[Masamune]

I'm interested in developing websites and in particular Flash animations. Being a home user of one I'm understandably reluctant to splash out £300 on the latest Macromedia products...so, I've started combing eBay for older versions of web developer apps. Now, this has thrown up a few posers for me:

1) Which would be the better one to look for - GoLive or DreamWeaver (BTW, I have used DreamWeaver briefly on a PC before) ?

2) LiveMotion - outdated but considerably cheaper than Flash MX. Will it work on OS X 10.4 and more to the point, is it any good?

2a) FireWorks - What is it and what does it do? Do I need it?

3) As highlighted above, I'm using a new iMac (yep, Apple newbie as well ) so whilst I'm looking through all these older versions, I need to make sure they work with OS X. Any ideas which versions of the above are OS X friendly.

Any advice gratefully recieved and if you're looking to offload some older versions of your software, drop me a PM or email.

WARNING: Anyone offering me pirate software will be reported to the mods.

[CaptainHaddock]

Finding used applications via eBay is an excellent alternative to buying them new.

1) I recommend neither. Learn table-less XHTML web design and used a text-based editor like skEdit (www.skti.org) or BBedit. WYSIWYG is not the way to build good web sites.

2) I haven't used LiveMotion myself, but this MacWorld review suggests it's pretty good. Flash MX, the "real thing", does not have a very intuitive interface for beginners.

2a) Fireworks is a raster image editing app with some vector tools. Some people really like it as an alternative to Photoshop. If you're designing websites, you should have either Fireworks or Photoshop.

3) Pretty much all design programs work on OS X, since Macs are the standard in the design and movie industry. Just make sure you buy the Mac version and not the Windows version.

[Masamune]

I was bidding for a copy of Adobe Photoshop on eBay (v6.0) I think, which I have subsequently won. What I didn't know is that it won't work in OS X. Have I got things confused?

[PurpleGiant]

Is it a Mac or Windows version? It should have the system requirements listed in the auction, and on the box.

[skalie]

As far as using Flash for animations there hasn't been that many improvements since Flash 5, which you should be able to pick up pretty cheaply on Ebay. The latest versions (MX and MX2004) concentrated on the programming side of things.

Flash 8 (coming out next month) might be a different story. *holds breath*

[CobraNT]

I still use Dreamweaver 6.1 and Live Motion on a regular basis, as well as Photoshop and Fireworks. Live Motion is much easier to learn in my opinion.

[Masamune]

Just thought you might like to know how it ended - I decided that as I would have to spend £50.00 on LiveMotion and another shedload of cash on DreamWeaver, I decided to get Studio MX (Education version). Being a student does have it's advantages and if I become proficient enough, I may look at upgrading to Studio 8 in several months time...

[skalie]

Was that a second hand Studio MX, or a brand new (although soon to be dated) Studio MX 2004 btw?

[Masamune]

Sadly not the 2004 version...but I think it should be enough for me to learn with.

[pixel_pete]

Keep in mind that many of the design apps you mention offer trials to let you experience them before buying.