Adobe's ImageStyler can lift a burden from the backs of graphics professionals who have learned by rote the contortions needed to produce slick Web graphics with general-purpose image editors. It can likewise flatten the learning curve for beginners not eager to master Photoshop.
This flexible application adds eye-catching special effects to graphic Web objects, using customizable styles and tools that make it easy to build — and later edit — complex buttons, navbars, banners, or JavaScript rollovers. Yet its object-oriented approach leaves you free to modify any object separately during the entire process.
ImageStyler (available for both Windows and Mac OS) is easy enough to use that beginners can master it in an hour or two, and it has enough options to gratify the active imagination of a professional. Friendlier than Adobe's other Web-centric editor, ImageReady, and with features you won't find in other automated Web graphics tools, such as NetStudio, ImageStyler has carved out its own niche.
ImageStyler's interface bears a cursory resemblance to Photoshop and other Adobe products, but its tools and palettes are all oriented to Web graphics. The only painting tool is a Paint Bucket. If you need to tweak pixels, you can manipulate an image in Photoshop or another editor first, then place it in ImageStyler. It supports most bitmap formats, and you can drag-and-drop between applications. You can also create an object from scratch using one of dozens of predefined shapes (ranging from umbrellas and trees to typographical dingbats), or create plain rectangles, ovals, rounded rectangles, or polygons (with three to 10 sides).
