Fireworks MX Magic (Magic (New Riders)) [Paperback]

Lisa Lopuck (Author)

Book Description

Series: Magic (New Riders) | Publication Date: June 12, 2002

Fireworks MX Magic has self-contained projects including step-by-step instructions, explanations, tips, and tricks. You can customize each project or use them as launching pads for their own projects. This book covers the functional upgrades and best practices of Fireworks with special emphasis on building web graphics, animation, navigation, and integrating Fireworks into the workflow. Macromedia's Fireworks allows users to develop illustrations, manipulate photos, and design layouts while offering integration with all professional web applications including Flash, Dreamweaver, and UltraDev. CD-ROM contains all files needed to complete projects in the book.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

As a former Photoshop "evangelist," author Lopuck is the perfect person to tout the versatility and efficiency of Fireworks for creating Web graphics. In Fireworks MX Magic, she brings together several Fireworks power users ("tech heads and artsy folks," including Steven Grosvenor and Jeffrey Bardzell of the cool Phireworx.com) to reveal their working methods and shortcuts through excellent tutorials using professional-quality graphics. (Complete project files are on the companion CD-ROM.)

The projects reflect problems, from simple to complex, faced by Web developers every day; for example, creating vector and bitmap art, making animated buttons for use in Flash, or site management using the URL panel, link libraries, Project Log, and Find and Replace. Also covered are not-so-basic but still fundamental Fireworks skills like creating and customizing pop-up menus and "round tripping" a file between Fireworks and Dreamweaver. Even experienced users will appreciate the expert tips included; for example, repurposing the pop-up menu into a Help Tips button on your site by increasing the menu delay to three or four seconds. More advanced sections cover areas many intermediate users never get around to, like using the batch-processing tools to change fonts or scale and export several images, managing the Library and Styles panels for collaborative workflow, or creating a custom command (like "Rotate > Resize > Move"). They even show how to add on a user interface.

Although the illustrations in the book are in black and white, most readers will follow along with the project files on the computer, anyway. The writing is clear and precise, without excess commentary or jokes, making the learning process fairly speedy for those already familiar with Fireworks. And, as with other books in the Magic series, Fireworks MX Magic has a wide format that lies open easily on your desk.

Taking advantage of the integration between all the Macromedia applications can greatly increase your workflow. If you already use Dreamweaver or Flash but have resisted switching over to Fireworks from ImageReady, Fireworks MX Magic will help you get off the ground running. --Angelynn Grant

From the Back Cover

Fireworks MX Magic has self-contained projects including step-by-step instructions, explanations, tips, and tricks. You can customize each project or use them as launching pads for their own projects. This book covers the functional upgrades and best practices of Fireworks with special emphasis on building web graphics, animation, navigation, and integrating Fireworks into the workflow. Macromedia's Fireworks allows users to develop illustrations, manipulate photos, and design layouts while offering integration with all professional web applications including Flash, Dreamweaver, and UltraDev. CD-ROM contains all files needed to complete projects in the book.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Press (June 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735711402
• ISBN-13: 978-0735711402
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 10 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,974,596 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #65 in Books > Computers & Technology > Graphic Design > Web Design > Fireworks

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 15 Projects - Excellent for becoming an Intermediate User., September 19, 2003

By 

Harinath Thummalapalli (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fireworks MX Magic (Magic (New Riders)) (Paperback)

This expensive book on Fireworks MX has a little over 200 pages covering 15 projects. It is assumed that you are a beginner wanting to move to the next level. The projects address important problems you will encounter on a daily basis and explain solutions in a simple step by step fashion.

To give a preview of what to expect when you work through this book - you will learn how to create flashy buttons, understand the concepts behind large-scale link management, building the ultimate navigational bar, creating perfect pop-up menus, etc. There are a few advanced topics like using Fireworks extensions and collaborative workflow. All in all, this is an excellent book deriving its value from the project based approach (one project per chapter) written and reviewed by experts in the industry.

The entire book is in black and white so the only color you will see is the little yellowish orange on the cover. The book doesn't sit like a normal book on a bookshelf because of its unique dimensions (8x10 instead of 10x8). I personally didn't care too much for this format but it isn't bothersome either. The project files are on the accompanying CD-ROM. The book uses a two column format throughout whereby the text is aligned with the associated images. This provides faster understanding of the topic being discussed.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the chapters on how to build a very cool navigational bar and how to design a dynamic interface using rollovers etc. The chapter on flashy buttons was fun also. Beginners will not be confused by the writing style which is very direct and simple. I didn't find anything magical about this book as hinted in the title but it is a very practical book and useful to almost any Fireworks designer.

Considering the tremendous background that the authors possess, they could have provided more tips and covered another 10-15 projects for the price of the book. But other than that, this is an excellent book on the path to becoming an Intermediate user if you don't mind the price. Enjoy!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent How To & Fun!, October 14, 2002

By 

"debdebonline" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fireworks MX Magic (Magic (New Riders)) (Paperback)

I had a lot of fun going through this book learning how to use most of the tools Fireworks MX has to offer. The only improvement I'd make is color! I was surprised to find such a rich book in black and white. Overall, I recommend this book to anyone doing graphics for the web. This book is a great intro and Fireworks is a great tool.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not completely useless but certainly not very good., June 24, 2003

By 

technical spectacle - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fireworks MX Magic (Magic (New Riders)) (Paperback)

These "Magic" books are very hit and miss and this one does more missing than hitting. While there are a few good sections, this book is more of a portfolio for a few selected graphic designers than a useful instructional guide.

Fireworks Magic is divided into sections which deal with certain tasks, or techniques. In many of the "Magic" books this works because the techniques are useful, timesaving, or at least provide motivation and inspiration to create. That is not the case here. The problem with this particualr book is two fold:

The techniques illustrated are, in many cases, elementary in comparison to the book's focus. If you do not know how to blend a background together (a web technique used sparingly in modern design anyway) or proper exporting formats (jpg vs. gif), why would you spend hundreds of dollars on Fireworks which is almost exclusively a web design tool? This book has almost no instructional value so even if you were a designer and your firm was switching over to fireworks (something we did several years ago) this in no way reflects the type of book your boss would put on your desk to bring you up to speed. In other words, if you were reading this book, you probably already have fireworks experience but they want to show you how to blend a background or export a .gif? Not very well thought out.

Secondly, the work presented in this book is, with a couple of exceptions, poor. If one of my designers presented something similar to the work shown in most sections of this book, we would be having a serious talk about their need for retraining. In fact, there are many techniques used in this book which I truly question.

In the very least, this book could have been a source of design inspiration. It the best case it could have been both a inspirational design book and have some good instructional content. In reality it has neither. With the exception of two sections, this book is a proverbial show and tell for mediocre designers.