ImageReady for the Web
By Lynda Weinman
Between Photoshop and PhotoDeluxe, Adobe owns the largest market share of image editing software in the world. What few people realize is that these products were acquired from outside sources and that Adobe hasn't originated any new software products in over five years. It is notable that Adobe chose to create a new Web graphics tool as an internally developed product, and that many of its top software engineers were assigned to the task. This fact validates that our industry is having a significant impact on major tools and developers. It's about time we got some focused attention from the heavyweights!
Adobe's new Web graphics tool, ImageReady, was in public beta release when this column was written. It is slated for final release in late June. This article is not poised as a review of the product, but offers an introduction that describes its strengths and weaknesses. My enthusiasm runs high for the things ImageReady does well, yet, for all its strengths, its biggest weakness is that Web designers will still need Photoshop for serious image editing.
Although there are many Web-graphic software applications, most professional designers use Photoshop (and a host of extra plug-ins, utilities, and workarounds) because it is the best-quality graphics application available. However, using Photoshop to create Web graphics has never been simple. Photoshop was developed as a "print" application, meaning that in terms of Web graphics it contains a lot of overhead, including support for CMYK color, high resolution files, color separations, color calibration tools, and printer drivers.<>
