It’s more for a standard and for files and effects compatibility.
<hr>
Maybe, maybe not. Depends on how you look at. Inkscape reminds me of Ph in its less bloated days, like version 8.
But it makes you feel so alive! 
<hr>
A graphic tablet or a PC tablet? You can find good graphic tablets for less nowadays. I got mine for ~30$ and I’m pleased with it.
[ot]You’re devilish.
Seriously, it may only have been meant half jokingly on your part, but even if you were completely serious, I’d agree with you because it is true that I used to be a, well, graphic-heavy type of designer. That’s changed, however, even if it isn’t reflected in my current folio. I’ve grown up a bit and am moving away from graphic intense web designs, though I’ll never be a purist and will always find myself moving somewhat in the middle of the pendulum. Being balanced is my goal. I’m not there, but I’m trying to take up speed. :)[/ot]
Off Topic:
And who is he?!
The fact that I am still not re-employed yet
Does that mean you are UN-employed?? (To use an American term.)
doesn’t tell me there’s a problem with the market or the economy or anything like that. It tells me I am not a professional, and I do not offer what people want or need. I don’t use professional tools, I don’t write professional code,
Here in the U.S., there are MILLIONS of hard-working, qualified, professional people out there that have last their ass in “The Great Recession”, so don’t ever sell yourself short.
Capitalism has different goals and objectives than necessarily employing the best or nicest people…
So, easier said than done, but any UN-employment you may be experiencing is not necessarily an indication of your self-worth, Stomme Poes. HUG
and I can come here to forums like SitePoint and blather my opinion about anything whether I have any experience or knowledge of it wherever I want and nobody knows you’re a dog on teh interwebs.
Well, you’re the most interesting dog I know on the Internet, so take heart! 
Some people confuse my word diarrhea with knowledge, though I think most people know I’m just blowing stuff outta my ass. You have to take everything I say with a bag of salt and realise that maybe I’m making more word soup on forums because I have plenty of time on my hands doing nothing else anyways.
I VALUE YOU, Stomme Poes, and I think you have TONS to offer both employers out there, your husband, your pets, and the SitePoint Community!!! So don’t get down on yourself, because you are important!!
And if I had to name one person whose posts I most enjoy reading and that make me tingly, it would be you!! (DeathShadow is a close second, but his posts tend to make me itch more than anything!!) 
I think the thing I love most-est about you, Stomee Poes, is that you remind me of how the Internet, and people on the Internet used to be back in the 1990’s… People were honest, forthright, not afraid to share their hopes, and dreams, and passions, and quirks, and nutty thoughts. Those were the days when I’d rush home to check my dial-up e-mail and spend all Friday night just pouring over the awesome e-mails, bulletin board posts, and one-dimensional websites. That was when “Content was King” and the world came together to be a little closer. Back then we were all EQUAL and FAMILY. My how the world and the Internet have changed in 17 years…
At any rate, I think you are very intelligent, experienced, and have a lot to offer both professionally and personally.
Does that mean you know everything, or are “the best”? Maybe not. But then again, this isn’t a race…
Anyways, I’m not as good as blabbing as you are, but I just wanted to say that I really appreciated your long, thought-out, and passionate response above, and that I have missed you and such responses, and I hope that both are back to stay!!
Sincerely,
Debbie
It seems to me that the simpler image editors were created for this very thing (people wanting to do basic stuff without navigating ginormous menus and options).
[ot]
Yes, but I was employed recently, lawlz. The Dutch term is “workless”.
Zomg we’re so old! It took me a half-hour to send a 30-second .wav file to someone via mIRC. Ah, those were the days.[/ot]
I mostly use Imagemagick through php and my localhost; also a bit of GIMP if required.
First learning gimp. Yes I am an old school book person Any idiots or dummies guides are good intros. Next step up I like the Artist Guide to Gimp effects. After these books heading online, to docs.gimp.org and gimp.org/tutorials. These steps provided all I needed to do my web stuff in gimp.
The one thing I will admit to missing Photoshop for is CYMK (Print) and a lot of Graphics designers use it. Either my clients want the graphics designer to send me something or they want me to send the graphics designer something I did. Or my clients want to print something I did, still looking for that perfect RGB to CYMK converter.
There are more than one way to code a website. If you like use PSD, if not don’t. I won’t, in my opinion it’s a matter of time before software package like PSD are avoided completely for web design.
Off Topic:
@Stomme_poes;
You are a PROFESSIONAL web design. I consider myself a quite good and you’ve helped me on more than one occasion, so by definition you must be better than I am. The issue we have nowadays is that web design’s have been passed off by many wanna-bee’s who don’t actually know what they code. It’s a case of getting some WordPress theme and slapping it on the CMS. Having said this, WordPress is pretty amazing! but at the same time not when it’s used by know nothings to make money.
Cyprus is far worse economically. We recently blew up our main power plant which is still not repaired. We started buying Electricity from a good friends the Turks :S, who we have a long history of loving and harmonious relationships with sarcastic. Our president is well, communist, which does not help the situation. He excessively spend on his own party and handed money leaving the countries treasury kind of empty, in fact I think we now owe money to the EU. All benefits were withdrawn, leaving the economic situation at a standstill. Wages were cut by up to 40% and many have become jobless depending on parents. Cyprus people were always known for having land, and now the banks want that too. So they’ve started cashing in on this recession.
With an influx of immigrants, 25% of the younger generation under 25 are unemployed as most employees are now imported from Eastern European or Middle-Eastern countries, literally! Cost of living is one of the highest in Europe. I think the EU will prob. collapse if things continue, as I really don’t see countries agreeing to being poor and in poverty.
I think a lot of this has to do with the EU. I love Europeans, nothing personal against anybody, but for any countries thinking of joining the EU, DON’T!
Sega, it’s hard to say who is better than who.
Stomme doesn’t really do web design anymore (from what I understand from talking to her). It’s hard to say that you’re not as good as her just because she’s answered a few questions. You probably know stuff that she doesn’t.
It’s hard to gauge as to who is superior, except in the case of Paul or Dan.
Off Topic:
Sega, it’s hard to say who is better than who.
Finding information useful and resources qualifies that person to speak on behalf of the community. If I remember correctly @Stomme_poes; was an adviser here at SitePoint, such badge of expertise is not given likely. This place is buzzing with young talent. Simply because you do not work your job does not mean you are not a professional. I have a web design degree, would this make my qualified expert, hardly. In fact even considering yourself as an ‘expert’ is wrong, as nobody is ever complete.
Stomme doesn’t really do web design anymore (from what I understand from talking to her). It’s hard to say that you’re not as good as her just because she’s answered a few questions. You probably know stuff that she doesn’t.
Now if somebody in the mist of all this economic crises and European affairs becomes jobless, it’s hardly their fault. Companies are shutting down in the hundreds here.
The fact that I am still not re-employed yet doesn’t tell me there’s a problem with the market or the economy or anything like that. It tells me I am not a professional, and I do not offer what people want or need.
Exactly! Consider this, the makers “Rolex” make fine watches, those makers in an economic recession won’t be able to sell as many watches as nobody has any more money to spend on such luxuries. Selling a website for 2K might not seam a lot for us, but companies will withdraw from spending more money than what is needed. Companies aren’t really hiring either, so it’s not you, but this economic crises we’re all facing in the EU.
[ot]
If you helped me on more than one occasion what happens to your mental heirarchy? 
If you (Sega) know WP etc you certainly do already. I have zero experience setting up any kind of CMS… just debugging Magento is about as far as it goes, and that wasn’t pleasant or anything. I’m very restricted in my skills and what I can do. People want polymaths I guess.
I’m not doing web development but mostly because of no job than that I was sick of it or anything. But also doing other things out of interest.
Mentor. Advisors are moderators (in green).
Ryan’s prolly helped many more people directly on the forums than I have. Especially when he first got here, he was willing to dig deep into slimey nasty smelly code of someone to find where their problem was… much more than I’m willing to. Remember mentors are chosen by other people here too, so things like personal preferences, politics, bias, etc have just as much influence as knowledge re badges etc. So far as I know, nobody discussed my merits beforehand. Maybe someone saw my name showing up too much, during one of these periods of Too Much Posting.
I can list a good number of people who aren’t and never were mentors/staff here who have expertise that blows the mind. In particular, Crusty was one of a handful who helped me get started. I’ll say most of the people I have in mind now have gotten member of the month though.
It seems in computing and web development in general, people shy away from “expert” in favour of more awesome-sounding things like “ninja”, “rockstar”, “jedi”, and having good something-fu.
I continue to see jobs for ninjas and the such. They’re funny.
As mentioned earlier in this thread, there’s “Photoshop jockey” which is often also coupled with “pixel wrangler”.
Also, I think this thread doesn’t need any more derailing about the economy and me and whatnot… wasn’t my intention, I just spewed a bit too much. This was a good thread. :)[/ot]
That prolly should have been in the poll! There are many versions of it for various web languages (there’s phpmagick, perlmagick, etc). Gary Turner who used to be around here more often does almost all his editing in ImageMagick: cropping, rotating, resizing, adjusting colour… maybe something for you, ParkinT?
This, and lack of LAB, are right now prolly the GIMP’s two biggest missing things. And people have been asking the GIMP devs for CYMK for… ever.
There are plugins, though I’ve never used them. The biggest name seems to be called
separate+
Have you tried it?
The two things printers always demanded of me when we sent files to them for printing (logos and whatnot) were
-vectors
-cymk
If you helped me on more than one occasion what happens to your mental heirarchy?
Yep Help and help a-like 
If you (Sega) know WP etc you certainly do already. I have zero experience setting up any kind of CMS… just debugging Magento is about as far as it goes, and that wasn’t pleasant or anything. I’m very restricted in my skills and what I can do. People want polymaths I guess.
WP is fun, it’s really easy to learn. Just download it and set things up locally. It’s very easy.
I’m the same way. I have 0 personal experience in systems like Wordperss
I’m not doing web development but mostly because of no job than that I was sick of it or anything. But also doing other things out of interest.
Mentor. Advisors are moderators (in green).
Ryan’s prolly helped many more people directly on the forums than I have. Especially when he first got here, he was willing to dig deep into slimey nasty smelly code of someone to find where their problem was… much more than I’m willing to. Remember mentors are chosen by other people here too, so things like personal preferences, politics, bias, etc have just as much influence as knowledge re badges etc. So far as I know, nobody discussed my merits beforehand. Maybe someone saw my name showing up too much, during one of these periods of Too Much Posting.
Well I only helped that many people because I have nothing else to do with my time. Although my early young-years antics probably screwed me of any advancement in these forums. 90% of the staff members here are very politically correct and polite. Rudy can have a joking mannor to him, and it’s all in good fun. Everyone else seems to have too much professionalism to them. My take on it anyway.
I can list a good number of people who aren’t and never were mentors/staff here who have expertise that blows the mind. In particular, Crusty was one of a handful who helped me get started. I’ll say most of the people I have in mind now have gotten member of the month though.
Goes back to politics. He’s psised too many people off here. His knowledge is astounding though. I certainly make sure to read everything he posts. Although I do tone out his rantings about crap that does’t matter :p.
It seems in computing and web development in general, people shy away from “expert” in favour of more awesome-sounding things like “ninja”, “rockstar”, “jedi”, and having good something-fu.
I continue to see jobs for ninjas and the such. They’re funny.
As mentioned earlier in this thread, there’s “Photoshop jockey” which is often also coupled with “pixel wrangler”.
Also, I think this thread doesn’t need any more derailing about the economy and me and whatnot… wasn’t my intention, I just spewed a bit too much. This was a good thread. :)[/ot]
For a quick two cents worth…
I use Photoshop, Illustrator, Inkscape, GIMP and Blender. As tools GIMP has come a long way but does not have as many advanced algorithms for image correction so with GIMP you have do the same sort of work with Channels (apply filters to these and image maps) to do some of the more advanced stuff that Photoshop does. I prefer Inkscape to Illustrator when I am using my tablet as the tablet control is more responsive and lets me work almost like I would on paper. I still use Illustrator for logo and sign design. I have a huge banner printer that will take a native illustrator file but not inkscape without exporting plus I know illustrator and have always used it for banner and logo so I haven’t given inkscape a good shot.
I am in the ralph.m camp as I no longer design anything on a website in a graphic program first. So I lay up the content and design as much as I can with C.S.S. and lastly place as minimal of graphics as I can.
Steve
Partially because Adobe patents those algorithms… (usually open source or other companies get around that by writing similar-but-different algorithms… what inkscape does), and partially because nobody has bothered trying to write them. Though if you’re smart you can write your own in Python or something with Script-Fu.
So true. I originally started with photoshop version 1 so I used to have to create all my own filters and corrective algorithms so I don’t find it difficult in GIMP. I run Linux for my desktop so I use GIMP more frequently than Photoshop and it suits most of my needs without problems. Customers don’t seem to see that stuff I’ve created in GIMP or Inkscape is any more or less professional looking than in Photoshop or Illustrator, my choice of what tool really comes down to the comfort level of the graphic task at hand. Like I said I use it less and less for layouts but still use it for picture composition/cleanup/cropping…
Regards,
Steve
According to my view, These InkScape and Gimp are used for graphic design elements for web design projects and for design layouts & mock-ups. GIMP is mostly used as an open-source adobe photoshop equivalent. Inkscape is the open source Adobe illustrator.
True remarks about GIMP - it does not have all the modern auto corrective features of the latest Photoshop, but is more than adequate for most web-sites graphical needs. Inkscape tablet support is terrific. The pressure sensitive controls have a tonne of nuance and control. I find I can do better with Inkscape than Illustrator; although to be fair I have not spent nearly enough time recently with Illustrator for this to be a ‘fair test’.
Inkscape requires WAY LESS RAM than Illustrator. So on my ageing graphics machine it make a big difference when using it.
Uhhh, I just happened to come across this post on a random search on Gimp and web dev, but it seems like a pretty good
community and site so I registered as I thought through what I’ve realized about Pshop vs Gimp. So here’s my spiel, another
take for the original poster of the topic.
I am actually amazed there wasn’t one pro-Photoshop mention here.
That says a lot about the advancements of alternate software through the years.
There was a day when Pshop was the only option.
But, here’s my pro-Pshop version. (And I’m not a real advocate, just trying to suggest the “other side”.)
The thing is that I think it really depends on what kind of a site you want to make, what your likes and dislikes are.
I know and have followed closely (and been a very big admirer of) sites which were graphics minimal in their construction,
pro seo, accessibility and usability.
That approach has made a lot of design houses their whole paycheck for a long while now.
Read: Standards based design, Zeldman.com, et al.
And the onset of the effect of mobile technology certainly pushes one toward leaving graphics behind.
But the thing is, you know, I used to work in graphics, for 10 years, Photoshop every day.
And then a lot of things happened to me in my outside of work life, and then I didn’t work in it anymore,
and I too have been a big fan of open source, especially as I didn’t really need to use it for work and only small
image manipulation now and then. So I’ve used Gimp for a while now. And, I didn’t really have that much money
as I went through the past years, so I went as cheap as possible. (You’ll notice if you run through a lot of the above
comments that that seems a common thread, old computers, low cost, you know, cheap!)
Back in the old days I had expensive computers, Dec Alpha, the finest Viewsonic monitors. At home!
But since I went cheap I’ve had a string of used computers, they all break all the time. (Except the used dual-chip
G5 Mac I got, but that’s PPC chip so I can’t even run modern Firefox or Chrome or lots of other software on it.)
And the monitors. I’ve had (cause I’ve been so used to the old beauty CRTs I used to use) a string of (used, cheap)
but very nice CRT monitors, 19 inch, 21 inch, that kind. But I finally got to the point where I needed to get a newer
computer to get the ball rolling with my company and modern software etc.
So for 400 bucks I had this guy nearby build a brand new box for me, very nice H2 i7-capable (has duo core right now)
board, 8 gig (GIG!) of ram, and damn, the new computer wouldn’t recognize the CRTs.
So I had to go out and buy a new widescreen LCD monitor. Like the first new one I’ve bought since 1996?
I got this one:
http://www.asus.com/Display/LCD_Monitors/PB238Q/
And my God, I realized, how foolish I was all this time. Hooked up to DVI, not even HDMI yet, it’s like another world.
I mean, websites I’ve looked at for all these years in the square screen format of the CRTs all of a sudden have all this other real estate
and imagery. It’s like back when I worked in graphics and there were all those experimental wild flash sites. Remember k10k?
What I’m saying is is that with the more powerful computers and graphics cards nowadays, super cheap storage for websites (and
devices), there is a side to this that imagery is making a comeback, at the same time that simplicity also is.
Here’s a popular guy who makes wordpress sites:
http://www.briangardner.com/
But look at one of his poems. Full screen images. (And look at it on a widescreen, beautiful.)
Here’s another site:
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670921/pantone-introduces-color-swatches-based-on-real-skin-tones
(And again, I don’t know if others are seeing the full version of these sites, as it may have to sdo with cpu speed and screen resolution to deliver…
My main point is, that there are a lot of other movements underfoot that are very media heavy at the moment. From what I’ve seen Html5
has multimedia capabilities right in itself that are going to compete every bit with flash. Whole books dedicated to html video, new inventions for html audio apps
written in html5.
https://developers.google.com/events/io/sessions
Another very powerful part of the modern web is the advent of live text in (finally) graphically-oriented fonts.
Here’s a great diatribe about it which points out one reason just in itself to (possibly) go with adobe: fonts.
http://www.briangardner.com/typekit-fonts/
(Especially read the comments.)
One last thing about cost. A few years ago my brother went to a thrift store and found an unopened box of Adobe Pshop CS2 for sale there for 2 dollars,
and got it for me. With that i installed it, and never even used it much, but I did go through the hassle of working it out with Adobe to register it, it
had been out for a number of years so I had to send them pics of the bar code, box, manual cd case or whatever. But man am I glad I did that.
Recently I found out about this product, Adobe Creative Cloud. And just because I was a registered owner of a previous CS version, (I don’t know if CS 1 would work),
I qualify for this cloud at 29 bucks a month. The thing you have to understand about a lot of Pshop heads, is there’s a benefit to the customer
service aspects of Adobe that I’ve found (to say the least at times) wanting in open source, particularly the Gimp list. And an inclusion in not only
a connection but interworking of each of the programs with each other that may or not function when you try to piece together a graphics suite
piecemeal. And for a lot of graphics people, pshop is only an entry into the other more advanced programs, After Effects, Premiere, etc.
Especially on the Mac, people just feel comfortable in that environment. For many it’s all they’ve ever known since high or art school.
Multimedia is a burgeoning field out there. Don’t get me wrong, there are new open source video offerings too.
http://www.lwks.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=45&Itemid=184
One other area you have to consider is game production. I think with html5 and video you’re (possibly) going to have an entirely new wave of game and media type sites.
And another consideration is workflow management. If you just want to work by yourself, it’s one thing, but if you have to incorporate
yourself into someone else’s workflow it may be another. Three’s a whole new crop of collaborative efforts going on, from mutual coworking
in Google+ or similar products.
And that 8 gigabytes I got in this 400 dollar computer I just bought recently? I calculated the amount that would have cost me back when I bought that Dec Alpha in 1996. Back then 64 MEG of ram cost me 1000 bucks, so I calculate 8 gigs at about 1.3 MILLION dollars, were there a computer to hold the 8 gig of ram, which there wasn’t. That’s the power people (can) have in their desktops today. amazing.
Some things to consider.
'meist