Surprisingly enough, based on the findings from my recent survey there are quite a bit of Fireworks users. Personally, I never used Fireworks. Photoshop is alway my first choice for designing—from image editing to designing mock-ups. But, did you know that Fireworks is way better than Photoshop in term of image compression? I'm not a software engineer, I can't explain why Fireworks can compress better. But I can prove it to you by showing a series of experiments I did.
Loading ...PNG Compression
For testing purpose, I used an un-compressed image with transparency. I used Photoshop to export the image to PNG-24 with transparency and the resulting file size is about 352 kb. Then I used the same image and exported it to PNG-32 with Fireworks. The file size is about 332 kb. Visually, they both look the same (at least to me). In term of file size, the image exported with Fireworks is about 20 kb less.
GIF Compression
Next I exported the image to GIF 256 colors, adaptive, with no dither. The results are: Fireworks = 88kb, Photoshop = 92kb. That is 4 kb less. Also, they don't look the same. I prefer the image exported with Fireworks because it has more image details.
JPG Compression
Now, I'm going to try the JPG compression with a different image. I exported the image with Photoshop to 60% quality JPG and the file size is 80 kb. Then I exported the same image with Fireworks to 80% quality JPG and the result is 72 kb. Both exported images look pretty much the same, but Fireworks beats Photoshop by 8 kb in this case.
Please note: Fireworks and Photoshop have different compression technology. 80% compression rate in Fireworks is relevant to Photoshop 60% compression rate.
What Is The Big Deal?
You're probably thinking: what is the big deal? It is only a few kilobytes... Well, don't under estimate the little difference in kilobytes, it can make a big difference on your bandwidth and load time. Lets use the background image on WebDesignerWall as an example. If I export the background with Fireworks, I can reduce its file size by 20 kb. I get about 16,000 visits per day on average. 20 kb x 16, 000 = 320, 000 kb. Yes, that is 320 megabytes per day! I'm only talking about the background image here. Could you imagine how much bandwidth I can save if I compress all the graphics on the site with Fireworks? Most importantly, I can make my site load faster and that is a big deal!
Conclusion
If you have Photoshop and Fireworks installed on your computer, try it yourself. You will be surpised with the results. From now on, I'm going to use Fireworks to export my web graphics, particularly the template graphics.
Sorry, I meant save as adaptive PNG-8 – with index transparency!
I don’t know a way of editing GIFs when indexed in Photoshop, so I use Fireworks for this…
I did this test with a simple black to white gradient in cs4 for both. Some red text in the middle and a reflection and a few effects on the text at 300×250. The file sizes were definitely less in Fireworks but it was clear that the detail was less in fireworks too with banding in the gradient in the gif but not in photoshop. though you think you are getting the same quality because it says 90% in FW I’m not sure you are. Maybe it just works better with more detailed imagery you know?
Results were as follows:
{P-jpg:16kb / F-jpg:12kb | P-gif:16kb / F-gif:12kb | P-png:28kb / F-png:31kb} .
LIke I said lower file sizes but also lower quality in fireworks except for the 24-bit png which photoshop had a lower file size but similar quality. I’m not so sure optimization is all that better in FW but I’m confident there are exceptions as above in this article. I will continue to test but this is my first test and I was shocked.
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Nice info! I will try when i get the Fireworks on my system.
Yes I agree with you. I use Fireworks and Photoshop both and I saw this different between them as you explained. Anyway Thanks for sharing information.
Los Angeles Web Design
The modern and delicate makes iphone 4 white so charming that even me, want to own one. But what i can do now, is to wait the price to decline.
Hoy I am a designer from Egypt If I win I will give to a friend in US.
People die for iphone 4 white is understandable, isn’t it? The reason is quite simple, We all want to be differnt!
And here are 50 more reasons to prefer Fireworks http://www.reinegger.net/50_reasons_not_to_use_photoshop_for_webdesign.html
That’s Great! Thanks for the post!
That’s Great! Thanks for the post!
I don’t know a way of editing GIFs when indexed in Photoshop, so I use Fireworks for this…
Hi Richard Lee,
Remember, Nick use Mac OS X to work with this tutorial, and (maybe) you use Windows. I’ve tried this trick on CS4 within Windows and I got a same thing: Fireworks gave me a larger image. This evening I retry the trick with CS5 and JPEG images and it works! It’s really a big deal!
Anyway, thanks for the trick, Nick!
Thanks you for your info…
i will be use plugin
i give you a reason; cause fireworks was made for create websites, and in them we (web designers) need good looking with less kb.
regards!
Good info shared in here. Will show it to our team of Web Designer in London & yes nice compilation and thanks for that hard work.
You can try a free tool named RIOT (Radical Image Optimization Tool), I get a very good quality with around 50% (or more) off the original size.
I always follow your site thank you
Fireworks is THE tool for web and screen prototyping and designing. There is simply no reason to use Photoshop which was and always will be a photo manipulation software hence the name Photoshop. For Adobe to remain in business they keep on adding and removing features from Photoshop (and AI etc) but essentially PS has been the same for years.
Fireworks on the other hand as evolved together with the online industry and was always a great companion to Dreamweaver.
No wonder Fireworks still exists and becoming better and relevant by the version, it’s simply a dedicated tool for a specific task and hopefully won’t become a bloated software such as Photoshop and Illustrator.