I like Fireworks MX but MX 2004 is the new one. I am going to get it when I can afford it. If you are a student you can get Fireworks, Dreamweaver, Flash (MX 2004 of all) and Freehand MXa (the 2004 version of Freehand) all by Macromedia for around 300 bucks. If you want to go more mainstream try PSP but with Fireworks you can edit more things but it is harder to use but works better than photoshop on a slower system and also lets you easily create thigns for the web and use the pen tool to create vector paths. You could use Illustrator for this but I suggest Fireworks until you beocme a proffesional, that is when it is worth it to buy Illustrator and Photoshop.