Macromedia Fireworks

Objectives

This course will enable delegates to:
1. Create interactive, browser neutral Web sites using Macromedia Fireworks;
2. Enhance your Web site with images and animation;
3. Organise and manage your site effectively

Two day Introduction

Fireworks Workspace
Opening and managing image files; Understanding and using the floating panels; Building an image with the toolbox; Switching between bitmap and vector mode.

Editing Images
Tools for drawing lines and shapes; Editing points and curves; The object info panel; Working with groups of objects; Aligning and merging shapes; Changing the order, transparency, pattern and texture of objects.

Colour Techniques
Understanding and using colours; Palettes, Swatches and Color Tables; Setting and editing colour gradients; Creating fills and strokes, including variable transparency, radial, linear and custom gradients.

Layers and Frames
Drawing on different layers; Distributing images to frames for animation.

Using the History Palette
Undo, redo and repeating several steps; Recording and reusing events.

Editing Text
Creating text areas; Changing text properties, including kerning and spacing; Text along curves.

Exporting Images
Choosing an image format; GIF palette and transparency; Compression and quality; Export previews; Creating export presets; Choosing appropriate file type; Export wizard and exporting slices; Exporting to a target file size.

Animated GIFs
Symbols, instances, buttons and graphics; Setting frame disposal methods; Onion-skinning and tweening to aid design.

Rollovers, Image Maps and Slices
Creating interactive buttons in the Web Layer; Choosing button features and effects; Making image maps; Creating disjointed links to alter parts of the page other than the buttons; Creating complex tables for slices from simple images; Making the most of the URL manager.

Managing Files
Options when saving images and HTML; Using find and replace; Project logs and batch processing.

Libraries and Styles
Creating library objects and sharing with Dreamweaver; Creating styles for graphics and for text.