Life Without Photoshop

#1

Post by rpsubhub » Sat, Feb 26, 2011, 1:08 PM UTC

Re: Life Without Photoshop

#2

Post by gjenkin » Sat, Feb 26, 2011, 1:46 PM UTC

Context is important. A no-Photoshop approach makes sense for Quora since their product is text-heavy. For a product that requires, say, rich data visualizations like Google Analytics, some design ideas need to be mocked in a graphics package (Googlers often use Fireworks instead of Photoshop) first, then prototyped in code.

Context is also important in terms of what stage of the development process the designer is at. If a product design is already well defined (e.g. "top nav is global, 2 columns in the core content space, right column is contextual nav, left column is the content stream, here's the style guide ..."), then going directly to code makes sense. As Joel suggests, going directly to code is great for day to day new feature iterations.

But if your product is completely undefined, Photoshop or Fireworks can be excellent tools for mocking up design variations and sets of use cases or states within those variations.

Hats-off to Quora for going straight to code when it comes to design. It works for them but it's not going to work for everyone in every case.

Re: Life Without Photoshop

#3

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Feb 26, 2011, 1:46 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Life Without Photoshop

#4

Post by lwhi » Sat, Feb 26, 2011, 1:47 PM UTC

To be fair, Quora isn't a very graphically rich site.

I'm not totally sure whether an absence of Photoshop (and other Creative Suite products) is particularly worthy of explanation.

Re: Life Without Photoshop

#5

Post by dot » Sat, Feb 26, 2011, 1:57 PM UTC

I love starting in photoshop because I can play with an idea visually without taking my eyes off of what I'm working on.

For me photoshop is a really fast way to develop ideas and sell people on my dreams. I can mock something up that looks real and get feedback very, very quickly. Then once I know what I want to build I move to the text editor.

Photoshop is pen and pencil for me.

Re: Life Without Photoshop

#6

Post by vog » Sat, Feb 26, 2011, 1:57 PM UTC

gjenkin wrote: post #2

Context is important. A no-Photoshop approach makes sense for Quora since their product is text-heavy. For a product that requires, say, rich data visualizations like Google Analytics, some design ideas need to be mocked in a graphics package (Googlers often use Fireworks instead of Photoshop) first, then prototyped in code. Context is also important in terms of what stage of the development process the designer is a…

I never understood why people are buying proprietary, expensive stuff like Photoshop just for mock-ups.

First of all, vector graphics tools like Inkscape are a lot better suited for that task.

Second, even if you don't like vector graphics, there are great Free Software projects like Gimp and Krita that deserve our attention and our support.

Re: Life Without Photoshop

#7

Post by uptown » Sat, Feb 26, 2011, 2:14 PM UTC

vog wrote: post #6

gjenkin wrote: post #2

Context is important. A no-Photoshop approach makes sense for Quora since their product is text-heavy. For a product that requires, say, rich data visualizations like Google Analytics, some design ideas need to be mocked in a graphics package (Googlers often use Fireworks instead of Photoshop) first, then prototyped in code. Context is also important in terms of what stage of the development process the designer is a…

I never understood why people are buying proprietary, expensive stuff like Photoshop just for mock-ups. First of all, vector graphics tools like Inkscape are a lot better suited for that task. Second, even if you don't like vector graphics, there are great Free Software projects like Gimp and Krita that deserve our attention and our support.

I tend to think that whatever allows the designer to create and communicate their vision the fastest is what's best suited for the task. For many designers, its the tool they've been using for over a decade. It imports and exports a wide range of formats, so even the case against proprietary is a non-issue. And when the project moves from the mock-ups stage to the creation of the graphical assets for the launch, Photoshop is still good for that too!

Without question, Photoshop is the most versatile tool I've used in my professional career as a web developer.

Re: Life Without Photoshop

#8

Post by srgseg » Sat, Feb 26, 2011, 2:21 PM UTC

dot wrote: post #5

I love starting in photoshop because I can play with an idea visually without taking my eyes off of what I'm working on. For me photoshop is a really fast way to develop ideas and sell people on my dreams. I can mock something up that looks real and get feedback very, very quickly. Then once I know what I want to build I move to the text editor. Photoshop is pen and pencil for me.

Exactly. Within 60 seconds I can have screenshotted another site whose template might be vaguely close in structure to that I'm thinking of, delete their text and write in my own.

No way you can get anywhere close to that kind of speed with code.

Re: Life Without Photoshop

#9

Post by karterk » Sat, Feb 26, 2011, 2:21 PM UTC

vog wrote: post #6

gjenkin wrote: post #2

Context is important. A no-Photoshop approach makes sense for Quora since their product is text-heavy. For a product that requires, say, rich data visualizations like Google Analytics, some design ideas need to be mocked in a graphics package (Googlers often use Fireworks instead of Photoshop) first, then prototyped in code. Context is also important in terms of what stage of the development process the designer is a…

I never understood why people are buying proprietary, expensive stuff like Photoshop just for mock-ups. First of all, vector graphics tools like Inkscape are a lot better suited for that task. Second, even if you don't like vector graphics, there are great Free Software projects like Gimp and Krita that deserve our attention and our support.

>I never understood why people are buying proprietary, expensive stuff like Photoshop just for mock-ups.

People have been using Photoshop for years (like myself), and personally these people feel that open source equivalents like GIMP are still way off in terms of competing with Photoshop.

>First of all, vector graphics tools like Inkscape are a lot better suited for that task.

I have used both Inkscape and Photoshop for quite a few years. It's unfair to even compare them. And, frankly Photoshop _is_ far more powerful if you want to go for high fidelity mockups.

Re: Life Without Photoshop

#10

Post by sudont » Sat, Feb 26, 2011, 2:30 PM UTC

srgseg wrote: post #8

dot wrote: post #5

I love starting in photoshop because I can play with an idea visually without taking my eyes off of what I'm working on. For me photoshop is a really fast way to develop ideas and sell people on my dreams. I can mock something up that looks real and get feedback very, very quickly. Then once I know what I want to build I move to the text editor. Photoshop is pen and pencil for me.

Exactly. Within 60 seconds I can have screenshotted another site whose template might be vaguely close in structure to that I'm thinking of, delete their text and write in my own. No way you can get anywhere close to that kind of speed with code.

Well, technically you can, but you’re right about the speed:

    javascript:document.body.contentEditable='true'; document.designMode='on'; void 0