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A few years ago text–only web pages were the norm, today however the web is a visual feast.
Now web pages contain lots of images to gain the viewers attention to sell a product of some description or just keep them on the web site.
So you also need to be able to edit digital images and also create graphics such as logos, icons, banners etc to incorporate into your web pages.
Almost every PC operating system comes with at least one graphics editor, unfortunately the capabilities of these editors are quite limited.
This also applies to many of the graphics programs that come bundled with many cameras, printers, scanners and other graphics peripherals.
Adobe Photoshop CS2
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Adobe Illustrator CS2
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There are two types of editing programs raster–based and vector–based programs the vector–based editor uses shapes and lines to create images, and the raster–based editor uses dots (pixels) to create images.
Vector–based images are usually more exact and clear, and the raster–based images allow you to create more visually striking effects.
The best results are obtained by using both tools by creating the solid imagery with the vector tools and then using the raster tools to add colour, special effects and finishing work to complete the image.
Unfortunately this type of software is expensive so cost can be prohibitive Adobe Photoshop alone is about £500, but it is the best raster editng program available.
Paintshop Pro is a capable editor and it a lot less expensive at about £100 plus it supports both raster and vector editing, then there is the Gimp which provides suitable editing capabilities and it is without price you can download it for free because it is Open Source software.
Flash MX
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Macromedia Flash which is now owned by Adobe is another tool you should consider adding to your collection, it provides an animation platform with plenty of power via ActionScript a very flexible scripting language.
Flash can be used to create simple graphics like buttons to full blown product demos, making it an indispensible tool for on–line animation.
The two main points regarding Flash are that it has become a standard on the web that users expect, and it can provide simple and complex animations in a small package (file size ).
If your considering becoming a web developer or you are a novice web developer it is worth looking at the Macromedia Studio product line, which includes DreamWeaver, Flash, Fireworks, Director and other products bundled together in one comprehensive package.
You can find more information and download an evaluation copy of Flash here at their web site  .
(Macromedia is now owned by Adobe)
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Raster–based editors :
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Adobe Photoshop 
Paint Shop Pro 
Macromedia Fireworks 
The Gimp 
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Vector–based editors :
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Adobe Illustrator 
Macromedia Freehand 
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You can find out more about Adobe and their products at their web site here 
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