| In this chapter Site Architecture 838 Site Design 845 In this chapter we'll take a look at how you can use FreeHand to plan, organize and design Web sites. Although FreeHand is perhaps best known for its ability to work in the print medium, it can be a powerful illustration and presentation tool for the Web. It's not common for FreeHand to be used to design functioning Web pages. However, the program steps into the spotlight when it comes time to designing and preparing Web site concepts and mock-ups. Creating Web sites can be an exhilarating process. Typically, site designs begin as a pure mental process. Visions of brilliant graphics and innovative architecture begin to form as a series of images and colors in your brain. Some designers then start doodling with ideas and roughing out concepts on paper. Others may start with a more mechanical approach and build a framework to organize information first before any interface design is considered . This is all swell until the design goes from concept to reality. In other words, that beautifully-rendered cocktail napkin sketch turns to mush as soon as you try and construct it in Dreamweaver. The fun has now been replaced with tedious experimentation on making your design work and that's just for the Home page. Working with larger sites adds an entire new level of complexity to the process. You've gone from the role of a free-spirited designer to a logic-constrained manager of information. Fortunately, FreeHand MX provides the perfect tool to not only design, or conceptualize, a Web site with its powerful design tools, but it also lets you organize the site with the creation of visual site maps and multi-page documents. Because FreeHand works so well with the other MX Suite products, your designs and pages can be easily imported into Fireworks MX. As soon as you're there, you can slice and dice the design and roll it over to Dreamweaver MX for final construction. | 