: If you want to apply a layer blend mode for more than one object you have to do it one object at a time. When selecting two at the same time, PS "forgets" what modes they have. Even if they have the same mode.
FW: You can select multiple objects on multiple layers and create the same blend modes for them. You can add the same effects to them etc. Even if they have different properties before.

COLORS
PS: When selecting a color for an object or a shape you might want to select other colors than the ones in the artwork, say for instance the color of a shape in the layer panel. You can't.
FW: You can sample colors from anywhere on the screen, even from the FW GUI if you would like to.

GRADIENTS
PS: Handling gradients is cumbersome.
FW: Every vector object can be set to have "Gradient fill" instead of "Solid fill" in the property inspector. The gradient is then controlled from either the property inspector or the actual object. Like in Illustrator but in a more straight forward way.

- - -

Other benefits with FIREWORKS:
- PAGES. Great (and fast) way of organizing your work.
- QUICK PROTOTYPING with linking and toolboxes filled with functional UI elements
- SYMBOLS. Well developed in FW. Compared to PS and AI the handling of symbols (smart objects) is superior.
- PROPERTY INSPECTOR. Instead of showing effects etc in the layer panel you see and alter the effects by clicking on the object.

This list is just recently started will get longer with time.

Thanks for your so detailed reply. Actually i never have used Firwork yet so i don't have idea about it but i am comfortable with Photoshop.

I've found that Ps is versatile enough that just about anything can be created with it. That is not to say that Fw is inferior in any way, but I've always used Ps for my images and have grown accustomed to how it behaves. There are some things that bother me about it. The shape layers are somewhat difficult to work with as was previously stated, but if there's one think about Ps it's that there's a million different ways to do the same thing. It's essentially all about discovering which way works best for you. When it come to creating and working with vector graphics, you might be best served with learning Illustrator. Despite a few sets of effects that are rasterized (blurs, gradients, etc) Illustrator is quite the nice application for developing vector graphics. It also provides for ways to create vector shapes that have the appearance of rasterized effects. Here's a video on applying the blend tool to a pair of shapes in Illustrator. http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-blend-shapes-and-colors-illustrator-298086/ Adobe has published beginner books on each of these programs through its Classroom In A Book series. I can't say enough about them. I've been doing the web design and graphics thing for a little over a year now in college and still I find myself returning to the books that I have when I'm lost for techniques.

Photoshop is your best bet. There's a lot you can do with it. web graphics, illustration, photo manipulation etc. You can even design the layout of the website in photoshop to present to a client as a draft.

I wonder what software (PS or FW) do the world leading web design companies use?

This is where a lot of companies get stupid. Most, if not all want experience with Ps just because it's Ps. However, I think more often than not you'll find many web designers prefer Fw. Honestly, I don't know why. My reasons are the same as AlphaMare's.

Personally I've never used FW but we have both PS and FW but haven't updated FW since cs3. When FWcs3 came out we had just hired a girl that was a senior in college and working her internship with us. We liked her so well that we hired her when she graduated. She was having to take FW in one of her graphic arts classes. She did some terrific work in FW and we were impressed. She started working under one of our PS gurus and eventually stopped using FW. She told us PS was a much more robust program than FW. I have no clue.

My husband and one daughter still use Autocad 2000, her twin uses 2004 so "ain't no way" I'll be a mediator on that war. My husband still uses PS 7 and Image Ready 7 and won't make a move on a later version.

I tell anyone about software, especially in our business, use what works best for you and our clients and just make sure your office backup can use it also.

It would be best if we could use both Photoshop and Fireworks simultaneously. I discovered Fireworks recently and some features are really awesome!

I am a web designer and I only use Photoshop because that's how I learned. I haven't learned how to easily integrate Fireworks into my workflow.

Both have their own strengths and weaknesses. But basically, I use Fireworks for web design while I rely on Photoshop for image editing.

Personally I like photoshop better. I've used both of them (way more experience with PS) and I've found some pros and cons with both. Although PS does have some frustrating restrictions, there are always ways around it. For most of the work I do, I find that I can add more detail via photoshop than I can FW. So I stikc to PS.

i recommend you to stick with Photoshop its more then amazing for me..

Fireworks was more of a way to show your progress to your client as a prototype web page. It's good for the client to decide what design they want before you go on and code or dreamweaver it. I mean honestly I don't use it though because dreamweaver is so advanced I can just save my images out of photoshop throw them in AP DIV tags in dreamweaver via the insert palette and then show to a client.

Like nuff said, FW is more aimed towards developing proofs and prototype designs without having to code the entire thing and risk starting over.

Photoshop is an image editor. You can certainly design a website in PS, but the tools and functions available in FW are more suited for this.

Essentially, you design your images in Photoshop and you design your site in Fireworks.

alwaysnew has it bang on correct. Fireworks is the one to use for web design.

And like FatalPriapism says, manipulate yer images in Photoshop.

I'd recommend picking up the latest version of FW as it's comparitively cheap, and IMHO a brilliant piece of software, and just pick up an old version of PS if you're a bit strapped financially.

FW is like a little gem as far as web design goes, and ironically the cheapest out of the creative suite. Pity that graphic designers and employers arent cottoning on quicker to the fact that FW is the correct tool for Web/Screen design, not PS.

Adobe are planning on axing fireworks;

http://thenextweb.com/dd/2013/05/06...ks-only-plans-security-updates-and-bug-fixes/