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I don't know, I spend 5+ hours a day in Photoshop and I just don't see enough shortcomings to justify trying to build a new app. Photoshop is incredibly powerfu

I don't know, I spend 5+ hours a day in Photoshop and I just don't see enough shortcomings to justify trying to build a new app. Photoshop is incredibly powerful and I don't know if I would give up the flexibility just to make things I can already do easier. Of course Photoshop is incredibly expensive so I can see a market for a <$100 app.

blehn 16y ago
Photoshop is incredibly powerful, but not for interactive design. - type rendering looks nothing like any browser or OS (as described in the article) - subpixel rendering makes drawing shapes and lines with clean edges a chore. - direct selection tool is difficult to use and therefore makes the layer palette the primary means of selecting layers, which becomes tedious with large files - no support for multi-page documents - positioning and resizing objects at a pixel-level is difficult - slicing and image export system is kludgy - no support for symbols - objects with rounded corners are a pain Do you use Photoshop for 5+ hours a day designing web layouts? I'd imagine you'd have a hard time going back to Photoshop after using an application that is better suited for interactive design. I actually started using Fireworks a couple years ago, and while I pretty much hate it, I will never again use Photoshop to design a website.
- city41 16y ago
  Maybe I'm just ignorant, but why were you designing web layouts in Photoshop? It never has been the right tool for that job. My goto tool for mock ups and layouts is Illustrator, which fits the bill far better, and has been around just as long as Photoshop.
  - blehn 16y ago
    why were you designing web layouts in Photoshop? It was a company practice at my first job — didn't have much choice. I've always found Illustrator to be equally bad for web, though. It's a vector tool, but the web is still a pixel medium. For me: Photoshop for manipulating photos, Illustrator for illustration, Fireworks for web/application layouts (although it can handle some basic photo editing and illustrating, which makes it even better for layouts).
    - city41 16y ago
      The web really isn't a pixel based medium though. CSS has more in common with vectors than rasters. Creating flowing layouts that work with the user's DPI, browser's renderer and all that is much easier than trying to force pixel precision layouts.
      - dasil003 16y ago
        As long as we are using primarily PNGs, GIFs and JPEGs for graphical design elements then the web is a pixel-based medium.
        city41 16y ago
        That's exactly my point though, most sites really aren't. I haven't used a raster image for a design element in a website in about a decade. The exception of course being a site's logo if it has one, but the logo rarely needs pixel precise layout.
        dasil003 16y ago
        I don't know where you're getting your data, but most sites use at least several dozen images for basic design purposes. You are definitely the exception to the rule.
  - antidaily 16y ago
    Illustrator over Photoshop? I agree that Photoshop isn't great for web layouts, but it destroys Illustrator. Making color gradients, masking, crisp borders - all way more difficult in Illustrator.
    - city41 16y ago
      I have to disagree. But then I have learned Illustrator very well over the years.

blehn 16y ago

Photoshop is incredibly powerful, but not for interactive design. - type rendering looks nothing like any browser or OS (as described in the article) - subpixel rendering makes drawing shapes and lines with clean edges a chore. - direct selection tool is difficult to use and therefore makes the layer palette the primary means of selecting layers, which becomes tedious with large files - no support for multi-page documents - positioning and resizing objects at a pixel-level is difficult - slicing and image export system is kludgy - no support for symbols - objects with rounded corners are a pain Do you use Photoshop for 5+ hours a day designing web layouts? I'd imagine you'd have a hard time going back to Photoshop after using an application that is better suited for interactive design. I actually started using Fireworks a couple years ago, and while I pretty much hate it, I will never again use Photoshop to design a website.

city41 16y ago
Maybe I'm just ignorant, but why were you designing web layouts in Photoshop? It never has been the right tool for that job. My goto tool for mock ups and layouts is Illustrator, which fits the bill far better, and has been around just as long as Photoshop.
- blehn 16y ago
  why were you designing web layouts in Photoshop? It was a company practice at my first job — didn't have much choice. I've always found Illustrator to be equally bad for web, though. It's a vector tool, but the web is still a pixel medium. For me: Photoshop for manipulating photos, Illustrator for illustration, Fireworks for web/application layouts (although it can handle some basic photo editing and illustrating, which makes it even better for layouts).
  - city41 16y ago
    The web really isn't a pixel based medium though. CSS has more in common with vectors than rasters. Creating flowing layouts that work with the user's DPI, browser's renderer and all that is much easier than trying to force pixel precision layouts.
    - dasil003 16y ago
      As long as we are using primarily PNGs, GIFs and JPEGs for graphical design elements then the web is a pixel-based medium.
      - city41 16y ago
        That's exactly my point though, most sites really aren't. I haven't used a raster image for a design element in a website in about a decade. The exception of course being a site's logo if it has one, but the logo rarely needs pixel precise layout.
        dasil003 16y ago
        I don't know where you're getting your data, but most sites use at least several dozen images for basic design purposes. You are definitely the exception to the rule.
- antidaily 16y ago
  Illustrator over Photoshop? I agree that Photoshop isn't great for web layouts, but it destroys Illustrator. Making color gradients, masking, crisp borders - all way more difficult in Illustrator.
  - city41 16y ago
    I have to disagree. But then I have learned Illustrator very well over the years.