What Apps / Software / techniques do you design your websites with?

[justinOrel]

Hi,

I have been creating websites for a few years and normally use Adobe Illustrator CS4 myself to do most of the design, but sometimes find it a bit too fiddley when it comes to some designs, since Illustrator seems to be built for fine tuning which is not what you always want. I like the speed of InDesign CS4 but it doesn't support multiple size pages within the same document, so its a bit annoying for website design since you often need multiple size pages. Fireworks is something I have never really got into. Photoshop is nice for more finalised designs, but the typography tools are horrible to use. Its good in combination with illustrator though (using smart objects).

I know with InDesign CS5 it now supports multiple size pages with one document, so I might start using that for various stages of the project. Has anyone else used this? I know its traditionally a print program, but it does support 72dpi / pixel based units.

So, if I list a few various stages of a project (I might have missed some, feel free to add), I welcome your suggestions of what you use. Pen and paper will be accepted! I will give a brief bit of info of what tools I use.

A) SiteMap: Omnigraffle (for mac) or InDesign
B) Wireframe: Omnigraffle (for mac) or Illustrator
C) Initial Design: Illustrator
D) Final Design Stage: Illustrator, Photoshop + Illustrator

What do you guys use then?