Fireworks or photoshop?

Hey


As some of you might know alreadt I am switching form pc to mac.

I am a student of multimedia and web design and I work mostly with director mx(my speciality)

I have been using PSP (I dont design graphics) but im changing to mac an I am interested in getting into design.

What should I go for.

I am obviously going to have to buy DW again for the mac so this makes me think.... should I buy studio mx 2004 for mac??

Or should I buy dreamweaver and photoshop seperately??

The main question here is---> Should I get fireworks or Photoshop??


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Also....... About abobes creative suite.... any chance I could get a brief description of the programmes in it and if you know studio mx... can you compare them to it???


Thanks


Shane

I have Studio MX 2004 Pro (education version) for my Mac and the install disc had both Mac and Windows version on it. So you might want to check that out before purchasing it over again. As for PhotoShop or Fireworks, I have both on my machine. I use PhotoShop more for my web design as I can get better looking graphics from it, but use Fireworks sometimes when making small graphics as it integrates with Dreamweaver better. It doesnt hurt to have both CS and MX on the machine, if you are willing to pay the money—that way you have all your resources. As for whats in CS you will get PhotoShop, InDesign, Acrobat, Illustrator, and GoLive. It all depends on what your preferences are. I personally believe that PhotoShop, Flash, Fireworks, and Dreamweaver are your best tools when it comes to multimedia/web.

I prefer Photoshop CS, but why not try out both. You should take advantage of the free trial with both programs. See which one fits your needs. If you ever can't figure something out, you can most likely find help with Photoshop. That might be something to consider.

Thanks alot guys.

Ill try out the free trials and I'll let you know what I buy

;-)

Obviously this is all personal preferences. But, if you can afford it, I would definitely go with the Photoshop/Imageready option. I say this, because I find that Adobe products are generally more stable and, from a usability point of view, I find them more intuitive than Macromedia products - apart from Dreamweaver, which is a must have. GoLive is often looked down on by some web developers as not producing as elegant code as Dreamweaver.

However, I know that Macromedia offer some awesome deals for students (or at least, they used to...), so it's definitely worth considering.

Fireworks is a fine product. But Photoshop is such an industry standard (and deservedly so), that it's hard to recommend anything else if the money is there.