Web Design: Photoshop vs InDesign

Question

I am sure this has been posted a thousand times by now, but I can't seem to find any solid threads or articles.

All over the internet, I see people speaking about how great Photoshop is for web design, and I simply don't know why.

I have always used InDesign. It has a built-in grid system, paragraph/character styles, master pages... the list goes on. Sure, I may not use InDesign for exporting elements, but for wireframing and mock-ups, definitely.

Am I missing something here? Why is Photoshop so great for web design?

Answer 1

As joojaa points out, neither of them are particularly good for designing web sites. They're both drawing tools...and are certainly fine for sketching out ideas. Photoshop, of course, can be useful for creating specific graphics for the web site.

But as for designing a site, they are simply a sketching tool that you can use in whatever workflow/process your team uses. Other tools can include Sketch, Axure, Illustrator, pen and paper, whiteboards and any other number of drawing tool options.

Use whatever works best for your particular team's workflow.

Answer 2

First of all, Adobe has a large panel of products, they all have a specific function AND they're all complementary. Illustrator is for doing vector things, Photoshop is primarily for photo manipulation in the first place, And InDesign is mainly for printing purpose like page settings for flyers, or books etc.

Like I said, they're all complementary (you can create vectors in Illustrator, add them in a comp in Photoshop and finish your flyer in InDesign for example) and they also have a lot of function, so you can do webdesign in photoshop OR in illustrator, and now you can even do it in Adobe XD.

I personally used Photoshop because :

• Artboard (SO useful)
• Dynamic object (change one header and VOILA all your artboard are updated)
• Links, you can link a PSD into another

Nowadays I use Adobe XD (available in the Creative Cloud) even though it's not complete yet (still in beta). It does an amazing job for wireframes, and web design.

Answer 3

PhotoWhyPeopleWantToUseItForEverythingShop is not "so great". It simply works for some people.

InDesign could be a good idea to make variations of layouts reusing the matasterpages. If it works for you, keep using it.

I use CorelDraw with master layers. You can use Illustrator, Inkscape, Sketch, Muse, a piece of paper and a pencil or whatever you want to.

If someone uses Photo...Shop and works, keep using it.