Fireworks Page
Macromedia Fireworks is a new kind of program for me. I did not know anything about it until last week. I had no idea how many exciting features it has and how much accessibility it can add to your web pages. I was just at the beginning level last week and discovered many interesting things for myself in this program so far.
I am really excited that we are using this powerful tool for designing web pages. I really enjoy working and exploring the program. Although, you should not forget that this program is just a kind of graphics software (but what a powerful one!) and should be used with Dreamweaver. Actually, what you do is creating your page in Fireworks the way you like and then exporting it to Dreamweaver to fix the code and add additional features if necessary.
Fireworks program is similar to Adobe Photoshop in the way it allows you to create graphics. But Fireworks is more advanced software in the way it has more web design oriented tools. We all have a lot of experience with Macromedia Flash and creating animations. Fireworks allows you to export your animations as gif or Flash swf files. At the same time, you can create animated graphics in Fireworks itself too, for example, "moving" text or objects. So, as we see, Fireworks work with other applications. You can export the files created in Fireworks into Macromedia applications, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and others.
Last week in class we were working individually and in small groups to learn Fireworks. I liked our last class. I was reading Professor Mackey's tutorials about creating files in Fireworks, and did quite a good job. I successfully finished all the tutorials except the validation step.
For my Webpage #7 I created a mock-up landing page for my digital portfolio. I used web slices and roll-overs for the links to my web pages created during the semester. I remember myself struggling with Flash, creating buttons and trying to find a way of showing images using the buttons (Webpage #6). The problem was that after pointing to the large picture, where the "over" frame of the button was, the image appeared (this happened because the "over" frame had two images - the button itself and the enlarged picture). Last week I could not find any solution to my problem. And I was really suprised when I discovered that Fireworks allows you to create a roll-over effect that replaces your image with another one in a different location on the same page when you point over the mouse. That what I wanted to create in Flash and finally found a good answer to my question in Fireworks. I took the same idea for my digital portfolio.
While working on this page I discovered a lot of new tools in Fireworks. I found the toolbar on the left to be quite similar to the one in Photoshop. I tried to draw different vector objects and apply special effects to them. I discovered that it is very easy to draw any kind of objects starting from simple arrows to very complicated spirals. And the variety of techniques to improve you drawing is really great! For example, you can apply different styles for the borders by choosing Air Brush/Textured and then choosing any kind of texture you like. This technique will help you to get marvellous table frames. I also worked with the text, and found a lot of interesting effects which you can apply to your text. The graphics in Fireworks can be interactive. You add slices and hotspots to your objects and you get rollover functions. I think, this program is less complicated than the other Macromedia programs we have worked with. And it is definitely less complicated than Adobe Photoshop.
My next step in learning this program will be learning how to create button symbols and drop-down menus. I also want to try creating animation in Fireworks. I found Fireworks to be very intuitive to work with. Although I do not think it is more visually-oriented than other programs we have learned. That is why I was reading the tutorial that comes with Fireworks installation "Using Fireworks MX" to get some support. I found the tutorial to be very informative. I will be reading this tutorial to get some help while working in Fireworks. I would recommend this tutorial to anyone who has just started learning Fireworks. Besides, do you know that Macromedia site has Fireworks support Forums? One of them is Fireworks General Discussion Forum . There you can find the answers to different types of questions asked by the users or you can post your own question to get some support information.
I am really excited that we are using this powerful tool for designing web pages. I really enjoy working and exploring the program. Although, you should not forget that this program is just a kind of graphics software (but what a powerful one!) and should be used with Dreamweaver. Actually, what you do is creating your page in Fireworks the way you like and then exporting it to Dreamweaver to fix the code and add additional features if necessary.
Fireworks program is similar to Adobe Photoshop in the way it allows you to create graphics. But Fireworks is more advanced software in the way it has more web design oriented tools. We all have a lot of experience with Macromedia Flash and creating animations. Fireworks allows you to export your animations as gif or Flash swf files. At the same time, you can create animated graphics in Fireworks itself too, for example, "moving" text or objects. So, as we see, Fireworks work with other applications. You can export the files created in Fireworks into Macromedia applications, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and others.
Last week in class we were working individually and in small groups to learn Fireworks. I liked our last class. I was reading Professor Mackey's tutorials about creating files in Fireworks, and did quite a good job. I successfully finished all the tutorials except the validation step.
For my Webpage #7 I created a mock-up landing page for my digital portfolio. I used web slices and roll-overs for the links to my web pages created during the semester. I remember myself struggling with Flash, creating buttons and trying to find a way of showing images using the buttons (Webpage #6). The problem was that after pointing to the large picture, where the "over" frame of the button was, the image appeared (this happened because the "over" frame had two images - the button itself and the enlarged picture). Last week I could not find any solution to my problem. And I was really suprised when I discovered that Fireworks allows you to create a roll-over effect that replaces your image with another one in a different location on the same page when you point over the mouse. That what I wanted to create in Flash and finally found a good answer to my question in Fireworks. I took the same idea for my digital portfolio.
While working on this page I discovered a lot of new tools in Fireworks. I found the toolbar on the left to be quite similar to the one in Photoshop. I tried to draw different vector objects and apply special effects to them. I discovered that it is very easy to draw any kind of objects starting from simple arrows to very complicated spirals. And the variety of techniques to improve you drawing is really great! For example, you can apply different styles for the borders by choosing Air Brush/Textured and then choosing any kind of texture you like. This technique will help you to get marvellous table frames. I also worked with the text, and found a lot of interesting effects which you can apply to your text. The graphics in Fireworks can be interactive. You add slices and hotspots to your objects and you get rollover functions. I think, this program is less complicated than the other Macromedia programs we have worked with. And it is definitely less complicated than Adobe Photoshop.
My next step in learning this program will be learning how to create button symbols and drop-down menus. I also want to try creating animation in Fireworks. I found Fireworks to be very intuitive to work with. Although I do not think it is more visually-oriented than other programs we have learned. That is why I was reading the tutorial that comes with Fireworks installation "Using Fireworks MX" to get some support. I found the tutorial to be very informative. I will be reading this tutorial to get some help while working in Fireworks. I would recommend this tutorial to anyone who has just started learning Fireworks. Besides, do you know that Macromedia site has Fireworks support Forums? One of them is Fireworks General Discussion Forum . There you can find the answers to different types of questions asked by the users or you can post your own question to get some support information.
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