Fireworks 4.0

by Macromedia

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000050XAK
• Item model number: FWM40D01
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 13, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #24,750 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #49 in Software > Web Development > Web Effects > Objects
  • #91 in Software > Web Development > Web Effects > Animation
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Fireworks, Photoshop, Fireworks, Photoshop. If you've been researching Web-graphics software, these two names are likely rattling around your head incessantly. So which program is right for you? Well, while Photoshop wrangles the title of best overall high-end image editor year after year, it's still not the most robust solution for Web graphics--that claim belongs to Fireworks 4.0. Dedicated to the Web-graphics world, each new Fireworks release strengthens its hold on its domain (no pun intended). And if Dreamweaver is your Web editor of choice, uniting the two programs will make you a very happy matchmaker indeed.

Fireworks' strengths lie in its focus on the creation and optimization of bitmapped and vector Web graphics. Files are easily integrated into Macromedia Flash and Dreamweaver, and importing/exporting Adobe PhotoShop and Illustrator files is a breeze, especially with the program's improved layer-mask handling and a new Color Fill Live effect. Version 4 rolls out a new interface that Flash, Dreamweaver, and FreeHand users will recognize. Tabbed menus allow for customization and keep the screen tidy while organizing elements. New tools for adding interactive elements--rollovers, navigation bars, and pop-up menus--are a very welcome sight. And a Live Animation feature creates frame-based GIF animations, using symbols, instances, and tweening features familiar to Flash users. With built-in HTML and JavaScript capabilities, version 4 delivers the goods to the Web-graphics design community.

Like we mentioned, Dreamweaver users will fully realize Fireworks' full potential. These two programs assimilate perfectly, creating the most powerful Web-editing suite available today. --Eric Twelker--This review refers to the Windows version.

Amazon.com Product Description

Macromedia Fireworks 4 delivers a robust solution for Web design professionals who seek a standard way to create and optimize Web graphics. Quickly create resolution-independent vectors, edit bitmap images, and create GIF animations with multiple frames in a professional environment. Fireworks 4 Web graphics workflow is optimized for creating advanced interactivity. Easily develop buttons, rollover effects, and sophisticated navigation schemes with multilevel pop-up menus in a step-by-step visual environment. Support for multiple file formats and common design standards lets you quickly design and produce graphics, HTML, and JavaScript that can be moved seamlessly between popular graphics and HTML applications, such as Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Flash and Dreamweaver. Use accessible controls to reposition, redirect, and reanimate simple animations across multiple frames from within the Fireworks workspace. Quickly set up and execute batch processes, including commands, by using the step-by-step Batch Processing Wizard. Edit and update HTML and JavaScript code and graphics from Dreamweaver, while maintaining edits to your table. Use enhanced setup and export of HTML/JavaScript and images to customize automatic file naming, table handling, and other output options.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Everything is editable, LOVELY, May 27, 2001

By 

M. Hamoui (Accra, Ghana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fireworks 4.0 (CD-ROM)

Macromedia has done a great job with this product; it is a comprehensive graphic creation package that works with both vector/based and pixel/based editing capabilities. Contrary to what all designers/developers think, FIREWORKS 4 integrates perfectly with Macromedia dreamweaver AND Macromedia Director.here are some of the things you can do with fireworks 4: *You can save a file as an editable png format and import it from director. You can go back to edit it using fireworks every time. Which is great, because now, we can consider that director has a developed vector/bitmap editor * Fireworks 4 gives a new meaning to the word wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) web creation tool. Rollovers are as easy to create as doing a drag and drop. And popup menus are very easy to create. You don't have to think about the programming. * Fireworks is a tool especially conceived for web graphics; hence, you only work with 72 dpi images and you can always preview them in the browser. without getting too much concerned about optimizing. * Fireworks is a very big boost in productivity, whether you work on Director or on Dreamweaver. it handles all the calculations and saving for you. so you don't have each time to calculate the image sizes and mull over how to compress it. * EVERYTHING in fireworks is editable and nothing you do is committing (like in other graphic creation software), you can always edit the fill of you objects, re-define the gradation inside, change the stroke, effect and fill. The texture, the transparency and even the texture of the stroke. Which could come very much in handy when one is creating rollovers. In other words.. Fireworks 4 is a great program to have if you want to increase your productivity in all that has to do with creating graphics for the screen.