lost between programs...

[Guest_imported]

dear professionals,I found myself lost between all graphic programs,I'm a beginner,in graphics and web designs works,and I Have many prog. that I install all of it on my computer:
Flash5-Ulead2-Adobe photoshop6-Corel9-XaraX-Fireworks-Dreamweaver...do I need all this prog??for my work?or can I choose only some? if somebody can help me with his experience,to let me have a better idea of each prog,what is better and could be easier to use in specific works.Thanks a lot.

 

[Nohj]

I use Photoshop more then any other graphics program.

I use ImageReady which comes with Photoshop to make animated gif files from my artwork. I have other software for creating and editing AVI files.

If you are going to do web page design then learn to use Flash, a program I'm not knowledgeable about. I work mostly in print.

I would stick to those for now until you get comfortable with them.

Nohj

 

[LBG]

You definitely need Photoshop for web work - it's an image creation/editing program. At the very least, you would need Photoshop to convert scanned images into the appropriate file format for web posting (GIF or JPEG).

Corel Draw is a vector based program (its competitors are Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand) - this is especially useful for creating graphics and logos. I work mostly in Illustrator (I'm on a MAC).

Both Flash and Dreamweaver are web based programs (and both created by Macromedia). Dreamweaver is the easier of the 2 to learn since it is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) program. Flash is for adding more complex interactivity, movies, motion and sound. Any site created in Flash reqires a Flash plug-in to view over the web (Macromedia Director is a similar program to Flash).

What you decide to work in is based on your preference and what you need to have in your website. I've found the Visual Quickstart books to be helpful when first exploring a program - they have an entire series on each of these programs.