Adobe CS4: Workflow, Workflow, Workflow

Adobe Creative Suite 4 was announced this morning, much to the chagrin or excitement of consumers, depending on how you use Adobe products and who foots the bill.

Touting tighter integration of the various apps, CS4 aims to increase workflow efficiency and make you spend less time in front of your computer. This sounds great, if you use any combination of Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, etc. to complete your job and need your changes to translate into the other Adobe apps.

I for one, remain skeptical. Didn't CS3 just come out last year?


More than a few of my professional graphic designer friends hail this as a non-announcement, since by and large they use previous iterations of Adobe’s Creative Suite ranging from CS to CS3, and they or their organizations have no plans to rush out and get the newest version of CS4 to experience the “enhanced” workflow for themselves. Were I a hardcore graphic designer waiting for specific, niche improvements to Creative Suite and I didn’t mind the cost, then sure I’d be a little more excited about workflow tweaks. Speaking of cost…

CS4 costs anywhere from $1,700 to $2,500 for full versions, and upgrades run from $399 to $899. So the starving artists might want to weigh their options carefully before making the jump from, say CS3 to CS4.

The good news is most home users won’t ever need more than Photoshop Elements, our top-ranked Photo Editing Software, and a steal at $79.99. Check out the review, screenshots, and tutorials so you can see how Photoshop Elements can help you quickly and easily edit your photos.

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