Adobe is continuing its tradition in Fireworks CS4 by integrating its interface with that of other Adobe CS4 programs. Once again, I did a review of Fireworks CS3 soon after it was released. Fireworks is a web prototyping program which can work with both pixel based and vector based images. You can output the Fireworks designs to the application platform of your choice: Adobe AIR, HTML, Flash, or Flex®; share them via Adobe ConnectNow; create Adobe AIR™ prototypes, and more. You can have many pages within a document and navigate to them through the Page panel.

The user interface is now consistent with other Adobe CS4 programs such as Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver.......There are a number of styles available such as Expanded mode

and Iconic mode.

While you can change the "tab" setting globally in Photoshop so individual images appear instead of having them all tabbed on the top, I could not do a global control in Fireworks CS4. However, I could drag them off the tab bar and they opened as individual images.

Horizontal and Vertical guides can be easily moved into place from the top and left rulers. As you move them, if Tooltips is selected in the View menu, you will see the coordinates. Also, as you move the image, you will see the size of the image. You can, also, ascertain the amount of space between guides by pressing the shift key.

You can tell the size of an object using Smart Guides from the View menu and creating a marquee around an image.

The left toolbar is divided into section according to the type of work you want to perform.

You can design complete web pages in Fireworks CS4 and then export them as web-standard, compliant CSS-based layouts, complete with external style sheets. When you open a PSD image in Fireworks CS4, you can export it to create an HTML document as well as a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS). You can set this up in basically one step.

First, you will decide how you will open the Photoshop image in Fireworks CS4.

Next you save this image and export it as a CSS compliant html page with a CSS external style sheet. First we need to set up the HTML. You have an option whether you want to create an external style sheet or not.

Fireworks CS4 lets you do more with styles. There is a large collection of style presets and it is very easy to change them.

The Properties bar, also, lets you redefine a style and shows the style currently in use.

Commands on the top toolbar should not be overlooked. It contains some very powerful options such as Auto Vector Masking.

There are a number of choices for creating auto vector masks in that menu. Below shows a before and after screen capture. (Original image is courtesy of Adobe.)

Working with symbols in Fireworks CS4 has become more robust. This version supports nested symbols.You can use them over and over again in different programs. For example, you can copy them into Dreamweaver CS4 as GIFs or JPGs.

The list below sums up the top new features:

Fireworks CS4 has some really useful new and enhanced features for creating prototypes and presenting these to a client in one document. It interacts well with Dreamweaver CS4, Photoshop CS4, etc. and continues in the CS4 tradition of creating CSS style sheets. I tested as many of the new and what I felt were important features and they all worked smoothly. The workflow is easy with the new interface and dockable and undockable panels.

System requirements

Windows

  • 1GHz or faster processor
  • Microsoft® Windows® XP with Service Pack 2 (Service Pack 3 recommended) or Windows Vista® Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, or Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (certified for 32-bit Windows XP and Windows Vista)
  • 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
  • 1GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on flash-based storage devices)
  • 1,024x768 display (1,280x800 recommended) with 16-bit video card
  • DVD-ROM drive
  • Broadband Internet connection required for online services

Mac OS

  • PowerPC® G5 or multicore Intel® processor
  • Mac OS X v10.4.11–10.5.4
  • 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended)
  • 1GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system or on flash-based storage devices)
  • 1,024x768 display (1,280x800 recommended) with 16-bit video card
  • DVD-ROM drive
  • Broadband Internet connection required for online services

A new version of Fireworks CS4 costs US $299.00 with an upgrade from Fireworks CS3 of US $149.00. There are, also, special upgrade prices for previously owned versions.

To learn more about Fireworks, go the that product page on the Adobe website. You can, also, try it by registering on the demo site.

For information on the Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection, click on the link. The cost is US $2,499.00 with upgrades from US $899.00 You can get a trial DVD set for US $15.99. This link, also, lists all the programs contained in the Master Collection as well as give information on the individual programs.

  • InDesign® CS4
  • Photoshop® CS4 Extended
  • Illustrator® CS4
  • Acrobat® 9 Pro
  • Flash® CS4 Professional
  • Dreamweaver® CS4

 

  • Fireworks® CS4
  • Contribute® CS4
  • After Effects® CS4
  • Adobe Premiere® Pro CS4
  • Soundbooth® CS4
  • Adobe OnLocation™ CS4
  • Encore® CS4*
  • Adobe Bridge CS4
  • Adobe Device Central CS4
  • Dynamic Link
  • Version Cue® CS4

For more information on Adobe products, go to http://www.adobe.com

Below are links to my reviews of other Adobe CS4 software.

Review of Acrobat 9 Pro

Review of Photoshop CS4 Extended

Review of Illustrator CS4

Review of Dreamweaver CS4

Review of Flash CS4 Professional

Flash CS4 Professional

Review of InDesign CS4