Adobe ImageReady

Adobe ImageReady is a bitmap graphics editor application developed and published by Adobe Systems, Inc. The first version of this program was released in July 1998 as a standalone product. It was only on its second release when Adobe bundled it with Photoshop. This application is used for creating, editing, and manipulating bitmap images.

ImageReady was particularly designed for quick editing of web bitmap graphics. It provides basic features compared to Photoshop. The program offers a specialized set of features particularly used for GIF creation, HTML generation, rollover effects/image slicing, and image compression optimization. Other functions of this application include optimizing graphics as GIF or JPEG, scaling/placing images, entering/formatting type, applying layer effects, and more.

ImageReady also offers integration with Photoshop. To link the two programs, ImageReady has a tool called Photoshop Toolbox. There is also a Jump to ImageReady button, which allows users to transfer to ImageReady from Photoshop. This bitmap editor also provides a feature called Image Map which is a set of tools. This feature provides the following functions that aren’t available in Photoshop Toobox:

• Preview Document Tool
• Toggle Image Map Visibility/Slice Visibility Tools
• Jump to Photoshop Button, and
• Preview in Default Browser tool

The Adobe ImageReade was discontinued after the release of Adobe Creative Suite 3.