photoshop

[solidgold]

Is photoshop the best design software available? i quite like it but i presume that there is lots of other better ones? If so, were are they available from and the price ranges? thanks

[Craig B]

Your question is pretty vague.

Photshop is just one program that designers use, and I wouldn't even consider it "design software". Usually most designers design in something else (Illustrator, InDesign, Quark, etc. for print) or other programs for Web, video or interactive design.

Photoshop is generally used for photo editing/manipulation.

If you're looking at designing, I'd recommend Adobe's Creative Suite package, especially if you're looking at designing for print. It contains Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat. If you're not a student it'll cost you around $1200 (or more depending on which package you buy)

[morea]

photoshop is very good for what it is meant to do... but it can't really be compared to other types of design programs.

Adobe has a package called "Creative Suite" that includes 3 key pieces of software:

Illustrator is a vector program for creating vector graphics.
Photoshop works with photos and raster images
InDesign is a powerful page layout program.

They each have their own uses and purpose. You can't really compare them to one another - it's like comparing apples to oranges.

[morea]

and yes, you can expect to pay $900 for Adobe CS or $1200 for the higher end edition.

[urstwile]

Yeah, definitely get the Creative Suite if you can afford it. Don't do all your layouts in Photoshop. Use InDesign for layout related stuff, particularly anything to do with print (type, placing images, logos, etc., multi-page documents, lots of other stuff), use Illustrator for vector graphics, and use Photoshop for photo editing/photo effects.

Sorry for repeating the other replies a bit, but I'm seeing way too many layouts that are entirely done in Photoshop.

[solidgold]

Ok, thanks for your help

[Silence04]

actually Photoshop CSI is much better than regular Photoshop... :P