| If these programs are so similar, how do you know which one to choose for any given task?  | This chapter focused on similarities, but the programs are fundamentally different. |
Fireworks and FreeHand are all about creating and editing content . Neither is designed for authoring an entire project . Fireworks' strong point is creating and editing bitmap content, though it does have vector capabilities, too. FreeHand is primarily for vector drawing, and is also great for layout and storyboarding. Flash, on the other hand, is fundamentally an authoring tool, designed for creating whole projects. It can also be used to create content for Web sites. Frequently, however, the Flash content dominates to the extent that the site is essentially created in Flash, with Dreamweaver just providing an HTML container. Dreamweaver is an authoring tool almost exclusively. It is not designed to create content for use in the other authoring environments. (There are minor exceptions, such as creating HTML text or a CSS style sheet in Dreamweaver for use in Flash.) Dreamweaver itself can create only text, such as HTML, DHTML, XHTML, CSS and XML. You can use other content in Dreamweaver, but you create it outside of Dreamweaver. |
