Fireworks vs. PE2 + Lynch book (Hidden Power)

Posted: 09-19-2003, 08:28 PM

Paul Bullen

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A few years ago, when I decided I should make a Web site, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out which software I should use. My final decision was GoLive (this was before it was owned by Adobe) and Macromedia's Fireworks. Now that I am using Photoshop Elements 2, I have the following question: How much can Fireworks do, that cannot be done with Photoshop Elements?

I assumed that Photoshop Elements had not made Fireworks completely (or at least sufficiently) redundant, but looking in Richard Lynch's _The Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements 2_ (San Francisco: Sybex, 2003), it seems that PE 2 can do more than I realized (e.g., rollovers)--although some of this may only be possible using the software that comes with the book (which I have not used yet since I must first return my Borders copy and order another one from Amazon, where it is quite a bit cheaper). I should mention that I still have only Adobe Go Live 4 and Macromedia Fireworks 3.

Thanks for any help.

Paul (Bullen)

Responses to "Fireworks vs. PE2 + Lynch book (Hidden Power)"

Richard Lynch

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Re: Fireworks vs. PE2 + Lynch book (Hidden Power)

Posted: 09-20-2003, 01:12 AM

It is unlikely that you will want to use Elements as a piece of your puzzle in a production environment for creating websites -- unless you use other tools for development. Where I would trust Elements to do all manner of correction to images and even image development that I think Fireworks could not match, the ability to work with slices effectively is something that I would treat as more-or-less alpha (as a development term) for Elements. I can do it, but, um, I don't know if it is entirely ready for prime-time.

On the other hand for a single web site with just a few pages, you might get along fine. It depends on your expectations, needs and expertise. If you are learning, I would learn with a primitive tool. Carpenters don't start with air-hammers, they start with the regular kind...developing a need for production tools in a production environment. Every carpenter will have a hammer. not all will have a nailgun. Experience and need decides the latter.

I would be curious when you run into problems what it is you will want to do...and perhaps I can solve them for you.

Richard Lynch

Paul Bullen

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Re: Fireworks vs. PE2 + Lynch book (Hidden Power)

Posted: 09-20-2003, 02:00 AM

Pretty much the only thing I use GoLive and Fireworks for is maintaining my own Web site (http://paul.bullen.com). I guess the main thing I would want to use Fireworks for in the foreseeable future is be to make graphics for the occasional new page or to make new roll-overs like the ones I already have. The problem with using these programs only every now and then is there is some relearning that has to take place every time. So I guess being 'low maintenance' is a value in my case.

My more serious long-term and continuous interest will be in manipulating photographs, for printing and for the Web--but not professionally. For the latter purposes, I have found the Web Photo Gallery feature of Photoshop Elements 2 to be a time saver. In the past I would manually make a separate page for each photo in GoLive and link it to navigation page. I used to optimize my photos for the Web using Fireworks, but now use PE2--which gave rise to the question of whether there was any need to upgrade and use Fireworks.

It would be nice if the banner was optional in the frames of Web Photo Gallery, since having a banner above every photo makes scrolling necessary under some circumstances. I find the vertical frame the only practical one for my purposes.

A separate question would be, if one is going to be using Adobe GoLive and Adobe Photoshop Elements, is there was a third Adobe product that, together with the other two, would make Fireworks redundant (at least for my purposes). I am vaguely thinking there may be some benefit to having everything made by the same company. Even so, it may not be practical if the price of upgrading Fireworks is significantly less than the price of that third Adobe product.
--Paul (Bullen)

Beth Haney

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Re: Fireworks vs. PE2 + Lynch book (Hidden Power)

Posted: 09-20-2003, 02:40 PM

Paul, check the forum archives. That banner can be removed; I did it on mine. It requires going into the the Presets, Web Gallery and removing it from the pages. I'd be happy to explain how to do it, but I know I'd mess it up! If you know a little bit of HTML you can do a lot of modifying on those Gallery layout pages. Or, start a new thread. I need a review, too! :)

Paul Bullen

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Re: Fireworks vs. PE2 + Lynch book (Hidden Power)

Posted: 09-21-2003, 09:54 PM

Beth,
Thanks. I took your advice and was able to get rid of the banner.

Thanks also to Richard Lynch for his comments and advice.

--Paul (Bullen)

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