Macromedia Fireworks

Macromedia Fireworks (also known as FW for short) is a bitmap and vector graphics editor, developed by Macromedia and aimed at web designers (with features such as: slices, the ability to add hotspots etc.). It is designed to integrate easily with other Macromedia products, such as the popular Dreamweaver and Flash, and is part of the Macromedia Studio 8 suite.

In December 2005, Adobe completed the acquisition of Macromedia. How the two product lines will merge is still under speculation. Fireworks is most similar in purpose to Adobe ImageReady, in that it is designed specifically for web-based graphics, with somewhat limited print-based capabilities. Unlike ImageReady, Fireworks features vector editing capabilities, and a more robust feature set overall.

Fireworks may be purchased alone or bundled with Macromedia Studio 8. Many web developers love the features and functionality that the entire program suite offers. However, for those who need only an image editor, the stand-alone copy is more than sufficient.

Adobe already offers a powerful stand-alone vector program, Illustrator. One likely scenario is that Fireworks replaces ImageReady or its features are folded into ImageReady's. Another is that Fireworks is marketed as an upgraded version of ImageReady, like "ImageReady Pro", aimed at web designers who want more features without having to buy Illustrator and Photoshop, both of which are more print oriented.

Besides Photoshop/ImageReady as a competitor to Fireworks, Adobe also makes Adobe GoLive, a webpage-authoring application that competed with Macromedia Dreamweaver. Many believe that GoLive will be phased out in favor of the more popular Dreamweaver.

Features of Fireworks
Fireworks contains a number of features that make it a unique alternative to Adobe ImageReady. The primary difference is Fireworks' emphasis on vector editing, similar to Adobe Illustrator, with limited bitmap capabilities. This is opposite to the approach used by Photoshop, which is primarily for bitmap graphics with limited vector editing features. Vector objects in Fireworks can be resized with no loss of quality, just as in Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop. Bitmap objects suffer a similar loss in quality whether resized in Fireworks, ImageReady or Photoshop.

Docked menus
As with all Macromedia and Adobe releases as of 2004, menus and even some extensions can be docked in the Fireworks environment. Within the docks, menus can be collapsed and expanded to allow a high level of accessibility as well as convienience. This facilitates a cleaner workspace.

The Fireworks toolbar
The toolbar in Fireworks contains 34 buttons. Some buttons can be held down to reveal a submenu of variations on each tool. For example, as the dodge and burn tools are used to lighten or darken an image and are similar, they can be found within the same submenu. This system of organization saves a lot of space and is very useful to graphic editors trying to save as much space on-screen as possible.

Pointer tool
The Pointer Tool contains a submenu of 2 items. It is represented by a black-filled cursor.

Selection Tool - The Selection tool allows the selection of an entire entity within the canvas, or a group of entities by shift clicking multiple items in succesion.
Select Behind Tool - The Select Behind tool allows the selection of an entity that is below another in the layer order.

Subselection tool
The Subselection tool contains no submenu. It is represented by a white cursor. The subselection tool is used to select elements within an entity such as a waypoint in a vector path, or a tension spline within a waypoint. This tool can be used to frag full entities around to allow for convienience

Scale tool
The Scale Tool contains a submenu of 3 items. It is represented by a box with a diagonal arrow.

Scale Tool - The scale tool allows you to resize an entity in the X or Y dimensions, and also allows you to keep the image size in the proper ratio by holding SHIFT while scaling. This tool also allows for rotation of an entity.
Skew Tool - The skew tool allows the skewing of images.
Distort Tool - The distort tool allows you to twist the image and add perspective.