Graphics Editors

Bitmap graphics editors

Adobe Photoshop
This is the mother of all graphics editors. Its power is undisputed. Unfortunately, it's also rather expensive and tough to learn. Use Photoshop if you're already familiar with it.

Paint Shop Pro
This is one of the most popular graphics editors in the world, due in large part to its magical combination of low price and powerful features.

Ulead PhotoImpact
This graphics editor is the best balance between depth, ease of use and price. PhotoImpact is an all-in-one solution for Web page design, Web graphics and image editing. It offers features usually found only in programs costing 5-8 times as much...

Edit images and create complete Web pages.
Full array of imaging and painting tools.
Vector 2-D and 3-D graphics.
Over 60 exclusive special effects and filters.
Visual Web page layout and one-click HTML output.

Whether you want to edit photos and put them online or create original Web graphics and animations, this economically priced package offers an appealing mix of power, with an interface that's truly easy to use.

Vector graphics editors

CorelDRAW
This is one of the oldest vector graphics editors for Windows and Mac, very popular due to its speed and features. It also contains Corel PHOTO-PAINT - a powerful bitmap graphics editor.

Adobe Illustrator
This graphics editor is the professional solution for designers publishing for print and Web, offering sophisticated illustration tools, time-saving productivity features, and tight integration with other Adobe Web publishing software, including Flash.

Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash)
This is the key to designing and delivering low-bandwidth animations, presentations, and Web sites. Integration between Dreamweaver and Flash enables users to easily integrate vector animations, MP3 audio, and interactivity to produce high-impact, engaging Web pages.

Xara Xtreme
This program comes complete with everything you need to create both print and Web graphics. Xara Xtreme is fast, powerful, and features a clean, simple interface that makes it great for new users, and design power and flexibility that's great for professionals.

Web graphics editors

If you find creating your own graphics with a universal editor to be too daunting, or if you want to save time and avoid the technical stuff, you can use specialized Web graphics tools that make creating professional-looking banners, buttons, fancy text, navigation menus, logos incredibly fast and easy. Here are some of them...

CoffeeCup Button Factory
This is the complete and easy to use button maker. It enables you to quickly make buttons for your site, including graphics and animation effects (Flash and Java). You can use the included images or your own customized graphics.

Buttonz & Tilez
This is software package that includes 2 applications, "Buttonz!", which creates buttons of various shapes, and "Tilez!", which renders seamless textures. The package comes with dozens of preset textures and buttons for you to use and modify.

ZPaint
This editor lets you easily paint colored and textured 3D objects like buttons, rings, boxes, or add those effects to existing graphics.

Free graphics editors

Brush Strokes Image Editor
This is a free graphics editor with many of the features of a professional product. You can edit images fom a variety of formats, create images for websites, create and view GIF animations, adjust colors in photos, apply filters, rotations and transformations, use magic wand selections, blur and sharpen images, use frames from videos, and more.

EyeBrowse
This is a free graphics editor, featuring screen capture, support for many file formats, batch file management, animated GIF support, undo/redo, favorites and print preview. EyeBrowse Update utility can update EyeBrowse to the newest version available.

Picasa - the free photo organizer from Google
Picasa is a Windows application that allows users to find, edit, share, and enjoy the pictures on their computer in seconds. It makes advanced editing and picture sharing simple with fast one-click fixes.

See also...

Building: Web Graphics: Banners
Creating your own banners from scratch or by using free Web banner generators.

What's New

Inexpensive Web Hosting
How to choose a fast and reliable service from the bulk of cheap hosting solutions.

Web site builders
Easy way to build a professional looking site for commercial use or just for fun.