Web graphics software

[Reeco]

I'm getting into web design, and need some software for graphics. Not so much for photo manipulation, but for making menu buttons, nav bars, borders, logos, etc. I've seen prices ranging from free to pretty expensive, and I'm not too fussed on the cost as long as I am getting good vaalue for money. Platform is Windows.

What would be a good choice? I've looked at Xara and Fireworks, and tried Inkscape, which is free but seemed awkward to use.

[Ducky]

Gimp could possibly do what you need, but isn't as feature rich or as friendly as some other choices. It is mainly geared toward photo manipulation but if you poke enough, you'll find create tools also.

That's free.

I would recommend going with adobe. You'll pay for it, but it's a very solid suite.

[Grizzly Bear]

Gizmo's has a pretty good compilation of freeware if cost is of any problem:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/pc/image-tools.html

This (http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-digital-editor.htm) is the image editing section which they recommend from basic to advanced editing (including GIMP). Though I can attest from needing it in my studio classes if you can go with the adobe product line you should be in pretty good shape too. I'd recommend photoshop elements for the cheaper alternative with adobe except that GIMP has more features than Photoshop's little sibling Elements, and would likely be a better trade off in the price area if you stayed away from the professional-grade software

[MortFurd]

I'm getting into web design, and need some software for graphics. Not so much for photo manipulation, but for making menu buttons, nav bars, borders, logos, etc. I've seen prices ranging from free to pretty expensive, and I'm not too fussed on the cost as long as I am getting good vaalue for money. Platform is Windows.

What would be a good choice? I've looked at Xara and Fireworks, and tried Inkscape, which is free but seemed awkward to use.
I'd recommend you learn to use Inkscape or Xara. It is FAR easier to modify a vector graphic (which Xara and Inkscape produce) than it is to change a bitmap (which GIMP and Adobe Photoshop produce.)

You can easily export the drawings from Inscape or Xara to bitmap format, but it is worlds harder to go the other way.

[Reeco]

Ok, I know what bitmaps are but get a bit hazy when it comes to vectors. Could you provide a bit more information?

[MortFurd]

Bitmaps (as you know) are simple pictures - spots of color make up your picture. This is pretty much just a digital representation of a drawing or painting.

A vector image, on the other hand, is composed of objects. Those objects can be simple (rectangles, circles, etc.) or complex (letters or free form drawings.) The information stored in the computer is a set of instructions to the computer on how to draw the things you want to see rather.

With a vector drawing, you can easily change the font for your text (for example.) You can easily change colors, borders, etc just by selecting the object and changing its properties.

Say you have a color blend in your drawing the shades from green to red. If you want to make it fade, instead, from blue to red then you've got a problem with a bitmap. With a vector drawing, you select the object, open its properties, change the colors, all done.

Especially for doing things like logos, vector graphics are easier.

[moopet]

I'll throw a vote in for Inkscape, GIMP and Paint.NET.
I've used Photoshop for years, and think it's easier for a beginner. But GIMP is free. ALthough it crashes on Windows more.

For quick fixes, getting the size of elements and changing colours and stuff, Paint.NET is amazing. It's come along leaps and bounds since its earlier incarnation and is lightning fast compared to the big boy applications.

For what you want, I'd suggest looking on youtube for some tutorial videos for Adobe Illustrator and Inkscape. Watching someone else go over the basics is a really easy way to learn and get an idea of what package you might like to use without actually having to use it. I'm lazy, see.
I think you might be pleasantly surprised by Inkscape. It's simpler than Illustrator, and it's easier to get up and running and produce something nice. You can do your little cup-and-saucer first drawing in about half an hour.

[dtugg]

Adobe Fireworks does both bitmap and vector images.

[GreNME]

Paint.Net (http://www.getpaint.net/), definitely. Hell, if it ran on Mac OS I would have it on my MBP. The best free raster graphic editor out there.

[Arus808]

Gimp


But if you want to work with clients, then Photoshop is the way to go. Some of the clients I work with use Photoshop and send me photoshop layered files.

[Reeco]

Thanks everyone, particularly Mortfud for the vector explanation. It seems that for what I want, a package that is good for creating vectored images is the way to go. I'll keep researching those that have been suggested.

[Grizzly Bear]

Thanks everyone, particularly Mortfud for the vector explanation. It seems that for what I want, a package that is good for creating vectored images is the way to go. I'll keep researching those that have been suggested.
Xara (http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/first-rate-commercial-vector-graphics-editor-totally-free.htm)

Just an FYI since I sometimes look at these things on the freeware blogs. I don't know which you've decided on but I figured this might be pertinent to what you're looking for. It's not freeware but sometimes the companies do promotional things, and Xara's doing one related to the freeware site I follow

[Reeco]

Xara (http://www.techsupportalert.com/content/first-rate-commercial-vector-graphics-editor-totally-free.htm)

Just an FYI since I sometimes look at these things on the freeware blogs. I don't know which you've decided on but I figured this might be pertinent to what you're looking for. It's not freeware but sometimes the companies do promotional things, and Xara's doing one related to the freeware site I follow

Thanks for that, I'm trialling Xara and Fireworks at the moment. Fireworks does a lot, but one thing that's bugging me at the moment is it assigning separate CSS classes to every text field in my page. I'd like to use HTML <h1>, <h2> etc. tags and it would be nice if I could define these in Fireworks. Does anyone know how this is done?

[Wudang]

Gizmo's has a pretty good compilation of freeware if cost is of any problem:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/pc/image-tools.html

This (http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-digital-editor.htm) is the image editing section which they recommend from basic to advanced editing (including GIMP).

Thanks - that is an excellent link. I'm never got to grips with image editing and developed an interest recently.