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Yes. PhotoWebber 2 can import .psd files created with all versions of Photoshop, including Photoshop 7. Text layers, shapes, and layer effects are all imported.

What can PhotoWebber do that ImageReady cannot?

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For the task of conververting Photoshop designs into web pages PhotoWebber is a much more complete package than ImageReady. For a complete understanding of why this is so check out the Overview and Why PhotoWebber? discussions.

But here is a rundown of the things that PhotoWebber does that ImageReady cannot, and why PhotoWebber is better.

PhotoWebber 2	ImageReady 3
Converts Photoshop designs into web pages in 2 to 3 steps, and usually just a few minutes.	Users are usually facing a development time that is measured in hours, not minutes.
When using tables, PhotoWebber automatically performs slicing. Slicing is performed correctly every time.	User is required to perform slicing. Usually this results in lots of errors which only serves to increase the time spent in ImageReady.
PhotoWebber also supports popup menus built out of graphics. These work with or without CSS layers. Menus can be any graphics, and have no constraints on their content or position.	ImageReady supports a basic text only popup menu. This support doesn't even use the Photoshop layers that in the document. Requires CSS.
Frameset dividers can be dropped anywhere on the document - PhotoWebber will handle the creation of the necessary graphics and HTML files. All interactivity, including buttons and popup menus work even if they are spanned across frames.	ImageReady has no support for multiple frames.
PhotoWebber supports both tables and style sheet layers (DIV) for layout. Users can change back and forth at any time. When using style sheets the div layers naturally map to the Photoshop layers.	ImageReady supports tables and style sheet layers, however, when exporting style sheet layers it simply takes the table slices and makes the into DIVs. So, essentially, ImageReady doesn't support style sheet layers in any useful or significant way.
PhotoWebber has built in support for QuickTime, Flash, and Shockwave, and is extensible for other media formats. Linked GIFs, JPEGs and animated GIFs are supported.	ImageReady has no support for outside media.
PhotoWebber supports left, center, and right page alignment for documents that are designed with tables or style sheets.	ImageReady has no support for page alignment in any format.
PhotoWebber lets the user specify where files will be output before the page is actually built. User is free to put files into different locations, add folders, etc. User specifies file locations by dragging and dropping.	ImageReady dumps all the graphic files into one directory. User must type in a pathname to change that directory.
PhotoWebber analyzes layer names to automatically recognize rollover states, click states, and popup menus.	ImageReady requires the user to manually specify every rollover and click state.
PhotoWebber uses Photoshop layers as the guiding metaphor for interactivity, regardless of the output format (tables / css).	ImageReady is slice and state driven. Photoshop layers can be used to create the awkward "layer based slice" but little more.
PhotoWebber supports advanced HTML access like CSS layers with scrolling, relative positioning or sizing.	ImageReady supports none of these, nor competing features.
As the user pushes their design into having more advanced features PhotoWebber will post warnings about potential conflicts with different browsers, operating systems, etc. This warning mechanism occurs without interrupting the users current work.	ImageReady doesn't support any advanced HTML metaphors. What little it does is not robustly supported and users often run afoul the pecadilloes of Netscape and IE.
PhotoWebber automatically recognizes that rectangular solid color layers are definable in HTML and so doesn't output graphic media for them.	ImageReady doesn't support this, and has no mechanism for doing so.
PhotoWebber allows the user to specifiy document background color or background tile. It will automatically composite its output to the tile or background.	ImageReady has a confusing metaphor for changing the background color of an HTML document. It has no support for tiling, much less compositing to those tiles.
PhotoWebber generated output is clean, human readable, and XHTML compliant.	ImageReady generated HTML is difficult to read, and is not XHTML compliant.
PhotoWebber costs around $200. However, it is so fast and good at what it does that it will probably pay for itself the first time you use it.	ImageReady is free with Photoshop. But the cost of using it is considerable.

What can ImageReady do that PhotoWebber cannot?

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ImageReady supports the creation of image maps and animated GIFs. It also has many of Photoshops capabilities in terms of graphic editing, access to Photoshop filters, etc.

We feel that image maps and animated GIFs are a bit afield of the central chore of converting Photoshop designs to web pages. Additionally, there are many tools, both commercial and freeware, that do image maps and animated GIFs. As to graphic editing, if you've got Photoshop why do you care if you can edit in ImageReady?

Can I do table slicing in PhotoWebber?

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PhotoWebber can build web pages using either Style Sheet (DHTML) or Table (HTML3) layouts. In table mode there is no need for you to manually define table slices. PhotoWebber automatically calculates the best size and placement for each table slice - based on the size and position of each Photoshop layer and the necessary adjustments to optimize rollover and popup performance.

When outputting tables, users can specify table granularity, which is roughly equivalent to the smallest possible cell size. Users can also preview the table that PhotoWebber will calculate in PhotoWebber.

Many web developers have made a huge investment in learning how to manually do table slicing and, hence, may be hesitant to accept that this is no longer a necessary task. However, the small amount of control you give up by allowing PhotoWebber to do this for you is more than compensated for by the large amount of time you will save.

This trend is a repeat of what happened in print design in the 1980s and '90s. When many of us started doing graphic design on the computer, we spent a lot of time tweaking PostScript files, making sure paths were not too complex, checking for CTRL-D characters, building our own traps and separations and so forth - all to make sure the files would RIP when we sent them to the Service Burueau (we're talking about the days when printers did not accept digital files!). No-one in their right mind would bother with that today because the applications take care of those details for you.

As the "design-forward" trend becomes more prominent in web-design software as well, designers and programmers will find they no longer need to spend time on tedious tasks that can be automated by software. Their time will be freed up for other, more creative tasks. With newer browsers and increasing Internet access speeds, this will become less and less of an issue in the future.

Can I reduce the number of cells in the automatically generated table?

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Yes. You can reduce the number of cells calculated by raising the table granularity. The presence of wildly intersecting popups and menus may drive the cell count up. If using many interactive elements, you can lower the cell count by making sure that the elements do not overlap one another , or do so infrequently.

Does PhotoWebber write HTML for Netscape or Internet Explorer?

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All PhotoWebber HTML and DHTML s fully cross browser and cross platform compatible. If you select options that are not workable in all environments, PhotoWebber will post a warning in the Warnings window alerting you to the conflict and, in most cases, provide a solution.

How do I choose <LAYER> or <DIV> tagged output?

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You don't need to choose. All PhotoWebber DHTML already works in both Netscape and Internet Explorer. PhotoWebber will typically use W3C compliant <DIV> tags for markup, but if needed may add an additional <LAYER> tag to ensure that Netscape will keep the peace. If you wish to eliminate the non-standard Netscape support, turn off "Support Netscape" in the Output Settings window.

Does PhotoWebber work with XYZ technology? (Flash, Java Applets, e-commerce software, Database Aplications, etc.)

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Yes.

In general, PhotoWebber creates only those elements that you would have designed in Photoshop. Other elements can be added in two different ways:

Flash, QuickTime, Shockwave, and Java applets are all supported through HTML Extensions to PhotoWebber. They can be seamlessly incorporated into any web page.
You can open any PhotoWebber created web page in your favorite HTML editor such as Dreamweaver or Golive and add additional elements including forms, database acces, and so forth.
You can add elements created in any other application to PhotoWebber using a feature we call Placeholders. This is covered in the Tutorials and Docs.

Where's the demo version?

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Right here.

How do I set a hyperlink?

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Very easily. Hyperlinks can be set on text or graphics. Text has hyperlinks set on words in the text edit dialog. For graphics, choose the Interactivity pane and at the bottom is the hyperlink editor. Hyperlinks can be just typed in, or click the hyperlink browse button (circled) to navigate a hierarchical menu of your site and choose an html file to link to. The Target Frame control lets you specify which frame the file should open up in, or whether to open a new window.

Hyperlinks are very easy to set in PhotoWebber, and the hyperlink browse button makes it easy to link your site together, and avoid errors.

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