Creative

Poor Mans Creative Suite

Fortunately we live in an age when you don’t have to plunk down a month’s rent to get quality design applications. Check out my picks for free web and graphic design.

mu Poor Mans Creative SuiteGIMPshop

We know that GIMP is the free graphic design solution. This incarnation on GIMP has an interface that has been rearranged to more closely match Photoshop’s. It’s a convenient layout and a great example of the benefits of Open Source development.

mu Poor Mans Creative SuiteSeashore

Here’s another raster image editor that steals from GIMP.Written in Cocoa, it shares GIMP’s native file format.

seashore Poor Mans Creative Suite

Seashore supports an array of file formats and includes all the basic tools (gradient, stroke etc.). It is not as full featured as GIMP, but useful for users of the Photoshop’s core tools.

mu Poor Mans Creative SuiteExpression

Here’s a bizarre but good deal. Expression, according to MacUpdate, is a Microsoft application. The about box credits Creature House.

expression Poor Mans Creative Suite

Who’s ever it was or is, it is also a tidy vector illustration program. Its feature set is probably comparable with Illustrator 7 or 8, but it covers the core functions well.

mu Poor Mans Creative SuiteNvu

Nvu stands for anything but “Not Very Useful”. This Gecko-powered HTML editor and web site manager has matured to 1.0 status with improved Mac support and Dreamweaver-like features.

nvu Poor Mans Creative Suite

Edit web pages and publish them directly to your FTP site. Built-in tools like HTML Validator, Markup cleaner and CSS Editor make it a contender to commercial solutions.

With the increasing quality and power of free applications, you can now rely on freeware – even for pro quality work. How’s that for lowering overhead.

Brian

mu Poor Mans Creative SuiteDownloads provided by MacUpdate

Shareware Alternatives to Expensive Creative Suites– Web Design

Pro web design suites haven’t evolved much in the last few years and, like office applications, have become expensive and bloated. Fortunately, the Mac programming community has responded with powerful, lightweight applications that get you closer to your design with the right tools and without superfluous features or price-tags.

There are Open Source application with similar feature sets, but they can be slow and don’t take advantage of Mac and cocoa features. I think you’ll find the joy of fast, slick Mac-made applications worth the small price tag.

Warning: This week’s picks are not free, but are so much less that their alternatives, they represent a bargain.

WYSIWYG Editors

Coda ($79)

Code is a unique, new HTML editor with a fast interface and Mac-specific features. Code has a built-in terminal, text editor and CSS editor.

The one-window interface keeps you focused and fast. And the integrated file browser and preview is great to.

Shareware alternative: RapidWeaver ($49)
Freeware alternatives: Taco HTML Editor,

Image Editors

Acorn ($39)

This simple but very powerful image editor is GPU-powered. That means your effects will render in real-time.
acorn Shareware Alternatives to Expensive Creative Suites   Web Design
Acorn supports all the standard features you’re used to including layers, vector drawing tools, gradients and opacity tools.

Shareware alternative: Pixelmator ($59) Freeware alternatives: Skitch (beta), ImageWell

Text Editors

TextMate ($58)

Realizing that some of us prefer to code by hand, TextMate hits that spot with a versatile text editor that includes code formatting as well as unique extras like built-in FTP.
textmate Shareware Alternatives to Expensive Creative Suites   Web Design
Complete with macros, collapsable code blocks, text edit even has a clipboard memory.

Freeware alternative: TextWrangler

We owe a big thanks to the OS X developer crowd for the unique and powerful Mac-only creative apps out there. Many of them aren’t free, but are worth the small price.

Brian

Adobe loads their site up a bunch of CS4 demos

adobeCS4 20080923 181530 Adobe loads their site up a bunch of CS4 demosHave you updated to Adobe Creative Suite 4 yet? Yeah, me neither. Who has that kind of scratch laying around in this economy?

In the meantime, Adobe has posted a few CS4 demos to get you hooked on these apps while you save up to purchase them.

And if you’d rather your postal carrier deliver your CS4 demos rather than downloading them yourself, Adobe offers trial DVDs of both the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium (USD$10.99) and the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection (USD$15.99).

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