Comments on: Now is a Good Time to be a Fireworks Evangelist

By: Stéphane

Stéphane — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:37:15 +0000

Hi Marcus,

If you do try Fireworks, you will find that the workflow is far more efficient for this kind of work than Photoshop as Fireworks is at its core a vector application more like Illustrator.

On the other hand, there are several factors that should be considered when using a prototyping app. It depends on where you are in the process, what level of interactivity you need and who is the audience for the prototype.

That is why I often turn to Axure instead of Photoshop for this these days as I can work at a lower visual fidelity (wireframes-like) but higher interactive fidelity and quickly create tabs or form interactions depending on variables and much more.

The advantage Fireworks has though is reuse. You can start right from your prototype and create the final visual mockup. It’s also easier to make basic, early protos look nicer too but neither factors have been very important.

But what is certain is that, working in any vector based application for this will enable you to work a lot faster and iterate changes easier than with a pure raster based app like Photoshop. Let it deal with photos… for design work, choose tools that are better suited for the task

By: Marcus Dane

Marcus Dane — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 17:46:43 +0000

I've been using Photoshop for all my web site prototyping. I would, as much, like to try Fireworks.

By: bikeman

bikeman — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Fireworks may natively use 72dpi but it is more than capable of print quality output. You can easily set the dpi to 300dpi when creating a new doc, finish the artwork and save as .ai.
Remembering to convert to CMYK in Illustrator is the last step.
Voila print ready vector graphics created with the ease of Fireworks.

By: Michel

Michel — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Yes, there is hope for Fireworks!

Now, especially after the much-needed 10.0.3 update was released (for CS4), things have improved, and a lot!

I expect Adobe to promote Fireworks better, and I also expect version CS5, when it comes out, to be one of the best Fw versions, ever!

Fireworks is an important part of my workflow, too. I cannot imagine my everyday design work without it…

By: Tom Okeefe

Tom Okeefe — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 00:00:00 +0000

@mcantera I’ve used PS for at least 15-yrs and a good chunk of that time with designing web sites. Once I started to use FW I never wanted to open PS when designing web sites, applications (desktop, web, iPhone), wire frames. Both PS and FW will give you the same end results. It really boils down to which software you feel more comfortable using. Sure there are features in FW in IMO is much better to use then PS for designing web sites. Having the ability to share layers within pages along with master pages saves me time. I think all of use can list the features that would make one better then the other but I would try both and see which one works best for you.

By: mcantera

mcantera — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Good topic and post. I’m just learning Fireworks and like what I see so far.

In your opinion, which CS4 product is best-suited to everyday webpage composition — as in, combining the graphic elements together into a single page that will eventually become an HTML/CSS webpage?

I see a lot of overlap between Ps and Fw, and would just like to know which one is considered best practice for designing a full page (as opposed to an individual element or a prototype).

By: Jim Babbage

Jim Babbage — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

@mikko:

Adobe.com and adobe TVhave some excellent tutorials on Fireworks, and I’ve written many FW-based tutorials for Communitymx.com. There’s lots out there.

By: Mikko

Mikko — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Good times and much love. FW CS4 is now the new definition of web design workflow. More and more of the Photoshop users are now more aware of alternative method to enchange their workflow and giving a chance to FW.

There are tons of PS tutorials, but im pretty sure that there will be lot of good FW tutorials. Well least im going to deliver FW tutorials to the world much as i can

By: Thierry Lorey

Thierry Lorey — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

To Mikko,
My website Fireworks Zone is dedicated to Fireworks and you can check my tutorials, articles and tips. Where can we read your tutorials anyway?

By: Tom Okeefe

Tom Okeefe — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Fireworks will be here for a long long time. “Starman” proves it along with their incredible adobe fw team.
Fireworks is great for everything from U.I. wire frames to visual designs. If you haven’t tried it yet I would go and download a demo.

–Tom

also can check out..
http://fireworksdesigner.com/?p=109