There has been a lot of rivalry between Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Fireworks, with Adobe believing that Fireworks treads on the toes of Photoshop just that little bit too much for their liking.
There are a startling number of similarities between Fireworks 4 and Photoshop 6, although ... Read review
Advantages: Improved integration with Photoshop and Dreamweaver, easy generation of pop-up menus Disadvantages: Expensive
There has been a lot of rivalry between Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Fireworks, with Adobe believing that Fireworks treads on the toes of Photoshop just that little bit too much for their liking.
There are a startling number of similarities between Fireworks 4 and Photoshop 6, although up until now Macromedia have protested that Fireworks has been for web use only, whereas Photoshop with things like CMYK colour separations is more ... ...to have aped the interface used in Fireworks 3 for web output somewhat closely (perhaps too closely!) in version 6 of Photoshop, with Macromedia using a lot of the palettes and chips that Adobe originally used.
As far as web-imaging goes, Fireworks is definitely the way forward, even more so that it has now adopted a lot of the tools that Photoshop has in its armoury. If any such proof is needed as to whether Fireworks 4 is trying ... more
There has been a lot of rivalry between Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Fireworks, with Adobe believing that Fireworks treads on the toes of Photoshop just that little bit too much for their liking.
There are a startling number of similarities between Fireworks 4 and Photoshop 6, although up until now Macromedia have protested that Fireworks has been for web use only, whereas Photoshop with things like CMYK colour separations is more of a print based output solution, although it does appear to have aped the interface used in Fireworks 3 for web output somewhat closely (perhaps too closely!) in version 6 of Photoshop, with Macromedia using a lot of the palettes and chips that Adobe originally used.
As far as web-imaging goes, Fireworks is definitely the way forward, even more so that it has now adopted a lot of the tools that Photoshop has in its armoury. If any such proof is needed as to whether Fireworks 4 is trying to compete with Photoshop 6, then it must be the fact that the import and export functions for Photoshop PSD files have been given a better workover, and now the process is less of a minefield, whereby features such as layers used to provoke a mini spasm, with result error messages. Previous versions had only featured export options.
Fireworks has always been very good for vector drawing, and now has included a Bezier pen, in line with Macromedia's latest version (5) of Flash. For animations there is also a new tweening control, which helps to a certain extent, although its interface is not as good as that of ImageReady (packaged with Photoshop 6 for the same purpose). A visible improvement is the Animate command on the Modify menu, and the constituent frames are more easily editted. Fireworks' integration with Dreamweaver 4 is also improved with an option in DW4 to insert the variant Fireworks HTML, something most commonly used when creating pop-up menus, and entries can be displayed as graphics or as HTML, and are activated automatically when you drag the mouse over a hotspot.
Image compression, which has long been something that Fireworks has lead the way in, showing the best trade off between file size and image quality. The batch conversion process has been simplified and this now makes it possible to manipulate image sizes by means of a few simple steps.
Whilst Fireworks 4 is not really a standalone package, in that it focusses merely on Web Graphics output rather than also being geared towards Print graphics output like Photoshop 6, it is a very important part of the Macromedia product palette, and coupled with Dreamweaver 4, it is definitely the choice of professionals. For those with experience of using Photoshop it has a great deal of similarity, making it easy to pick up, although Photoshop 6 and ImageReady offer a very comparable level of features, but if you already use Dreamweaver (and Flash) it rounds off the whole ensemble very nicely.
Of course all of this doesn't come cheaply, with the full version costing £229+VAT or the update £99+VAT. Fireworks 4 and Dreamweaver 4 as a bundle retail at £349+VAT. This effectively doesn't make Fireworks a serious possibility in its own right for the domestic user, although for the professional Fireworks 4 is the tool for web graphics.
Morgenhund 10.01.2001 (08.01.2001)
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Review of UltraDev 4 Fireworks 4 Studio 4.0 Complete package
Advantages: High level of intergration with other Macromedia products, html and javascript capabilities and advanced image optimisation. Disadvantages: Good things don't come cheaply.
With a little time invested in learning how to use this great application, a designer need no longer depend on using Photoshop for day to day web graphics. Macromedia, by targeting the web design market with Fireworks have successfully taken on Adobe at their own game. For complicated graphics and works dedicated to print, Photoshop IS still king, but for navigation bars, banners, menus and general site graphics, Fireworks is a more intelligent solution.
... ...or packaged with Dreamweaver or Director [html and shockwave authoring packages, respectively]. Marcomedia are moving towards closer intergration of all their key applications, with fireworks and dreamweaver the most closely dependent on each other.
After placing an image in Dreamweaver, editing it will bring up fireworks and when completed the designer need only press the done button [instead of the convulated file>export>save method] to place ...
neosonic 11.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of UltraDev 4 Fireworks 4 Studio 4.0 Complete package
Advantages: An easy to use graphical design tool Disadvantages: Too many windows
When we think of Fireworks, we dont immediately think of software. We think of November 5th and sparklers, bonfires and of course, Guy Fawkes.
But what the software offers is much more spectacular than a quick bang in the air.
What it offers is one of the most stunningly brilliant pieces of graphic manipulation and design tools around.
Im a web developer are im normally lumbered with making the pretty buttons,graphics and symbols that no one else ... ...get plenty of time to sit down with my Fireworks/Freehand/Paintshop Pro/Paint tools.
Out of all of the above, I find fireworks to be the most user friendly, efficient and easy to use out of all of them. It also provides you with one of the most professional results.
It forms part of the ever growing powerful Macromedia suite. This means it interacts much better with other tools such as Flash,Coldfusion and Ultradev.
When you are developing in ...
andycharger 11.09.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of UltraDev 4 Fireworks 4 Studio 4.0 Complete package
Advantages: Great Disadvantages: you must pay for it
Some weeks ago, I surfed the web, visiting pages with cool graphics and i thought: how can they do that? Nice animations, beautiful buttons, great images...
I also own a website and really didn't know how to get so good results....
Finally I discovered Fireworks...2-3 hours to learn and I was able to build my own animated banner, my logos, my personalized buttons..Incredible....not difficult to use and really powerful.
If you own a website, Fireworks ...
ross2001 12.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of UltraDev 4 Fireworks 4 Studio 4.0 Complete package
Product Information for "UltraDev 4 Fireworks 4 Studio 4.0 Complete package" »
System requirements
OS Required
Microsoft Windows 95, Microsoft Windows 98, Apple MacOS 8.6, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP5 or later, Apple MacOS 9.x
Min RAM Size
64 MB
Min Hard Drive Space
170 MB
Peripheral / Interface Devices
Mouse or compatible device, CD-ROM
System Requirements Details
Apple MacOS 8.6 - RAM 64 MB - HD 130 MB
Apple MacOS 9.x - RAM 64 MB - HD 130 MB
Microsoft Windows 95/98 - RAM 64 MB - HD 170 MB
Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 SP5 or later - RAM 64 MB - HD 170 MB
Microsoft Windows 2000 - RAM 64 MB - HD 170 MB
Manufacturer's product description
Accelerate database-driven Web application development and graphics production. Integrate Web graphics and data-driven Web sites with the Macromedia UltraDev 4 Fireworks 4 Studio. UltraDev 4, with all the powerful new features of Dreamweaver 4, lets you construct ASP, JSP, or ColdFusion applications with total control over source code. Work efficiently with built-in server behaviors and shortcuts. The Macromedia UltraDev 4 Fireworks 4 Studio has everything you need to rapidly build Web applications for industry-standard servers in Macromedia UltraDev, incorporating graphics you create, edit, and animate in Fireworks.
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