Painter 5.5 Web Edition review

When it comes to creating Web graphics, Painter's flexibility isn't in the same league as vector-based solutions, such as CorelXara (reviewed issue 48, p178) and Macromedia Fireworks (reviewed issue 48, p181), although it still puts most of the bitmap competition to shame in terms of end results if not ease of use. However, the creation of the graphic is only half the story; it must also be saved to a Web format and then integrated into your Web page. Most important of all is the process of image optimisation - compressing the file as much as possible without making the quality unacceptable.

Surprisingly, Painter 5.5's Web optimisation is very disappointing. To begin with, there's no Export option so you have to use the much less convenient Save As command. When it appears, the Save As GIF dialog looks comprehensive, but it's actually limited. You can dictate the number of colours, for example, but the only way to choose a particular palette is to do it beforehand with the Posterize Using Colour Set command. Moreover, as there's no automatic preview in the dialog, you have to click on the Preview command to see the effect of any changes you make. This is clumsy and time-consuming, but at least it's better than the Save As JPEG dialog, which has no preview command at all, so you can only guess the effect of your changes to quality and smoothness. Again, this is still one step up on the Save As PNG dialog, as Painter 5.5 still doesn't support the format.

The lack of acceptable optimisation is a drawback, but Painter attempts to make up for it with its HTML support. Floaters can be given URL links with the Floater Attribute command, and server or client-side image maps can be created when the image is saved. Much more powerful is the ability to automatically create HTML tables. Again this is achieved through the Objects palette and a new plug-in, the Image Slicer. This allows guides to be added to the image to slice it into sections, each of which can be given different output settings. When the file is saved, separate graphic sections are created together with an HTML table, which is used to reassemble the complete image in the browser.

The main advantage of image slicing is that it squeezes the download size to the absolute minimum. However, another important use is in the creation of roll-over effects in which the underlying image changes as the mouse moves over it or clicks on it. This is a complex task that most dedicated Web imaging programs, such as Adobe ImageReady, don't even attempt. Painter 5.5 makes it possible through the ability to set an image state, mouseover for example, and then to use the Export Settings for Current Image State command. Painter will automatically generate an HTML table and the JavaScript necessary to make the effect viewable in version 4 of Explorer and Navigator.

The power is impressive, but you have to be dedicated to make the most of it. The main difficulty is that you have to prepare your image for each of the roll-over states. The only way this can be controlled consistently is by temporarily hiding and revealing different floaters. If you make a mistake or decide to change an image element, you'll have to repeat the whole process from scratch. The logistics are a nightmare and if you want to create roll-overs regularly you'd certainly be better off with a dedicated program such as Macromedia Fireworks, which can manage each image state as a different frame.

In many ways, Painter's roll-over capabilities are typical of the program as a whole. It offers impressive power and some unique effects, but the practicalities have been forgotten. I, for one, would certainly trade the advanced JavaScripting for an automatic export preview.