Software Review

Adobe Systems, Inc.
345 Park Ave.
San Jose, CA 95110-2704
800-833-6687
Fax 408-537-6000

Web Site
www.adobe.com

Adobe's ImageStyler is one of the company’s first forays into Web graphics software. Let’s face it: Illustrator and Photoshop are great for creating graphics, but they’re not so great at exporting these graphics for optimal viewing on Web pages. Enter ImageStyler, a product that magazine pundits say is great fun to use but isn’t publicized as much as they feel it should be. After having a chance to play with ImageStyler, I agree that it’s a very effective product that does very well for the Web, and can easily double as a lower-cost alternative to Adobe’s higher-end graphics offerings.
    The one thing that grabs you right away about ImageStyler’s ease of use isn’t with the program itself, but with the packaging the product comes in. The box is one-third as large as many other Adobe high-end product packaging, and you’ll find that the contents are spare compared to their higher-end stuff. You get only one CD and a 150-page (shrink-wrapped) manual that seems tiny if you’ve used any of Adobe’s higher-end products that come with 500-page manuals. You may think the manual is missing something, but it isn’t—it’s just that ImageStyler is less involved (and easier to use) than its larger cousins. The good news about installation is that it’s quick and easy, and even the online registration program worked, which hasn’t happened with any other Adobe product I’ve used. As with other Adobe products, ImageStyler includes an online tour, graphic samples, and Adobe’s Acrobat Reader (version 3.01, not 4). ImageStyler takes up about 40 MB of hard disk space.
    If you've worked in any other Adobe graphics product, you'll be right at home in ImageStyler. You'll see the floating toolbar on the left side of the screen, and on the right side (to the right of the work area), you'll see several tabbed dialog boxes that control what you can do with your graphics. Even if you're not familiar, you'll find that every tool is within your grasp.

Figure 1. (Click to enlarge.) If you're familiar with other Adobe graphics software, you'll be right at home in ImageStyler.

    ImageStyler has six main dialog boxes, and I'll extol the benefits of each one. The first five appear on the right hand side of the screen from top to bottom, and the last one, Export, appears at the lower left-hand corner of the screen.

Web: This three-tabbed dialog box gives you control of your currently-selected object, including its current location on the page and the object's properties. The most effective tab in this box is the Web tab, which lets you enter in the text of your Web site that you want to replace with the selected graphic. Then you can use ImageStyler's Batch Replace HTML commands to replace the text in your HTML file with the graphic.

Color and Distort: This box lets you change colors, the opacity of the object, and even distort your shape's interior fill.

Filters: With this box, you can fine-tune how your objects look. This includes adding 3D effects, determining what type of fill you want the object to have, create fountain fills with the Gradient tab, and make small adjustments to your object's tint, brightness, saturation, and more. 

Layers: This is perhaps the most important dialog box in the lot. If you've used Adobe graphics products before, you'll have no problem using Object Layers. If you have an object with multiple layers, and you only want to view one layer, it's very easy to do in the Object Layers tab. 

Of greater importance is the JavaScript box, which lets you add JavaScript actions to objects. For example, you may want to have an object look different when the user passes over the graphic with the mouse pointer or clicks on the object. Adding a JavaScript action from the JavaScript tab takes a little getting used to, but once you do, you can quickly assign a JavaScript action, then alter the graphic accordingly. Then you can use the Web tab to export the JavaScript text (with a link to the graphic) into a separate file that you can cut and paste into your Web page. 

Figure 2. (Click to enlarge.) You can make graphics on your Web page interactive with the JavaScript tab. 

Shapes and Styles: This box has numerous shapes, textures, and styles (like drop shadows) that you can apply to your object. You can either click on the Apply button or you can just drag your preferred style to the object.

Export: The Export dialog box (in the lower left-hand corner of the screen as shown in Figure 2) lets you export to several different file formats, and lets you choose how the object will be exported, including the ability to save individual object components as separate files. You can also preview the file size of your object so it doesn't get so big that your Web site visitors wait too long for your graphic to load.

A Wish List for Version 2.0
With all these wonderful features, there are some things that remind you of ImageStyler's status as a version 1.0 product. In some cases, like the numerous on-screen dialog boxes, Adobe needs to refine some of their user interface ideas. In others, Adobe needs to tie ImageStyler in more tightly with other Adobe program commands. For example, ImageStyler has a Place command for importing graphics just like PageMaker does, but ImageStyler uses Ctrl-I and PageMaker uses Ctrl-D. We need some consistency here.
    I saw several other improvements that I'd like to see in version 2.0. There needs to be better integration with keyboard commands (like with Aligning objects). ImageStyler doesn't do a very good job rendering objects smoothly when you start to zoom in. The text editing feature is rudimentary. I also couldn't use the JavaScript feature with an imported graphic; like Corel DRAW, I'd like the ability to convert an imported file into breakable objects and work on them separately.

A Great Package    
Despite these minor problems, Adobe has used its considerable brain power to put together a very impressive combination of tools together in an easy-to-use package. If you're new to Adobe software, you can get up to speed quickly with the included online tutorial. If you're an experience Adobe user, you'll get up to speed easily. No matter your experience level, you'll be creating effective Web graphics in no time, and you'll have a lot of fun, too.

Copyright © 1999 Sacramento PC Users Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Read our disclaimer and copyright page for more information.