Adobe Creative Suite is a great tool for Web designers and Web developers. It offers extremely high-quality Web development and graphics tools. But how do you decide which edition you need? I was tempted by the Master Collection, just so I didn't have to decide, but it's really expensive. On the other hand, price isn't the only reason to choose your edition. This list shows you the best editions for Web designers and Web developers and how to choose between them.
1. Adobe Creative Suite Web Standard
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Creative Suite Web Standard is the minimum a freelancing Web designer needs to build and maintain Web sites. It comes with Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, and Contribute. These give you graphics editing, HTML editing, and Flash as well as Contribute to provide your customers with support. If you don't anticipate needing a lot of graphics manipulation, this is the perfect suite for a freelancer.
2. Adobe Creative Suite Design Premium
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Creative Suite Design Premium is the CS suite that Web designers that are firstly graphic artists should consider. Unlike Design Standard which doesn't include Dreamweaver, Design Premium gives you InDesign, Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, Flash, Dreamweaver and Acrobat. Web designers who focus more on graphics and less on the purely HTML aspects of the job will appreciate this suite for the extra graphic features included in it.
3. Adobe Creative Suite Web Premium
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Creative Suite Web Premium is the best suite for Web designers who do it all on the Web. It offers a great combination of graphics programs (Photoshop, Fireworks, and Illustrator), Web programs (Dreamweaver and Flash), and additional support programs (Acrobat and Contribute). This is the suite that I prefer of the CS suites as it provides me with all the tools I need without a lot of extra features.
4. Adobe Creative Suite Master Collection
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Creative Suite Master Collection is the ultimate in creativity suites, and the price reflects that. It includes all of the Adobe design products including Dreamweaver, Photoshop extended, Illustrator, Flash, InDesign, Acrobat, Contribute. Plus all the production products like AfterEffects, Premiere, Soundbooth, and Encore. If you plan to do video editing along with your Web design, you might want to look at this suite to get them all bundled together. But it might be less expensive to buy only the product components that you exactly need. You should do a strong evaluation of what your needs are, unless the price of the Master Collection doesn't daunt you (or your purchasing department).
5. Other Adobe Creative Suite Collections
Adobe Creative Suite 3 also comes in Production Standard and Production Premium editions. These editions include products like AfterEffects, Soundbooth, and Premier, as well as graphics programs (like Photoshop and Illustrator). They don't come with Dreamweaver, so I don't believe they make good Web design tools. If you need to do video or sound editing for your Web sites, you might want to look at purchasing the products you need separately, or looking again at the Master Collection.