Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Fireworks?

I have had many people come to me and ask my professional opinion on whether Photoshop or Fireworks is better to use for a graphics editor. Well today I will answer those questions and sort out what is what.

Photoshop:

Adobe Photoshop, like Fireworks, is a professional application. I have ran across many people who are novice computer users that have bought Photoshop and do not know what to do with it. I will say that if you are a novice computer user or are just starting out in graphic design, Photoshop is not the tool for you.

Photoshop is nice to use for custom artwork, graphics and retouching jpegs. Many photographers prefer Photoshop to touch up their photos before providing them to the client. If you have one of the above uses for Photoshop, then definitly go for it. Although it's a bit pricier than Fireworks, it is well worth the price. You will find in Photoshop that there are many tools to work with. I recommend getting a tutorial for this program before you start. If this is your first time using Photoshop, there are many free tutorials on the web as well as the Adobe Exchange.

Fireworks:

Fireworks or FW, is another graphics editor. Although most of the features on FW are found in Photoshop, FW is much simplier to work with. FW, like Photoshop is a professional application and should be paired with a tutorial of some sort if you are a new user. FW has some minor photo editing tools but this isn't the greatest program for retouching professional photographs. FW also has cool features to integrate into web design. An example of these features is the super easy way to create a navigation bar with a pop under menu. Even though the feature is nice and easy to use, web designers agree that this is not the preferred method of doing this.

With basic graphics editing tools this is a nice program. FW also has the ability to open up and work with vector images. Most of the vector freebies that I have found come in .eps and .ai extensions. FW will open both types. Be careful, there is a bug that when opening .eps and .ai files in bulk causes the program to crash.

I hope that the information provided has given some insight on whether to go with Photoshop or Fireworks. Keep in mind price range and user friendliness. If you're on a budget and want something simple, FW is the way to go. If you can splure a little and need something that can do it all, work with Photoshop.