I’ve got a great Fireworks resource for you, and it’s called “Firworks Lab.” I love their tag line, “The Fireworks Resource Site that does not suck.”
True story.
I’m a long time user and lover of Fireworks. A lot of web design stuff you hear about and find tends to lean more towards Photoshop, which totally makes sense. Photoshop gives you that “pop” (I really hate saying that) that you just can’t get with Fireworks. However, Fireworks is great for mocking up sites and it’s easy to port over. Creating layers, working with PNGs, it really is a sturdy tool. I leave final touches and logos up to Photoshop.
When Adobe scooped up Macromedia, I was afraid they might scrap Fireworks or abandon it in the process, and that they were more interested in acquiring Flash and Dreamweaver. Thankfully, that was not the case.
Adobe has continue to foster Fireworks, as it has continued to not only get better, but since they’ve interlocked it with Dreamweaver, PhotoShop, Illustrator and the rest of the Adobe tools, it is even a more valuable tool than before.
So, if you have Fireworks bundled with your other Adobe products, and you haven’t cracked it open much, now may be just the time!
Fireworks Lab
Fireworks Lab was started by Interfacedesigner Ivo Mynttinen, to aid the Adobe Fireworks Community by offering free Firework Resources, mostly Fireworks *PNG-files.
Here’s what sets Firworks Lab apart from others you may have come across:
- You’ll only find Adobe Fireworks files, no PSDs.
- You’re only going to find high quality stuff, here.
- All the files you download from the Fireworks Lab are free for personal and commercial use.
- It doesn’t suck.
So get crackin’!
Fireworks is fairly new on the scene, so there isn’t a lot there, yet. They accept submissions, so go take a look, grab some files, submit some of your best work, and maybe get yourself noticed!
[HT: @SmashingMag]
Allan White says
Long live Fireworks!
I’m not using it at the moment because I don’t have it in my quiver, but when I was doing a lot of web work in the early 2000’s it was my go-to tool. I still miss the vectory goodness, frames, and symbols.
Illustrator has come a long way to being more web-comp-friendly; I used it to comp up my latest site. However, Fireworks is a smoother blend of AI and PSD. Since I’m back doing web dev for a spell (after a 5-year hiatus doing video & event production), I might just take advantage of Adobe’s new rental pricing.
Eric Dye says
Cool! It can feel a little lonely in the Fireworks corner, sometimes.
Nice site, BTW. Good work.
Allan White says
Whups! Sorry, the link to the comp should be: http://db.tt/f69PbPG. Just a little before-and-after. See? Fireworks would have been perfect for it.
Eric Dye says
For real.
The site still turned-out really good, though.
Elliott Munoz says
Photoshop for “pop?” Come on.
Every website in my portfolio was created in Fireworks. Every last detail.
Fireworks can hang with Photoshop when it comes to website creation (and even detail work). Like anything else, you just need to experiment.
Great resource. Thanks for sharing.
Eric Dye says
Shame on me. I figured the “pop” comment would come back and hit me in the face. What version are you running?
Elliott Munoz says
CS5, but I’ve been using it siiiiiiince…Fireworks 4(ish). I’ve been using it for, geez, almost 10 years now. The bulk of my portfolio was created using Fireworks CS3.
Let me know if you’re looking for guest contributors. You have my email address.
Eric Dye says
Awesome. Me, too! (FW4)
We are always on the look-out for contributors!
Here’s the info —> https://churchm.ag/contribute/