Examining the Menu Bar

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The Menu bar is located below the Title bar (top of the application). The Menu bar contains 10 different categories. Much has changed in the menus since previous versions of Fireworks. For example, the new Edit menu replaces the Insert menu of earlier Fireworks versions. A new Select menu has been added to contain the many bitmap selection options. The Xtras menu has been renamed to Filters.

File menu

The File menu contains options to open, close, save, import, and export files. The most notable change in the File menu is the Reconstitute Table feature. You may now open an HTML document and "rebuild" the images and HTML code in a Fireworks document — even when you don't have the original PNG file.

Edit menu

The Edit menu contains many new features, from options to cut, copy, or paste, to cropping and replacing. Other options, to build or add buttons and other graphics, are hidden as submenus beneath the Insert and Libraries options.

View menu

The most notable change in the View menu is the amount of additional magnification options. There are many more preset zoom options available.

Tip 

You can always return to 100 percent by double-clicking the Zoom tool in the Tools panel.

This menu also has the options to view the rulers, guides, and grids. If you want to use guides you must have the rulers visible. Once the rulers are visible you click and drag in the ruler and pull down (for horizontal) or drag from the side ruler for vertical guides. Once you have guide visible you can double-click on it to open a dialog box where you can set a specific coordinate.

Select menu

The Select menu is new to Fireworks MX. Some of the options were formerly in the Edit menu and most were formerly in the Modify menu in previous versions of Fireworks. Notice that you can now modify your bitmap selections from the Select menu as well as save one selection per document.

Note 

If you are a Photoshop user, you understand that a selection can be saved. In Fireworks the selection does not get saved to a separate channel or location that you can see — Unlike Photoshop, where you may save many selections that generate separate, modifiable channels, Fireworks can only save one selection, which is not readily accessible, except through the Restore Selection option.

Modify menu

The Modify menu contains a lot of options to modify your canvas and objects, including alignment and transformation functions. There are several changes to the Modify menu. All options pertaining to the canvas are now grouped under the Canvas menu item.

Pop-up menus are now available in the Modify menu (formerly in the Insert menu). Merge Down is new to Fireworks MX and causes the selected objects to be flattened into the bitmap object that is below the lowest selected object. The Flatten Selection option does the same thing that Convert to Bitmap did in Fireworks 4. The animation options are also accessed through this menu. You'll be using the options in this menu frequently throughout the Fireworks portion of this book.

Text menu

The Text menu contains options for working with text — from setting character formatting to attaching text to paths to converting to outlines. Although Fireworks MX text is typed onscreen and edited with the Property inspector, you can still access the Text Editor from the Text menu. Alternatively, you can access the Text Editor right-clicking (Control+click) any text in your document to access a contextual menu.

New Feature 

In Fireworks MX, text is now typed directly into your document.

Commands menu

The Commands menu contains the following powerful options for managing and using Fireworks:

• The Manage Saved Commands option lets you organize commands you made in the History panel.

•  Flash MX   The Manage Extensions option lets you work with extensions. Fireworks MX includes extensions, which you can download and install. You can also use Flash to design Fireworks panels and functions. The Align panel was made using Flash.

• The Arrowhead command is in the Creative category; you'll find an Arrowhead command to add a variety of arrow shapes to one or both ends of a path. Also included is the new Fade command. It's masking in one step. Or you can automatically add a variety of picture frames using the Add Picture Frame command.

• The Dashed Line command, also in the Creative category, enables you to add a dashed line instantly. This dashed line even wraps nicely along squared edges.

• The inset gray line below this line is a list of the commands you made yourself or saved from someone else.

• The Data-Driven Graphics Wizard works together with XML to add additional functionality for calling images.

• The Document options enable you to distribute all the objects in a document to separate layers. This and the Reverse Frames option both come in handy when designing animations. You can also hide or lock layers.

• The Panel Layout Sets are commonly used arrangements of windows and panels based on monitor resolutions. You can also customize and save your own layouts if desired. Panel Layouts are powered by JavaScript.

• The Reset Warnings dialog box resets all the "Don't Show Again" warning dialog boxes so that they appear when needed. This is useful when you turn off warnings and decide you want them back.

• Resize Selected Objects does just that. It opens a very easy-to-use interface that enables you to resize objects visually. If you press Shift and select multiple objects, they will all be resized.

• The Web option enables you to create a shared palette, which makes a custom color palette from a folder of images. You can set the maximum number of colors you want. This is a fast way to develop a custom palette of indexed colors. You can also choose to select or set blank alt tags.

Filters menu

The Filters menu was formerly named Xtras. The top portion of the menu contains various filters that you can apply to an image. Most of these filters (and more) can also be found in the Effects menu. You can apply filters and effects to vectors and bitmaps, but when a filter is applied to a vector object via the Filters menu, it converts the vector to a bitmap. Once saved, filters are not editable. The same adjustments applied through the Effects menu is a "Live Effect" and is always editable, even after saving, closing, and reopening the document.

Cross-Reference 

You use Live Effects in Chapter 16.

Fireworks MX ships with Eye Candy LE and Alien Skin Splat LE. These two plug-ins don't expire and contain a sampling of the filters that ship with the full versions. The rest of your third-party demos appear at the bottom of the list. You may add to the list by importing filters and effects via Preferences.

Window menu

The Window menu gives you access to all the panels in Fireworks. Some of the most frequently used panels are already docked in the panel group area of your workspace. For instance, the Styles, URL, and Library panels are all in the Assets panel group set. You can customize your panel groups to fit your work style.

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