Though pricey, using Adobe software has some key benefits. Though lacking some of the refinement of Illustrator, it consistently produces smaller, lighter SVG files without a lot of “garbage code” and bloat. Popular with Linux users, Inkscape has many of the same capabilities as Adobe Illustrator when it comes to vector graphics manipulation. As such, it’s a highly stable and powerful way to work with icons, logos and any other type of 3D graphics that are beyond the capabilities of Photoshop or GIMP. Adobe Illustrator is one of the oldest vector graphics tools on the market. The major drawback is its inability to work with the file formats used by Adobe’s InDesign.įinally, there’s the matter of vector graphics editing. Boasting many of InDesign’s main features and with a similarly uncomplicated user interface, Scribus is available as a free download for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux. Scribus is the closest equivalent to InDesign in terms of ease of use and functionality. It allows even the most inexperienced user the ability to quickly and easily set layouts and play around with designs. When it comes to desktop publishing applications, the Adobe InDesign package is the go-to program for crafting newsletters, posters, promotional fliers and e-books. GIMP is free, stable and supports a rich ecosystem of handy plugins, brushes and tools to extend the functionality of the basic program, but illustrators who are long used to Photoshop may find GIMP too dissimilar to use effectively. It’s main competitor is the GNU Image Manipulation Program, also commonly referred to simply as GIMP. It’s also fairly expensive, retailing at a price of $699. It’s easily the most polished raster graphics editor available. Photoshop handles paths, layers, color saturation and transparency impeccably. Here’s a quick comparison between the proprietary and free, open source software available for graphic designers and web developers.Īs the ultimate Swiss Army Knife of image manipulation and layout creation, the latest version of Adobe Photoshop offers an impressive array of capabilities for almost every need. Each graphics software release continues to push the envelop of what’s possible in terms of design.

While Adobe Photoshop and its related Creative Suite programs are well respected throughout the world, open source software is making some big gains in terms of popularity and acceptance. For web designers, developers and amateur creative types that work with a lot of graphics and image manipulation, the decision of which software to use is an important one.

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