Graphics and web programs here is our list recomendations

First up loose Front page
A lot depends on what type of "desiging" you are doing (add a spell checker to the list ). you could get graphic programs like poser or blade or the otherone that does 3d stuff (people, objects ..)
you could have code validators (or use online ones)
you could have your on offline server (apache/php/mysql/perl ...) etc to make/test scripts.
you could have flash and other movie making software
you could have macro programs (saves typing the same stuff all the time), dicer programs, capture programs, colour programs (eye droppers), screen rulers .... the list goes on and on, it all depends what field your going into. will you be doing flyers and brochures, banners, logos, web sites (internet and intranet) ....

Quote: Originally posted by Busy
First up loose Front page

I so totally agree, you don't know what kind of rubbish M$ puts in their stuff...and besides, you have dreamweaver, if you have that then there's no need for frontpage.

But anyway, Macromedia Flash MX Might help
Oh and purchase Edit Pad Pro it is a great text editor and more has, many useful functions...

Edit Pad isn't a designer's program though.

I think the big thing that's missing from that list is a good vector drawing program - probably Illustrator. After that you may want to ask the people you hire what they prefer - a lot of people have some little things such as what busy suggested that they like to have around.

Quote: Originally posted by Megan
Edit Pad isn't a designer's program though.

I think the big thing that's missing from that list is a good vector drawing program - probably Illustrator. After that you may want to ask the people you hire what they prefer - a lot of people have some little things such as what busy suggested that they like to have around.

Edit Pad can be used for writing HTML, which means that it can be used for design. It is probably more used by coders though. Besides it is 'graphics and web programs' that he asked for not just graphics.

I really don't know if I would recommend Illustrator either since it really wouldn't help someone that is not trained to use it all that much.

Hostdog, maybe we can help you a little better if you tell us what the goal of the company is. Is it to host websites or design websites or other? I would consider contracting out some of the graphics work if you don't have designers. Also, what about other stuff like databases or writing code. Do you have people with those skillsets?

Quote: Originally posted by mairving
I really don't know if I would recommend Illustrator either since it really wouldn't help someone that is not trained to use it all that much.

Wouldn't you assume that a "designer" would have some knowledge Illustrator and would have a need for it at some point? I sure would. Actually, I wouldn't hire a designer that didn't know how to use Illustrator. I would also assume that a "designer" would be more comfortable with a WYSIWYG web editor and may not be comfortable with a purely code-based editor. That's one of those things that varies among individuals.

However, I agree that it might be a good idea to contract out such tasks if it isn't the main focus of your business.

Illustrator/Draw I think are a must for any graphic artist, especially if doing logos or print work. But Photoshop/PhotoPaint/Fireworks is fine for most web work?

I agree with Megan, though -- it's best to hire out for that sort of thing.

Quote: Originally posted by Suzanne
Illustrator/Draw I think are a must for any graphic artist, especially if doing logos or print work. But Photoshop/PhotoPaint/Fireworks is fine for most web work?

Are you asking or is this a rhetorical question? I think that most designers will encounter some need for Illustrator at some point - even if you just need to modify a logo file created by a graphic designer. Also, from what hostdog said it sounds like he's looking for a good graphics person (not necessarily a "web designer"). Any good graphics person should know Illustrator and will most likely feel the need to use it more than occasionally.

Edit: Hostdog said "for logos banners special pics that sort." If he's looking to have logos created the designer will most definitely need Illustrator.

Quote: Originally posted by mairving
I really don't know if I would recommend Illustrator either since it really wouldn't help someone that is not trained to use it all that much.

Quite often, software requirements can be as basic as providing the ability to be on the receiving end on files from clients and/or associates. Illustrator falls into that category for me on a regular basis. Although my abilities with the app are fairly limited, I do get a lot of use from it opening .ai and .eps files from various graphic designers.

I have a very dusty copy of Corel Draw 9 kicking about for the same reason.

IMHO Flash is a good vector graphics program, what do you guys think?

Thanks all for your great replies,

No we will not be hiring any designers, or doing any website design. Strictly hosting. Just want to save time and money by me and another person being able to make some graphics logos and such basically on the fly with out having to outsource this.

Now one questions I have when I try and edit our pages in dreamweaver I never see the images only a grey box indicating it is an image is there anyway It can show the images ?
They are all refereced to the website

How hard is adobe illustrator to learn to use. Me and tiffany both took a photoshop college course and learned a lot. I felt it was rather easy

ie img src="http://www.mysite.com/images/logo.jpg

remove the url from the images so it's just "images/logo.jpg" but the images will have to be in a folder called 'images' off the folder the .html file is in.
It's always a good idea to set you puter up like your web site, in the layout of folders/files etc so it can be made and uploaded without any changes.

If you found photoshop easy you shouldnt have a problem with illustrator - the more you do the easier it becomes

I found that Illustrator took awhile to get the hang of - just because I was so used to pixel-based graphics that it was hard to grasp the concept of vectors at first. Taking a course would be a good idea - that's what I ended up doing.

I actually really like Flash as a simple vector drawing program but it's not a suitable substitute for Illustrator. You have to look at what these programs were made to do and therefore what they're best at. Flash was made for animation, and that's what it's best at. Sure, it does alright for simple vectors, but any serious vector work should be done in Illustrator.

Thank you for your comments again looking into the prices of illustrator now.

one problem though, we can not do /images/logo.jpg linking as pages will be in folders outside of the main public folder

ie hosting/offers.php as well as many scripts we are running.

That is why I like frontpage because I can see what the page will look like.

Surely in DW you can see what the page will look like! Frontpage just has so many drawbacks, any serious designer will not use it.

Dreamweaver
Photoshop
Illustrator
Fireworks

If you already know Photoshop, then stick with that. Will save you some time with the learning curve of Illustrator and Fireworks.

Panky
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