Macromedia Dreamweaver 4 Fireworks 4 Studio: Training from the Source
Authors: Patti Schulze
Venue:  (2001)

From the Book:IntroductionMacromedia Fireworks 4 is a powerful design and graphics editor, and Macromedia Dreamweaver is a robust visual Web page authoring tool. Used together, Fireworks and Dreamweaver are a powerful pair of Web design tools offering a complete Web development solution. The two programs offer integration features to aid your workflow as you design and optimize your graphics, build your HTML pages, and place the Web graphics on the page. This Macromedia Training from the Source program introduces you to the major features of Fireworks 4 by guiding you step by step through the creation of several Web pages. The book's ii lessons begin with the bitmap tools to edit an image and then take you though the steps of creating a logo for a fictitious company and designing Web pages. You then add rollover buttons and export your pages as HTML files. The last lesson covers the integration between Fireworks and Dreamweaver. This book is not intended to teach you Dreamweaver, but you will use Dreamweaver in Lesson ii to see how Fireworks and Dreamweaver work together. For step-by-step instruction in Dreamweaver, see Macromedia Dreamweaver4: Training from the Source, also published by Macromedia Press. This roughly 16-hour curriculum includes these lesson topics: Lesson 1: Bitmap Editing Lesson 2: Working with Groups and Layers Lesson 3: Using Vector Tools Lesson 4: Text, Fills, and Live Effects Lesson 5: Advanced Techniques Lesson 6: Optimizing and Exporting Lesson 7: Creating Animated GI F Images Lesson 8: Creating Buttons Lesson 9: Creating Image Maps and Slices Lesson 10: Production Techniques Lesson 11: Integrating with Dreamweaver Each lesson begins with an overview of its contents and what you can expect to learn. Lessons are divided into focused, bite-size tasks to build your Fireworks skills. Each lesson builds on what you've learned in previous lessons. SETTING UP THE LESSON FILES You'll find all the files needed for these lessons on the accompanying CD. Copy the Lessons folder to your hard drive before you start the lessons. As you work through the lessons, you will open files within the Lessons folder. If you are working on a Windows machine, the files you copy from the Lessons folder on the CD are locked. Within the Lessons folder is a DOS batch file (unlock files.bat) that you can execute to unlock all of the files in the folder automatically. Double-click the batch file to begin the unlocking process. The locked files are a concern only in Lesson 1i. If you do not unlock the files, you will get a warning message when you open them. Folder names and file names are capitalized throughout this book for readability. Some Web servers do not support capital letters for file names. When you are building your images and HTML pages, it is a good idea to use lowercase for all your file names. That way, you are assured the file names are supported on any server. AUTHORIZED TRAINING FOR MACROMEDIA Each book in the Macromedia Training from the Source series is based upon curriculum originally developed for use by Macromedia's authorized trainers. The lesson plans were developed by some of Macromedia's most successful trainers and refined through long experience to meet students' needs. We believe that Macromedia Training from the Source courses offer the best available training for Macromedia programs. The lessons in this book assume that you are a beginner with Fireworks but that you are familiar with the basic methods of giving commands on a Windows or Macintosh computer, such as choosing items from menus, opening and saving files, and so on. For more information on those tasks, see the documentation provided with your computer. Finally, the instructions in the book also assume that you already have Fireworks 4 and Dreamweaver 4 installed on a Windows or Macintosh computer, and that your computer meets the system requirements listed on the System Requirements page. THE TRAINING FROM THE SOURCE APPROACH AND ITS ELEMENTS Throughout this book, you will encounter some special features: Tips: These highlight shortcuts for performing common tasks or ways you can use your new Fireworks skills to solve common problems. Power Tips: These highlight productivity shortcuts. Notes: These provide background information about a feature or task. Italic terms: Words in italic indicate the exact text or file name you need to enter in a dialog box or panel as you work through the steps in a lesson. Menu commands and keyboard shortcuts: Alternative methods for executing commands. Menu commands are shown like this: Menu > Command > Subcommand. Keyboard shortcuts are shown like this: Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Command+Z (Macintosh). The + between the names of the keys means that you should press both keys simultaneously and both Windows and Macintosh commands will always be included. WHAT Y0U WILL LEARN By the end of this book, you will be able to: Use the bitmap tools in Fireworks to edit an image Use the vector tools to draw shapes Combine simple shapes to create complex objects Add text effects, such as text on a path, to your pages Create buttons with rollovers and use effects for realistic-looking buttons Optimize and export your images Create animated GIF images Use batch processing to export a catalog of images Use Dreamweaver to add text to your exported HTML pages MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Windows Windows 95, 98, ME, or 2000 Professional 64 MB available RAM 80 MB available disk space 166 MHz or faster Intel Pentium Il processor (or equivalent) CD-ROM drive 256-color monitor with at least 800 x 600 pixel resolution For Windows NT 4 users: Service Pack 5 or later installed Version 4 or later of Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer Macintosh Mac OS 8.6 or 9.x QuickTime 3.0 or later 64 MB available RAM 80 MB available disk space G3 or later processor recommended CD-ROM drive 256-color monitor with at least 800 x 600 pixel resolution Version 4 or later of Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer The ACM Portal is published by the Association for Computing Machinery. 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