Comments on: JPEG Optimization : The Fireworks Advantage

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 17:41:40 +0000

The choice between Fireworks and Photoshop is really a matter of preference and, of course, experience. For those of us who have been using Fireworks since its creation, Photoshop can be very “awkward”. Sadly, because I use both programs, I can’t see the differences from a new user’s perspective. I guess the only thing to do is download the trial and play with both. See which one feels “right”.

By: Mohit

Mohit — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 10:28:00 +0000

I’m new to template design. Is learning Fireworks better option for me than Photoshop?

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:18:21 +0000

Richard,
You suggest making an image that is the same size in both programs to see which one looks better. Excellent idea – and in that challenge, Fireworks is an even clearer winner! You can use File>Export Wizard in Fireworks and the Optimize to File Size option in the Save for Web dialog’s Preset options in Photoshop to try it for yourself.

By: Richard Roche

Richard Roche — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:32:48 +0000

It seems more like the quality ratings on the two programs are just at different scales. For example, and “80″ in fireworks is more like a “60 on photoshop. I think a more fair test would be to create two images of equal file size in each program and compare the two in order to see which one looks better. I tested this on a few photos, and photoshop was the clear winner even at only 100% magnification. It seems to keep more sharpness, and fireworks seems to add a little blur even with the settings at 0 for smoothing. I’d be more likely to say that photoshop actually offers more bang for your buck in regards to quality vs filesize. At the very least, I think it is entirely inaccurate to say that fireworks significantly reduces the file size, it really just adds in more compression at higher compression ratings.

By: Greg

Greg — Mon, 31 May 2010 22:40:23 +0000

@btn Not specific to optimization, but the Fireworks CS5 release is hardcore in terms of speed and stability, and in Photoshop CS5, well what can you say about Content Aware Fill other than “wow”?! The Photoshop team is definitely hearing the growing chorus of PS users that are taking a look at Fireworks for their web workflows though! ;-)

By: btn

btn — Wed, 26 May 2010 00:36:14 +0000

Are there any updates on this front in CS5? Thanks!

By: Chris Lowry

Chris Lowry — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:28:37 +0000

As almost a solely Fireworks using web designer (if they brought in custom brushes, i could say goodbye to Photoshop), i get very frustrated with the lack of knowledge people have about the program. It beats photoshop at this stuff effortlessly, and i feel the whole FW program is much more intuitively designed.

Just a shame Adobe are showing so little support for it. CS4 has been out more than a year, and I’m STILL dealing with bugs that werent in CS3.

By: Assorted GARbage» Blog Archive » The Secret to Transparency with PNG8’s and IE6

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:02:42 +0000

[...] directly from Photoshop – and under most circumstances that would be okay. (Although I did write a post explaining the “disadvantages” of exporting jpg images from Photoshop.) In this instance, however, [...]

By: Michel

Michel — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:57:35 +0000

PS Sorry, just to add:

http://www.senocular.com/fireworks/tutorials/mighthavemissed/

An excellent tutorial which also mentions selective JPEG options for export in Fireworks! :) (in case you don’t know this resource)

By: Michel

Michel — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:53:39 +0000

Sorry for being late into the discussion here, but…

1) Fireworks can, indeed, export a JPG image with various areas in it defined, and have selective compression applied to these areas. This is very handy! Also, you can tell Fireworks to export text with a better quality on top of a JPG file (“selective quality for text”) — not sure if any other graphic design app has such a nice feature! :)

2) I don’t see a problem that Fireworks exports better than Photoshop in some cases — both are Adobe products, but there is the right tool for every task! You can create some work in Ps then use Fw for the final export, so to use the better export options that Fireworks offers:

*) Photoshop excels at editing photos and bitmaps in general, it is also an excellent tool for print output, and for high-quality photo retouch in general. But I would not use it for vectors/screen design.

*) Fireworks excels in all kinds of graphics that are intended to be used on Web/screen. It works very well with vectors (example Fw vector illustration), it’s great for prototyping, Web design, screen, UI, etc. But for print, no.

Ps and Fw are different, and so Fw can be the tool of choice in some scenarios, and Ps can be the tool of choice in others. But when working for screen, I always prefer Fireworks — it’s more intuitive and more powerful for these kinds of tasks! :)

I use Fireworks for 5-6 years now, and I never even looked at Photoshop, when I need to create any kind of screen/Web/UI/logo work! :)

(And of course, when I need print output, I go for Ai or Ps, not Fireworks.)

Adobe now owns almost all of the graphic design tools. So, let Photoshop excel in its area, and Fireworks in its own. The power comes when you use a combination of tools, not one super-tool.

Just my $ 0.02:)