Alternatives to the Creative Cloud

Report · May 07, 2013

With Adobe's decisions to force users to go to subscribe to the creative cloud, I thought it might be a good idea to get a list going of some alternative programs. I'm a designer working mostly in print with some web - anyone know of some good alternatives for these?

Photoshop -> Gimp

Illustrator -> ?

Indesign - Quark

Dreamweaver - ?

Flash - been moving away from that anyway

What programs are you going to look into to replace the creative cloud?

Report · May 07, 2013

There are good alternatives to PS and Illustrator and great alternatives to Dreamweaver (Coda, BBEdit). The one that worries me the most is InDesign. Years ago I left Quark for good reasons (support and licensing) and am not easily persuaded to return. I believe there are other good page design apps out there but would welcome suggestions from experienced users.

Report · May 07, 2013

There even is an equivalent to Lightroom from Corel called AfterShot Pro.

I'm I am afraid I am stuck with DreamWeaver because it allows me to design by WYSIWYG. I never have been a Coder.

I can insert return to make room for an addition Div Tag. And add an extra room for a column or row in a Table. And all the HTML5 - Rapidweaver, Sandvox, Swift Publisher either tie you to specific templates or just present you with aBlank screen. As far oas Photo editing goes with the exception of correcting for tilt and keystoning affect. I can get along wit Graphics Converter.

I will take funds out of my Savings to Update to Web Premium 6 (Boxed version) But it may be the last that I do. I simply cannot afford fee for monthly Subcription to the whole thing $1000 and over. When totalled over a years time that is more than my yearly income. Of all the web premium components I only need DreamWeaver, FireWorks, and Photoshop. I've never used Bridge AI I opened up once could figure out heads nor tails of it andnever openned again. I didn't even load Contribute at all on my Computer. and I buy Acrobat individually. Because the version in every CS is one or two versions behind.

The would be better off instead of going to cloud is break up sets and sell individual pieces That way they would soon find out what users think are worthless and discontinue them.

They use to sell indivually. but once you buy suites your never ever allowed to go back and buy individual pieces.

Report · May 11, 2013

>They use to sell indivually. but once you buy suites your never ever allowed to go back and buy individual pieces

Of course you may still buy individual programs... you just do not receive an upgrade price when you go from a suite to a single program

If you are a student, there is always the education discount... I bought CS5 Master Collection for under $600 (I think retail was $2,500)

Adobe Education

http://www.adobe.com/education/students/studentteacherlicensing/school_listing.html

http://www.adobe.com/education/students/studentteacheredition/eligibility.html

All sites below require proof of Education status, per Adobe licensing

Buy at http://www.studica.com/ or https://www.academicsuperstore.com/

-or JourneyEd http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1074416

May NOT resell http://forums.adobe.com/thread/896145

- http://forums.adobe.com/thread/934410

Report · May 11, 2013

at 64 too old to be a student

Report · May 24, 2013

@Phillip Jones,

Phillip, I don't know if you've ever seen TopStyle5; I think this would pretty much do exactly what you want and is far more intuitive and less interferring. It has some excellent features at a fantastic price of $79.95.

Kind regards,

Paul.

Report · May 24, 2013

PC only. Sorry I use Mac. as said Only decent Web design program for Mac is DreamWeaver nothing else holds a Candle. A Close second e Is RapidWeaver and Sandox comes in a Distant third. But both you use predefined webdesigns and CSS

Report · May 28, 2013

Ah well - worth a try. But, for other PC users - great piece of software.

[NOTE TO Bradbury Software People: There's obviously a need here for a Mac version of the software! ]

Report · Jul 01, 2013

There are several good Mac Web design apps that equal Dreamweaver, if you dig into them a bit:

Flux, directly from The Escapers (not MacWare) has code mode and WYSIWYG...
Coda 2, from Panic is very good if you want to work in code.
Hype is pretty amazing, but mainly for HTML5 to replace Flash.
Taco is a nice editor, but not very advanced.
Espresso from MacRabbit has the best CSS tools.

I still use CS5.5 because I didn't udpate to CS6. However, I'm also using RapidWeaver and Sandvox for simple websites that need to be static. Most of my client websites are Drupal, Moodle, and Joomla, so there's no need to deal with static HTML anymore. I use TextWrangler, oXygen, and jEdit to tweak the PHP code and CSS for Drupal sites.

Dreamweaver was cutting edge... but it never added things like basic real-time spellcheck. The personal dictionary is horrible, without an eady way to modify the contents.

Again, I still use DW for two sites, but that's about it now.

I won't "subscribe" to software, so Adobe has lost me as a loyal customer. There are alternatives, even if I have to use VirtualBox or Parallels and run WIndows. Sad, but cheaper than Adobe's solutions.

Report · Jun 11, 2013

Have been using Freeway Pro for about 4 years now. Love it. Has everything I need without the bloat of Dreamweaver. Made by Softpress.

Report · Jun 21, 2013

Those few of you who are still watching what's being posted here may find this interesting/amusing:

http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/21/adobe-photoshop-cc-proves-that-the-cloud-isnt-a-cure-all-refuge-fro...

Report · Jun 21, 2013

I located and installed the latest version Creative cloud after a month still won't sync but it does remain signed in. Oh it says File Sync will be added at some future date. Sound slike it another year down the road. And it has a Side affect . everytime I shut down my computer a message comes up caution shuttind down computer may interfere with down loading applications. seems like it Buggier than a roach motel.

Report · Jun 21, 2013

Is this in answer to what the link in my previous message says?

Report · Jun 24, 2013

If you want just somewhere to park PDF's you're working on. There is always SugarSync, DropBox, Box, SkyDrive, Cloud.zip, Cloud, Google Drive, Evernote, Wulua, CX, and maybe Acrobat.com

Cloud.zip is nice because it 256 bit encryption key protected Almost all have either 2 or 5 GB Free the you pay by the year for more.

Report · Jun 21, 2013

Phillip Jones wrote:
Sound slike it another year down the road.

I hope this won't tempt you to use bootleg versions because almighty Adobe [god of products] won't be able to help you here.

Report · Jun 21, 2013

No never, If I can't use it legally. I don't use it.

Report · Jun 24, 2013

Exactly. I prefer to reward companies for providing me with usable software by paying for it -- I'm looking at you Corel!

I'm so mad at Adobe right now I can barely stand using my CS6 suite.

Report · Jun 24, 2013

This makes me believe Adobe rushed this out the door in their typical fashion to make a buck before knowing it was actually ready.

Report · Jun 21, 2013

Claudio González wrote:
Those few of you who are still watching what's being posted here may find this interesting/amusing:
http://techcrunch.com/2013/06/21/adobe-photoshop-cc-proves-that-the-cl oud-isnt-a-cure-all-refuge-fr...

It's dangerous to inform adobe staff of these things here because some people have made a career out of cracking software packages and now you are blowing it up.

In fact the article isn't complete because way has been found to make use of everything in the cloud and so this is no longer a tradeoff as stated in the article.

Report · Jun 24, 2013

MVP-Pirate wrote:

It's dangerous to inform adobe staff of these things here because some people have made a career out of cracking software packages and now you are blowing it up.

Not really; they already know! After all, I think they (Adobe) have come to expect it. The report is from a responsible ezine who are simply pointing out the pros and cons, so there's no real danger there.

Philip Jones wrote:

No never, If I can't use it legally. I don't use it.

Well said! Just because we can doesn't mean that we should.

Report · Jun 24, 2013

Not at all. It's a story reporting on a topic. Piracy is real and will always be.

Report · May 07, 2013

I can see a lot of people migrating to other software now. COREL should see this as their opportunity to crash Adobe's Greed Party.

Report · May 07, 2013

@DeadDead13 I agree. Corel could make a huge comeback over this. PSP has always been decent. Perhaps a little feature-deprived, but perhaps with a greater client base they'll be able to step up development.

That's the one thing that has always bugged me about Adobe. Each new release was never a "must have." Maybe one or two big features, but nothing that made me want to upgrade right away. They like to tease us with videos of great new features, but those feature often don't make the next release...or even the next couple of releases.

Perhaps if Adobe behaved more in the way MacroMedia did and pack all kinds of goodies into new versions more users would be compelled to upgrade more often. Instead, they just take away the software and now charge us for a monthly service, like my water or electricity. And when the month is done, I've paid the money, used the service, but don't own anything.

Report · May 07, 2013

Ahhhh... such a tease some of the features have been. I still remember Adobe's pomp and circumstance of 3D on Photoshop Extended and not stating a graphics card was needed.

Like you, I usually do not upgrade Adobe products unless a new feature does provide some value in my work or my current version is not compatible with the companies I deal with.

Report · May 11, 2013

Frank,

Each new release was never a "must have." Maybe one or two big features, but nothing that made me want to upgrade right away.

For me, there WERE usually enough "must haves," that I fairly religiously upgraded, and upgraded. This was for Photoshop, PageMaker, InDesign, Premiere Pro, After Effects and a few more. Even AI would tempt me quite often. From the very beginning for PS, I only skipped the version 5.5 (was not doing any Web work back then), but began to fall behind with CS 3 thru 5.5, which I only picked up to be in position for CS 6. From CS 2, all of those were the Production Suites. I was always able to justify my upgrades by what the newer version could do for me, or my clients. Looking back, few did not realize their potential.

Now, I am not so sure that the siren song will still work on me. I do not want to say "NEVER," but that will likely be the way that it shakes out for this old-timer.

I cannot really fault Adobe for wanting to increase profits (they are a publicly-traded company, after all, ADBE), but do feel sort of left out, as a very, very long-time user. That pain might well pass?

Good luck to us all,

Hunt