Fireworks 4 For Dummies

This book will be a great addition to the libraries of everybody working in Web development, whether for business or as a hobby.

Contents

Introduction

Who Should Buy This Book

Stuff You Oughta Know

How This Book Is Organized

Part I: Fireworks: A Graphic Design Program, Not a 4th of July Sparkler

Part II: Creating Complex Graphics for Fun and Profit

Part III: Making Fireworks Even Hotter: Creating Animations and Dynamic Web Elements

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go From Here

Part I: Fireworks: A Graphic Design Program,

Not a 4th of July Sparkler

Chapter 1: Fireworks: A Web Designer's Best Friend

What Is Fireworks, Anyway?

Creating a Fireworks Document

Chapter 2: Finding Your Way in Fireworks

Creating a Document

Creating a Custom Canvas Color

Perusing the Panels

Now you see 'em, now you don't: Hiding panels and other tricks

Creating a custom panel layout

Opening panels

Exploring the Toolbox

Using a tool

Exploring a tool's options

Windows only: Floating a toolbar

Using the Canvas, a Multi-Tabbed Wonder

Using the Launcher bar

The Grid: Your guiding lines

Measuring up with rulers

Creating guides

Changing your point of view

Saving a Document

Making Changes to an Existing Document

Modifying canvas size

Modifying canvas color

Chapter 3: Creating Shapes

Creating Shapely (or Not So Shapely) Shapes

Introducing strokes and fills

Creating rectangles

Creating rounded rectangles

Creating ovals

Creating polygons

Creating stars

Drawing Lines

Drawing arrow-straight lines with the Line tool

Scribbling with the Pencil tool

Painting with the Brush tool

Plotting a path with the Pen tool

Chapter 4 : Fun with Pixels 101: Editing Images

Using Bitmap Images

Importing images into a document

Scanning images into Fireworks

Editing Images

Modifying image size

Cropping documents

Cropping a bitmap in a document

Creating Selections

Pixel roundup at the bitmap corral: Using the Lasso tool

Waving the Magic Wand

Creating rectangular selections

Creating oval selections

Modifying selections

Cloning Images with the Rubber Stamp Tool

Using the Eraser Tool

Creating Special Effects

Merging images

Masking bitmap images

Fun with Filters

Inverting a bitmap's color

Blurring an image

Sharpening an image

Chapter 5: Working with Color

Using Web-Safe Color for the Web

Creating Rainbow Colors with the Color Mixer Panel

Using Color Models

Matching a known color using hexadecimal colors

Matching RGB colors

Matching HSB colors

Matching CMY colors

Coloring Objects with the Swatches Panel

Modifying a color swatch

Sorting swatches

Working with color palettes

Using the Color Table Panel

Chapter 6: Getting the Word Out with Text

Using the Text Tool

Making Text Pretty with the Text Editor

Selecting a text font

Adjusting the text size

Creating colorful text

Styling text

Adjusting kerning

Adjusting text spacing

Aligning text

Scaling text horizontally

Shifting the baseline

Editing text

Attaching Text to a Path

Attaching text to a path

Aligning text along a path

Offsetting text along a path

Changing the orientation of text along a path

Tricks with Text

Applying special effects to text

Converting text to editable objects

Part II: Creating Complex Graphics

for Fun and Profit

Chapter 7: Creating Line and Outline Styles

Introducing the Stroke, a Line by Any Other Name

Creating Line and Outline styles with the Stroke panel

Selecting a stroke category

Selecting a stroke color

Selecting a stroke name

Modifying a stroke

Creating Strokes with Digital Tablets

Creating Pressure Effects with a Mouse

Modifying a Stroke with the Scrubber Tool

Creating Your Own Custom Stroke of Genius

Editing a stroke

Saving a stroke

Chapter 8: Coloring Solid Objects with Fills

Introducing Fills

Creating a fill

Filling an object with a pattern

Graduating to Gradients

Applying gradient fills

Editing gradient fills

Saving a gradient

Applying Color with the Paint Bucket Tool

Applying fills with the Paint Bucket tool

Editing a fill with the Paint Bucket tool

Using the Object Panel

Controlling an Object's Transparency

Chapter 9: Scaling, Moving, and Rotating Objects

Get a Move On, Little Object

Selecting an object

Moving an object

Resizing an object

Rotating an object

Changing an object's center point

Skewing an object

Distorting an object

Transforming Objects with the Info Panel

Transforming Objects with Numerical Precision

Using the Numeric Transform command

Rotating objects with the Numeric Transform command

Flipping Objects

Aligning Objects

Arranging Objects

Chapter 10: Modifying, Reshaping, and Arranging Objects

Putting a New Twist on an Old Path

Modifying a path with the Subselection tool

Adding and deleting points

Converting points

Reshaping a path with the Reshape Area tool

Reshaping a path with the Freeform tool

Using the Knife tool

Reducing points in a path

Using the Redraw Path tool

Combining Objects with Path Commands

Joining objects for life with the Union command

Creating cross-town traffic with the Intersect command

Subtracting Object B from Object A with the Punch command

Organizing Artwork with Groups

Creating groups

Editing groups

Organizing Objects with Layers (It All Stacks Up)

Using the Layers panel

Adding layers

Arranging the pecking order of layers

Chapter 11: Creating Special Effects

Transforming Vector Objects with the Effects Panel

Adding additional effects to an object

Deleting effects

Changing the order of effects

Applying Effects to Bitmap Images

Adjusting a bitmap's color characteristics

Adjusting a bitmap's curves

Inverting a bitmap's colors

Sharpening a bitmap's image

Using Effects for Both Bitmap and Vector Images

Beveling an object

Embossing an object

Creating a glow

Creating a drop shadow

Blurring an object

Editing effects

Using Photoshop Plug-ins in Fireworks

Chapter 12: Optimizing Artwork for Export

Understanding Image Formats

Understanding Resolution

Using the Document Window (WYSIWYG)

Optimizing Your Images for the Internet

Working with GIF images

Interlacing a GIF image

Working with JPEG images

Using Selective JPEG quality

Using Progressive JPEG

Selecting the optimal optimization setting

Chapter 13: Creating Reusable Artwork

Understanding Symbols and Instances

Getting to Know Symbol Types

Creating Reusable Graphic Symbols

Creating symbols from scratch

Converting objects to symbols

Using the Library to Store Your Symbols

Creating instances of symbols

Adding symbols to the Library

Managing the Library

Editing symbols

Importing symbols

Exporting symbols

Using the Styles Library

Part III: Making Fireworks Even Hotter: Creating Animations and Dynamic Web Elements

Chapter 14: Creating Animations

Creating Animated Symbols

Creating a reusable animation: The animation symbol

Editing an animation symbol

Creating Action with Frames

Adding frames

Duplicating frames

Moving selected objects from one frame to another

Naming frames

Deleting frames

Arranging frames

Animating Objects

Tweening Symbol Instances

Animating Images

Animating still images

Animating a series of images or an image sequence

Determining Frame Delay

Using Onion Skins to Preview Animation Frames

Previewing and Editing Animations

Chapter 15: Creating Animated Banners and Graphics

Getting a Handle on File Size

Getting the skinny on bandwidth

Choosing colors

Creating Animated Banners for Web Pages

Setting up the banner

Planning the action

Determining the time delay between frames

Animating text

Linking the banner

Creating Animated GIFs for Web pages

Creating the background

Creating the animation

Looping an Animation

Working with Transparent Color

Matching the canvas and background colors

Matching the canvas color to a background image's color

Chapter 16: Creating Image Hotspots and Internet Links

Creating an Image Map with Hotspots

Assigning a hotspot to an object

Creating multiple hotspots

Creating rectangular hotspots

Creating circular hotspots

Creating polygonal hotspots

Linking a URL to a hotspot

Assigning a hotspot to an image

Slicing Images

Creating slices

Optimizing slices

Using the URL Panel

Adding URLs

Deleting URLs

Creating URLs for an entire site

Saving a URL library

Managing URLs

Chapter 17: Creating Interactive Web Pages

Creating Buttons

Rolling out the rollover state

Creating buttons with multiple states

Using onion skinning

Using the Link Wizard

Changing a button's export settings

Adding a link to a button

Adding messages to browser status bars

Creating a Navigation Bar -- Without a Compass

Creating a Pop-Up Menu

Using the Behaviors panel

Swapping Images

Chapter 18: Exporting Images

Previewing the Export

Using the Export Preview window

Previewing the export in a Web browser

Previewing the document with different browsers

Exporting for the Web Made Easy

Setting slicing and HTML options

Exporting image maps

Exporting images in other formats

Using the Export Wizard

Part IV: The Part of Tens

Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Turbocharge Fireworks

Creating a Style

Making a Batch of Fireworks Goodies

Writing a Script

Creating Custom Patterns

Pasting Attributes

Creating Your Own Special Effects

Creating Custom Palettes

Creating Seamless Tiles

Finding and Replacing

Using the Project Log

Chapter 20: Ten Fireworks Tips and Tricks

Creating Typewriter Text

Animating Special Effects

Using the Eye Candy Bevel Boss Filter

Using the Eye Candy Marble Filter

Using the Eye Candy Motion Trail Filter

Creating Cut-Out Text

Creating Fading Text

Creating a Text Image Mask

Attaching Text to Both Sides of an Elliptical Path

Creating a Shadow Box

Chapter 21: Top Ten Internet Sources for Fireworks

Macromedia Fireworks Support Center

Playing With Fire

Id Est

Web Monkey

Matt's Script Archives

Lynda.com

Project Fireworks

Gif Foundry

BrowserWatch

Pretty Lady

The JavaScript Source

Fireworks FAQ and Extension Database

Appendix