web graphics is Xara"
What is Xara?
Xara is a vector based 2D drawing package made by Xara Ltd. Although not designed for making web graphics in the first place, to me it's the ultimate web graphics design tool. Because it is vector based you can scale your drawings without quality loss.Another great feature is the use of anti-aliasing. This prevents jagged edges. And the good news is that anti-aliasing is not limited to text.
Xara is famous for it's transparency features. Many nice effects can be acomplished with it.
Although Xara is a vector drawing program it can handle bitmaps too. It even has basic image processing and a trace tool. The latter makes it possible to turn a bitmap into a vector drawing.
Convince yourself, see the examples and tutorials...