So what is new with Adobe Fireworks CS3?
• Integrated with Photoshop CS3 – is one of those must have things to be included into the Creative Suite and in my opinion it is one of the things that make this version a must have update. I recently had to do some button work with some buttons created as .PNG files in Fireworks, but my skills are a tad better in Photoshop and I was very, very pleased that I could do what I needed to in Adobe Fireworks CS3 and then could switch to Photoshop to do some other things I was more comfortable with there, and then back to Fireworks to finish up. This was wonderful. Fireworks also allows you to preserve layer and sub-layer information when importing from Photoshop, add a variety of effects, including seven commonly used blend modes, and design comps can be saved as native Photoshop files and opened in either application.
• Integration with Illustrator CS3 – now allows you to import native Illustrator files directly into Adobe Fireworks CS3 while retaining attributes. It also supports importing and editing gradient fills, pattern strokes, and pattern fills. It preserves the appearance of RGB colors, opacity and transparency settings, the number and position of Bezier anchor points on vector paths, and linked images.
• Hierarchical organization structure – allows you to better manage and organize your designs with a new hierarchical structure for both web layers and pages. In prior versions of Fireworks you were limited to a single level of layers when designing pages, now you can be as complex as you need to be.
• Intelligent scaling – reinvents the traditional concept of scaling. In the past when you scaled an object, the entire object was transformed as a single unit which on some objects could cause distortion. Now Adobe Fireworks CS3 introduces 9-slice scaling which allows you to scale vector or bitmap images intelligently. By positioning a set of guides over your artwork you can define how it will be scaled. It can also be set to scale three regions as well.
• Multiple pages – now allows you to build complex multi-page web prototypes using a single PNG file. Each page has its own settings for its properties. These can be set on a page by page basis or on all the pages in the document.
Article comments
1 - Just A Guy
I was thrilled to find Fireworks did not hit the cutting room floor of Adobe. As a long time user of Macromedia products, version 2 is where i started. I know Fireworks very (very) well, but have never moved to Photoshop. I am a firm partner with a large group of graphic designers, web designers and programmers.
I have watched Photoshop users produce web designs, and Firework users produce the same web designs - the major difference is time. In fireworks the man hours (especially considering the integration/relationship with counterpart Dreamweaver) is roughly estimated at 1/4 - 1/3 the time spent on same or like projects by Photoshop only users. It's simply faster. I am also glad to see Fireworks is a member of the team, as I was told it would loss to Photoshop. I disagreed, its not likely to occur, its only intelligent to keep it as the web design graphic tool. Photoshop is a good product, but its not exactl made for web design graphics - I consider it as a photo editing tool. Its all in the little details.
Thats my two cents.
2 - T. Michael Testi
Just A Guy,
Thanks for the comment. I agree! While I am more of a Photoshop guy, I think that within the Web world that there is a very strong case for Fireworks remaining and was very happy to see that it did.
Thanks -- T.
3 - Sarthak
For web designers and people doing web prototyping, Fireworks CS3 is a must upgrade. The features added in the version reduces the time to complete the task even faster.
The pages feature is a huge advantage. Moving around different files for review and their maintenance has been removed. Also the "previewing all pages" in browser adds to the productivity enhancer.