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Ask Slashdot: Switching To a GNU/Linux Distribution For a Webdesign School

Posted by samzenpus on from the making-the-switch dept.

spadadot writes: I manage a rapidly growing webdesign school in France with 90 computers for our students, dispatched across several locations. By the end on the year it will amount to 200. Currently, they all run Windows 8 but we would love to switch to a GNU/Linux distribution (free software, easier to deploy/maintain and less licensing costs). The only thing preventing us is Adobe Photoshop which is only needed for a small amount of work. The curriculum is highly focused on coding skills (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP/MySQL) but we still need to teach our students how to extract images from a PSD template. The industry format for graphic designs is PSD so The Gimp (XCF) is not really an option. Running a Windows VM on every workstation would be hard to setup (we redeploy all our PCs every 3 months) and just as costly as the current setup. Every classroom has at least 20Mbit/s — 1Mbit/s ADSL connection so maybe setting up a centralized virtualization server would work? How many Windows/Photoshop licenses would we need then? Anything else Slashdot would recommend?

6 of 233 comments (clear)

  1. Do what everyone else does in this situation by FranTaylor · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Get mostly linux machines for the mainstream work, and get a few windows systems for the jobs that really need windows. People will have to learn the nuts and bolts of data transfer between the systems, but that is actually a pretty useful professional skill.

    1. Re: Do what everyone else does in this situation by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Nothing needs windoze in webdesign. Also gfx design is covered with Krita, Inkscape, Gimp and Blender. The only department where Linux is tailing is desktop MMO games. In every other areas you're only held back by your ignorant self.

    2. Re: Do what everyone else does in this situation by FranTaylor · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Nothing needs windoze in webdesign.

      maybe not for design, but you have to have at least one windows system for testing so you can see what your web app is gonna look like on it

    3. Re: Do what everyone else does in this situation by Will.Woodhull · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yeah, but I always do my word processing with Inkscape. And I use LibreOffice Writer for my image manipulations.

      If you choose the right tool for the job, the Linux distros are pretty good. If you insist on trying to drive screws with a hammer, then perhaps a well equipped Linux distro is not the most suitable thing for you. And if you want to play games, well, there is no question that Windows outshines every Linux distro when it comes to entertainment.

      --
      Will
  2. Stop teaching slicing by Dracos · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Slicing PSDs is crude, antiquated (even though most shops still do it), and reinforces the fallacy that web design begins in Photoshop.

    Modernize your curriculum to teach progressive enhancement of wireframe layouts in the browser. At some point you teach about creating the individual image assets for what they are (backgrounds, icons, etc) rather than treating a PSD as a giant slab of source material. For this, you can use GIMP, Inkscape, or anything else Free.

    You are perpetuating Adobe's dominance by furthering a bad workflow that benefits them. Your course isn't about Photoshop, that shouldn't be the keystone of it.

    Slicing PSDs is the equivalent of beginning a construction project from a child's crayon drawing of the not-yet-existing building.

    1. Re:Stop teaching slicing by Art3x · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Slicing PSDs is crude, antiquated (even though most shops still do it), and reinforces the fallacy that web design begins in Photoshop.

      Modernize your curriculum to teach progressive enhancement of wireframe layouts in the browser. At some point you teach about creating the individual image assets for what they are (backgrounds, icons, etc) rather than treating a PSD as a giant slab of source material. For this, you can use GIMP, Inkscape, or anything else Free.

      You are perpetuating Adobe's dominance by furthering a bad workflow that benefits them. Your course isn't about Photoshop, that shouldn't be the keystone of it.

      Slicing PSDs is the equivalent of beginning a construction project from a child's crayon drawing of the not-yet-existing building.

      I agree, and this is coming from someone who came into web programming from graphic design. I first learned Photoshop. I soon abandoned it once I got a job in web programming.

      It is better to write HTML in a text editor. Then add CSS. If you must, add images from Photoshop or whatever. But I hardly ever even do that anymore. Granted, it's harder to learn to code raw HTML in a text editor. But I would rather you start with Dreamweaver or some WYSIWYG editor than making a web page in Photoshop, slicing it up, and converting it into a web page.

      Photoshop is pixel-based. The web is elastic. Photoshop encourages you to make image-heavy, user-unfriendly, obnoxious brochures --- instead of lean, useful, get-out-of-the-way web pages.