[thechangelog]

My design partner uses Illustrator for layout quite successfully. It doesn't handle pixel perfect layouts but gets us so close so quickly that it's well worth it. Out final stage involves editing the UI "sprites" in Photoshop for pixel perfection. So, yes, Illustrator is a valid web design package.

[accomplice]

No need for that step, ask you designer to try this. In settings, make set all increments to pixels. Then set the grid to 1px X 1px (in some unobtrusive color) When creating a new doc, always go to view / (check) snap to grid / then whenever making a sprite simply put everything together, and draw a rectangle around it. With the rectangle still selected, make sure its height and width are in even pixels, and Go to object / artboards / convert to artboard. Hit save for web, and you are done! (hint, make sure strokes are always set to inside, or outside, and never centered, adobe defaults to center, so creating some reusable graphic styles can make this quicker) I have created a special key command for convert to artboard, since I use it about 80 times a day. Also, its typically better to double click and enter height and width then to draw a rectangle to insure the dimensions are in absolute pixels.