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And why blog about it? Well, it is sort of a personal issue. And the title should have read “Why use Fireworks instead of Photoshop for any work related to web and interface design”. Fireworks was the odd man out during the Macromedia years – at least for me. And it would have stayed that way. But then I gave Fireworks a real try, and I was hooked.

Before I go on and explain why, let me give you a short description of some of my regular tasks. I design primarily for the digital realm, be it web pages or user interfaces. When it comes to regular print jobs I do of course use Photoshop. The problem seems to be that a large majority of designers think Photoshop is the optimal tool for every occasion, be it preparing photos for print or laying down the design for a web page. Photoshop is a great tool. But when it comes to designing a web page, the better tool is named Fireworks.

And the single best reason for the choice being that I can select any object just by clicking on it – on the canvas. Vector based objects making it a snap to make the right buttons. States on buttons simplifying the task of making a “functional dummy” for the customer at hand. And there are other reasons. Some would argue that it is simply a matter of me not knowing what Photoshop can do. I would say it is a matter of using the right tool for the right job.

So why this post? It is twofold: On one hand I would encourage every designer to give Fireworks a try, on the other hand I am frustrated with designers and developers that demands PSDs (Photoshop files) for a strictly web/user interface related job.