Image editing tools:
My image editor of choice is Adobe Photoshop, in part because it is still the best photo editing program out there and in part because that is what I have used since I was an undergraduate student. I'm comfortable with the layout and good at using the various tools. I mix in a little Illustrator from time to time (although sometimes I use Inkscape, a great open source vector graphics program, instead) and that usually rounds out my image editing suite. That said, there are some other great programs out there — some of which I use once in a while, others that are completely new to me — that I want to talk about here.
Gimp is an open source program that performs the same types of tasks as Photoshop. I personally really like this program for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that I love the idea of a community of developers freely sharing resources and improving a piece of software just because they want to make sure everyone has access to high quality programs. Comparatively, Photoshop costs hundreds of dollars, Gimp is free; you can't really go wrong there. The look of Gimp is streamlined as well, so anyone that just doesn't want to look at the Photoshop environment should enjoy it. It's also easy to find your way around after just a short time, which it makes it a good choice for beginners as well as experts. My biggest gripe with Gimp is that I can't stand their logo (a weird little dog head), but then this is a community of programmers, not necessarily artists, so I'll give them a pass on that one.
Downloading Gimp is easy as they have placed everything important right on the home page. The large download button is in the header bar and program updates are listed right below that. There is no digging around required, which is a hallmark of user-friendly design. For anyone that wants to contribute to the program, a "get involved" link is prominently displayed. Contributions include everything from reporting bugs to programming features and writing tutorials. The tutorials are available via a link from that page or in the footer bar on every page. A little more exploration of the additional links yields some interesting information about the history of the program and some screenshots so users can get a glimpse of the program's look. The website also has a historical archive of splash screens, and it was fun to look at the designs, of which version 2.2, with pencil shavings and handwritten text, was the best. It was a good nod to the creative process.
To download Gimp, head to:
http://www.gimp.org/
Another open source program to be aware of is GimpShop. This is a variation of Gimp that replicates the look of Photoshop. As such it is a good alternative for people that are used to Photoshop, but want to use a free alternative. A serious advantage here is that the millions of Photoshop tutorials out there (I see at least 3 new ones a day from Photoshop Roadmap) can usually be followed using this program. It is definitely nice to be able to access that wealth of information since specific GimpShop resources would never be able to come close in number.
Check out Photoshop Roadmap for tutorials about creating any effect imaginable. New content is added every day and older postings are placed in a searchable archive. You can also follow the site on FaceBook to get daily updates on newly added tutorials, which is a great tool to help you decide whether to checkout the site that day:
http://www.photoshoproadmap.com
The GimpShop website has a couple of noteworthy features, including easy navigation and a community forum that is accessible from a link in the header bar. You have to register to add comments, but otherwise the forum is searchable and has discussions and help answers for many topics of interest. I appreciate the inclusion of a forum because it helps to build a solid community around both the website and the software, which is important in order for an open source resource to thrive and improve. The forum is relatively active, with the last comment having been left about 10 days ago.
That said, there are some real negatives to this website as well. First off, there are just enough spam messages on the discussion board to be annoying, suggesting a few moderators might be in order. It isn't a super active forum with many posts per day so this should be an acceptable workload for someone. A much worse issue, however, is the inclusion of tons of pop-up ads. Every single click on a new discussion thread yields two pop-up ad windows. Clicking the back button reloads these same ads, as does clicking the home icon. I get that the software is free, and that the annoyance of some ads is a relatively small price to pay, however, it makes the forum a huge pain to navigate and probably causes a serious reduction in users.
The final issue is that a number of links on the main page are broken. Both the network button and the huge GimpShop Social Network alert yield error messages. The latter is especially problematic because it occupies such a prominent place in the main content area. I was actually wondering why no one had joined yet (the box invited me to be the first), since a special area for sharing artwork created using the program would ordinarily be a popular feature. I have to wonder how long this has been broken and how it has gone unnoticed, or at least unrepaired. I also think that the ads and errors are defeating the donation section of the website. I am sure many people would kick in a few dollars to support software development, but maybe not with the site having so many glitches — it just seems unprofessional. This, unfortunately, probably also dissuades some people from downloading a good piece of software.
Check out GimpShop here:
http://www.gimpshop.com/index.shtml
The last piece of software I will discuss is Adobe Fireworks, which is not one I have used before. In looking over the product specs I see it has a number of web-specific design features that seem as though they would be extremely useful. Interestingly, the program includes templates for mobil devices and other products, which can help to ensure that appropriate screen sizes and resolutions are used. Of course, I am not planning on designing for alternate devices, however the rise in mobile browser use makes this a significant feature. Traditional websites can't display in a very usable form on a handheld device so it can be really important to create content that will. This is really a future direction that can't be ignored and you have to love preset templates that make the design process easier. Other features include image optimization (including transparency preservation) and tools meant to help create standards compliant web pages. All in all, Fireworks appears to be useful in concert with a number of other design programs and streamlines the process of development. I can't say much more without actually using the tools, however it is a program I will definitely check out.
Read about the product features here:
http://www.adobe.com/products/fireworks/features/
Image sources:
There are a lot of sources of free imagery out on the web and sometimes it can be extremely time consuming to wade through them all. It gets tricky if you just try to Google a topic because you then need to check whether an image you like is actually in the public domain or requires permission or payment for use. Sometimes determining that information is not all that simple, especially if the image came from a source other than a large compilation of images specifically for design use. Finding copyright-free music or video can be even trickier. The Wikipedia Public Domain Image Resources page can help with the weeding process as it contains a bunch of links categorized by topics. This is a useful list as it cuts down on the frustration of visiting a catch-all site and trying to locate something specific. For instance, if I want weather-related pictures I can see from the government sites list that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has a photo library, which is probably a good place to begin. That said, Wikipedia is careful to offer the disclaimer that some sites might not have only royalty-free contents. This is a good reminder to actually check the policies associated with any free resource. Sometimes it is free, but requires a link to the creator's site, or a credit line. Sometimes it is free for personal use only. Free imagery doesn't necessarily mean imagery without rules and it is important to remember to check the usage guidelines to avoid issues.
Check out the Wiki here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Public_domain_image_resources
Footnote is a website that provides around 70 million images and is organized by topics such as census, missing air crew reports, Revolutionary War pensions, passport applications, and so forth. These are primary source documents and would be great for research, history related web content, and even edited for design purposes. This is a great database and the images I viewed were all high quality. Also, it appears that the community can create pages and update records, which increases the likelihood of locating unique sources or images. The website itself does a good job of wrangling the immense number of documents. For instance, clicking on a topic yields collections that are broken down into progressively smaller categories; this means rather than looking at everything related to West Africa, I have to choose an area (Gold Coast), then a category (electronics), and a sub-category (radio), before seeing that two captions are available. I then choose one to display an image. This is remarkable organization because while I can step forward and back at any point, I don't get bombarded with every image tagged with the topic "West Africa." Another great feature of this website also helps users to manage information by including a "recently viewed" tab that displays thumbnails. For anyone looking through massive amounts of imagery and then wanting to relocate a certain source, this tab is essential. It would be maddening to weed back through the contents trying to remember how you got to a certain image and this feature eliminates that frustration point. Very sleek and user-friendly design.
This website is well worth checking out for about hundred more reasons than I mentioned above:
http://www.footnote.com/
I will end here with a resource that is not about images, but rather a technology blog. Why does this belong here? Because it is difficult to keep up with tech trends without following something like ReadWriteWeb. The articles posted there include important information about design, standards, and pretty much everything else in the world of technology. The potential of augmented reality, Apple finally allowing Flash development for iPhone apps, and the problems with Twitter's photo policy (FYI they can sell any images you upload there to whomever they choose) are just a few of the posts I read from the last few days. I feel kind of dwarfed by the research and endless streams of advances out there when I read these pieces and I would feel sort of out of touch without reading them. Progress is amazing and blogs like this make it manageable to follow.
Check out ReadWriteWeb (subscribe to a feed!) here:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/
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