Chapter 15: Getting Around in Fireworks

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Overview

Fireworks is an integral part of the Macromedia Studio MX Web-development workflow. In Fireworks, you can design spectacular text effects as editable vectors, or you can utilize its powerful bitmap functions. This new version has added powerful bitmap tools, like dodge, burn, smudge, sharpen, and blur. Design your text right on the screen, complete with kerning, leading, paragraph leads, and more. If you've used Fireworks before, you'll really appreciate the improvements to the pop-up menu editor. You'll love it even if you've never used it! For a full list of new features, check out Chapter 2.

It's now much easier to move between vector and bitmap modes. Just select a vector or bitmap tool — Fireworks is smart enough to know what mode you need to be in and makes the switch automatically.

Working with bitmaps and vectors together is a huge advantage in Fireworks. You can have vector shapes filled with bitmap images, or you can place vectors over a bitmap and integrate them. The possibilities are endless.

In Macromedia Studio MX, Fireworks helps you design, optimize, slice, and export all the images you need for any project — all while playing very nicely with its companions programs, FreeHand 10 (MX), Dreamweaver MX, Flash MX, and ColdFusion MX.

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