Fireworks CS3

Every so often, I'll do a little online expedition in search of information on upcoming product releases. The Adobe/Macromedia merger in late 2005 was of particular concern to me in the product release department, for two reasons reasons: 1) Macromedia GUI design is historically outstanding and Adobe GUI design (my opinion only) is doo-doo, and 2) Adobe bought Macromedia, not the other way around.

My favorite piece of design software is set to be released by its new parent company for the first time April 20th. Alan Musselman, formerly of Macromedia and retained by Adobe, offers his top 10 reasons to be excited about Fireworks CS3 in his blog. Indeed, the official product tour looks pretty promising - full layered import of Photoshop documents is a fantastic addition! I worry that components of Adobe (un)usability will find their way into the latest release (there's little more frustrating as a Fireworks user than opening a PSD, clicking on an object as discovering that selecting something on the screen doesn't actually select anything), but I'm excited to some of the Photoshop filters ported over as part of the default installation.

So, what's your visual design software of choice for the Web? Are you a traditional Photoshop layout type? Are you a Fireworks junkie, like me? Perhaps you enjoy using Illustrator or the (now defunct?) Freehand for a little off-label Web layout work? Maybe you're GIMPy? Fireworks and Homesite are my bread and butter. What's your product or product mix of choice?

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