Not Just Text, Text, Text
You can build an entire web site using just the tools mentioned above, but it won't be the sexiest site on the Web. The missing element here is images: so far, the programs we've mentioned are used to manipulate plain text or view web pages. If your web site is going to be visually appealing, you'll need to be able to create and manipulate images, either from scratch, using photos you've taken, or using images that you have the legal right to use on your web site.
Unfortunately, when it comes to image editing software, that old saying "You get what you pay for" is alive and well. A professional image editing program, like Photoshop or Fireworks, costs hundreds of dollars. While these programs offer some excellent capabilities, we cannot really recommend that you go out and pay for them unless you are absolutely sure that they're right for you. If you already have a copy of one of these, or a similar image editing program, by all means use it and experiment with it. Programs like Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop Elements (a cut-down version of Photoshop) are more reasonably priced. However, for the purposes of this book, we'll look only at tools that are free to download, and offer enough functionality to give you an idea of what's possible.
Keep an eye open for free image editors that are included on disks attached to the covers of internet, computing, and design magazines. Software vendors often give away older versions of their software in the hopes that users might be tempted to upgrade to a new version at a later date. Look out for Paint Shop Pro, or any image editor that supports 'layers.' While we'll keep our image editing fairly simple throughout this book, it's certainly worth keeping an eye open for free (and full-featured) image editing software, as these offers will not always be available.
Note: Taking the Big Boys for a Spin
The most commonly used image editing packages are available for trial download. They are large downloads (hundreds of megabytes) and will probably need to be downloaded overnight, even on a broadband connection.
These trial versions are typically available for 30 days' use; after that time, you can decide whether you want to pay for the full software, or stop using the program. However, those 30 days might just be enough time for you to use the software while you work through this book.
- Adobe Photoshop -- A trial of the latest version of Photoshop is available for download [11]. If you'd rather try the lighter Photoshop Elements, trial versions are available for Windows [12] and Mac [13].
- Macromedia Fireworks -- You can download a trial version of Fireworks from the Macromedia web site [14].
- Paint Shop Pro -- Paint Shop Pro is available for Windows only. To download a trial version, visit the Paint Shop Pro site [15], and click the 'Try' link on the right.
Windows Tools
A standard Windows install is not exactly blessed with image editing software (although you might be lucky enough to have bought a PC, scanner, or digital camera that came bundled with some image editing software; scout around in your Start > All Programs menu to see what you can uncover). As a general rule, you'll have to look elsewhere for useful image manipulation software.
Picasa
Though the Windows default image editing and management tools are distinctly lackluster, the good news is that there's an excellent program just begging to be downloaded and used, and it's brought to you by those good people at Google. The program is called Picasa, and it's extremely well equipped to handle most of the tasks that you're likely to encounter as you manage imagery for your web site. Download a copy from the Picasa web site [16], and soon enough you'll be using this program to crop, rotate, add special effects to, and catalogue the images stored on your computer. Figure 1.9 gives you an idea of the program's interface.
Figure 1.9. Picasa, Google's free, fully-featured photo and image editing and management tool
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