I seem to remember paying $150.00 about every 18 months for the newest version (upgrade) of Photoshop. Now, it is $10 a month for instant upgrades. Yes, there is possibly a savings there but hardly "substantial." (FWIW, I, personally, subscribe to the complete CC package.)

If you asking for a very user-friendly Web-Page design program, you may want to watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNpzlQxkiOo&feature=youtu.be

Despite the Title -- The Five Minute Website -- the tutorial takes about an hour but it does show one how to make a professional-looking website very quickly.

Is your monitor calibrated? What is the model of your printer?

I just received an email from On1 stating "We're excited to let you know that as an ON1 Plus Pro member with an active membership, you will be receiving the very first version of the new ON1 Photo RAW on Wednesday, November 23rd! This will be a pre-release version of Photo RAW with some feature limitations. We are adding the final finishing touches to the product, and the full version will be available December 19th."

Therefore, it will be a day or so (week?) before I can address the Subject matter.

I don't know if this will answer your question but my Workflow (as far as b/u is concerned) is this:

1. After importing the images into Lightroom and renaming the files (Adding camera name -- I use four -- and date/time to file name), I immediately close LR and use "Compare Advanced" to sync the Lightroom Folder to three external locations.

2. After any post-processing session, I close LR (using the backup option) and again Sync the folder to update all of the Sidecar files... and JPEG/TIFF files if created.

Granted this is done manually (although I am sure a Macro could be made easily) but once you get in the habit (by remembering the pain of losing precious images) it is more or less automatic. (FWIW, if you decide that four copies of everything is overkill then some time could be saved... but not much.)

http://www.bauerapps.com/compare-folders-windows-compare-advance/

Lightroom is much more than that and that statement is completely missing the mark. Yes, it is a fantastic file (image) organizer. It is given short shrift if you are speaking of the Develop module, however. That module, actually, does a better job of making ACR user friendly and then incorporates the most popular features of the Full-featured Photoshop -- Spot removal, Red Eye Removal, Graduated Filter, Radial Filter, and Adjustment Brushes in a very user-friendly way. But more than that it, for example, uses the GPS data to make maps, creates a book out of your images, creates professional slideshows, a way to present your images on web sites and, in addition, has a much more dynamic print function than Photoshop.

I am not really advocating that everyone should embrace Lightroom but it doesn't deserve the knocks that some give it.

Okay, I was too curious to wait for later. Interestingly, v4 does "Save" the RAW file... well in that it changes the Created date and the modified date. However, it does not change the data itself. When I opened the file after "Saving" it, the changed settings were lost. Saving it a second time (without making any changes) changed the Modified date (but not the Created Date, as it did during the first Save). Strange behavior and not (IMHO) very useful and completely confusing.

Now, having said that, I will stick with LR/PS (Although I am considering On1) because of the Sidecar files. In any event, temper this with the fact that I have never used DPP and know absolutely nothing about its operation.

TBH, I have not used DPP and after looking at it several years ago, I uninstalled it. I will, perhaps, have time later today to install the current version and see if I can duplicate your experience. I hope you are correct since it would be nice to embed some things in a RAW file.

Did the created/modified date change on the RAW file... or is (perhaps) DPP reading a TMG file along with the RAW file?

Google it: https://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGNI_enUS483US484&q=Save+RAW+files+in+DPP&qscrl=1

for instance: http://www.dummies.com/photography/cameras/canon-camera/how-to-save-edited-raw-files-in-digital-photo-professional-on-your-canon-eos-6d/

FWIW, (and not particularly important) The Develop Module in Lightroom is ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) which is why I inadvertently left out mentioning Lightroom above.

Two things: In my above statement, my thoughts got ahead of my fingers. What I meant by "few exceptions" was those that post-processing has no control over -- focus, shutter speed, etc. (and even now I am explaining it poorly.) Secondly, RAW files are "Read Only" and cannot be changed. They can only be "saved" as a different format --TIFF, JPEG, etc. The camera is, therefore, the only device that can "Save" a RAW file.

The basic answer would be that a JPEG image has already been processed (by the camera) and those changes are baked into the resultant file. A RAW image is just what the name implies; with very few exceptions, the unchanged data captured by the Sensor. The fact that a program (ACR, DPP, ON1 RAW, etc.) makes it visible to your monitor does not alter the original data. Therefore, one has greater control over the post-processing with a RAW file. Depending on what you wish to do with the image is the final determinate of the value of each format.

Not exactly what you are looking for but interesting just the same:

http://www.computerworld.com/article/3142265/smartphones/googles-photoscan-make-digitizing-old-photos-easy.html

The Moon is actually 14% closer comparing the difference between apogee and perigee. That seems significant to me.