Adobe ImageReady

Adobe ImageReady is a bitmap graphics editor that was shipped with Adobe Photoshop by Adobe Systems for almost ten years. ImageReady is written in the C++ programming language. It was available for both Windows and Mac OS X platforms from 1998 to 2007, after which it was discontinued.

ImageReady has fewer features than Photoshop, being designed for quick editing of web graphics rather than effects-intensive graphics editing for other applications. To that end, ImageReady has specialized features such as animated GIF creation, image compression optimization, image slicing and rollover effects, and HTML generation.

During the time the product was offered, the Photoshop Toolbox had a quick link to ImageReady. A Jump to ImageReady button enabled editing of the current image directly in ImageReady and a return button enabled a return to Photoshop.

The ImageReady toolbox is similar to that of Photoshop. One set of tools that does not resemble the Photoshop tools, however, is the Image Map set of tools, indicated by a shape or arrow with a hand that varied depending upon the release version. This toolbox has several features not found in Photoshop, including the following.

• Toggle Image Map Visibility and Toggle Slice Visibility tools — that toggle between showing and hiding image maps and slices, respectively
• Export Animation Frames as Files option — saves all or specified frames for an alternate use, e.g., to e-mail slides for review
• Preview Document tool — provides a preview of rollover effects in ImageReady rather than previewing them in a browser
• Preview in Default Browser tool — previews the image in a browser, including any rollover or animation effects
• Jump to Photoshop button — opens the current image in Photoshop