Post what you think is the best commercial program and the best GPL/free program for each of these categories: (linkage is good for the gpl/free stuff, but not required). if no commercial program is available for a category, just post your favourite program of that category.


1. Web Design
2. Raster graphics
3. vector graphics
4. Word processor
5. cd burning
6. desktop publishing
7. media player
8. web browser
9. video editing
10. audio editing

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I'll go:

1. Web Design

Retail: Macromedia homesite 5
Free: Homesite 1.2 --- the original homesite

2. Raster images

retail: Adobe Photoshop CS2
Free: Gimp

3. Vector images

retail: Adobe illustrator CS2
free: not sure

4. Word processor

Retail: MS word
Free: openoffice.org writer

5. cd burning

retail: Nero 6.x
Free: not sure

6. Desktop publishing

retail: Adobe indesign cs2
free: Scribus

7. Media player:

Favourite: VLC media player

8. Web Browser:

Favourite: Mozilla Firefox 1.04

9. Video Editing:

Retail: Adobe Premiere
Free: not sure

10. Aduio Editing

Retail: Goldwave
Free: audacity

I think I agree with most of your list, but... people actually pay for Goldwave? :p

Can't comment on much of that stuff, looks good except...

Alcohol 120% for cd-burning/imaging
Foobar2000 for playing MP3s

My decimal 1337 post!

- - -

2. Agreed.
4. Agreed.
5. Agreed.
8. Agreed.
10. Agreed.

7. Media Player Classic (I use also the M$ Media Player, but since this is a thread about best programs, best to keep it in parentheses )

9. Agreed, based on an assumption. I have used After Effects, and if Premiere is as good for the stuff it does as AE for its specific purpose, it's probably the best.

6. I have never published any desktops, so I can't give any answer to this :p

(1. My web designs suck, so for my own good, I won't answer...)

1. a text editor (I use Crimson Editor)
7. Media Player Classic, for MP3's obviously WINAMP

I use wordpad for webdesign.

1. Web design:
vi (Well, I use nvi, which is more like vi than vim)

2. Raster graphics:
Adobe Photoshop

3. Vector graphics
Adobe Illustrator

7. Media player:
Foobar
mplayer

8. Web browser
Mozilla Firefox

1. Crimson for anything coding or scripting, including web design

has anyone else here actually tried homesite 1.2? What did you think?

Personally, I've been using it since 1997. It's almost 10 years old, but it's still a damn good html editor, even by today's standards. Granted, it prefers to use code that is now outdated in some instances (like the <center> tag) , but thats the only real problem with it. Even then, It's not the program's fault for doing that--- standards have changed since it was written.

Most of the time I use Wordpad, but when I want things to be color-coded I use HTML-Kit.

Dreamweaver is great for HTML work...highly customizable. I use it for code, rarely for design. The coding aspects of it are the best, really.

QFT.

IMHO Dreamweaver is too bloated.
And it's bad for people that start "learning html" with Dreamweaver. Most of the time all they can do is click around without ever looking at the code.

I love my Scite.

Scite is nice, but it can be far too simplistic for some work.

I don't quite understand the bloatware argument. I mean, Dreamweaver has a lot of useful features - just because one person doesn't use them, they use the "omg bloatware sux" card. There seems to be this misconception that a lot of features slow the program down. Yeah, maybe if it's poorly coded or such, but Dreamweaver isn't. Yeah, takes a few seconds to start up, but it's a full HTML and web design suite, not just a text editor. It's like calling Photoshop bloatware compared to IrfanView.

It's especially this takes a few seconds to start up thing, that I don't like, when all I want is the (IMO very good) editor.

1. Web Design

Retail : Dreamweaver MX (I have it. Yahoo!)
Free: Wordpad.

7. Media Player

Free: Windows Media Player

8. Web Browser

Favourite: Firefox.

10. Audio Editing

Free: Goldwave (No one pays for that anyways.)

11. C++ Editor

Free:Bloodshed DEV- C++

Raster- Photoshop CS2
Vector- Illustrator CS2

Forgot this one in my list.

Well yeah...Dreamweaver isn't a general purpose text editor. I use SciTE for that all the time. Dreamweaver is the kind of thing you open up to do a day's work of hardcore web design.