Slicing and Optimizing

[James Steele]

Hi, I am fairly new to integrating Fireworks with Dreamweaver. I have
designed a whole site layout with links, buttons, hot spots, etc. in
Fireworks. With the whole page before me in Fireworks, do I slice it
up there and send it to Dreamweaver or do I save individual graphics
as seperate files, slice them there, if need be, then import that
single graphic to Dreamweaver?
The same question for optimizing. With my whole layout in front of
me, do I optimize the whole thing or save the individual graphics,
optimize them there ( as well as slice ) then import them to DW?
It just seems to easy to set everything up in Fireworks, slice it,
optimize it and send it to DW. I have read through a couple of books
and to me this seems to not be clicking for me. Anyone's help would
be greatly appreciated. Thank you

[Jim Babbage]

James, when you say you "designed a whole site layout" do you mean just the
look/interface?

--
| Extending Knowledge, Daily
| [url]http://www.communityMX.com/[/url]

| Jim Babbage
| Creative Partner
| Newmedia Services
| * Web Design * Photography * Training * Consulting *
| [url]http://www.nms123.ca[/url]
| [email]jbabbage@nms123.ca[/email]
"James Steele" <jimmydreams@mac.com> wrote in message
news:50a520ac.0307161035.147bb67d@posting.google.c om...

> Hi, I am fairly new to integrating Fireworks with Dreamweaver. I have
> designed a whole site layout with links, buttons, hot spots, etc. in
> Fireworks. With the whole page before me in Fireworks, do I slice it
> up there and send it to Dreamweaver or do I save individual graphics
> as seperate files, slice them there, if need be, then import that
> single graphic to Dreamweaver?
> The same question for optimizing. With my whole layout in front of
> me, do I optimize the whole thing or save the individual graphics,
> optimize them there ( as well as slice ) then import them to DW?
> It just seems to easy to set everything up in Fireworks, slice it,
> optimize it and send it to DW. I have read through a couple of books
> and to me this seems to not be clicking for me. Anyone's help would
> be greatly appreciated. Thank you

[James Steele]

"Jim Babbage" <jbabbage@rogers.com> wrote in message news:<0enRa.91153$sI91.62447@news04.bloor.is.net.c able.rogers.com>...

> James, when you say you "designed a whole site layout" do you mean just the
> look/interface?

Yes Jim. The interface, with buttons, hot spots. When I preview it
in the browser it all works fine, but I am not sure I am understanding
how I take that interface into Dreamweaver, ie. I have a colorful
border on top and on the left side. Do I make a seperate file for
that border, slice it, optimize it and send it to DW or, while still a
part of the whole interface, with text over the border, do I slice it,
slice the rest of the interface as well and send the whole thing to
DW. as one unit, sliced and optimized.

I hope that helps with clarity.

[Jim Babbage]

James:

It might help if you can post a link, but here's a couple things off the top
of my head:

I use FW to "prototype" my designs/interfaces. It's great for clients who
want to "see" something working online, and can be done very quickly. When I
have something I like, I will usually slice it accordingly in FW and export
the graphics, then "rebuild" the table inside Dreamweaver. The HTML code
will be a little leaner, and you'll be able to create pages that "stretch"
to fit your browser window. When FW creates html of your design, it creates
a "locked" table. The advantage is that - left to itself - the table won't
break apart. The downside to this, is that the table will not stretch. And,
if you were to add any text to that table, the design *would* break apart.

As for how you break apart your design for exporting, if you have manually
sliced your design, you can select individual slices and export them on
their own. Just right-click on the selected slice, and choose Export
Selected Slice. Or, you can select multiple slices and go FILE>EXPORT and
check of the "selected slices" check box.

Another thing I do, to help keep things "modular": When the design is
complete, I create a separate PING file that only contains the navigation
(assuming it's somewhat rectangular). By doing this, I can - if desire -
export this png file and actually *use* (I can see people cringing already)
the FW table as a nested table in my Dreamweaver-created page. Advantage? If
my page becomes longer than the initial design, my navbar won't break apart,
a it could if I was using an FW table for the entire page. I could also just
export the graphics and recreate the navbar in DW.

These are some things that *I* do. They're not necessarily the only way, and
I am sure others will be happy to give you some advice on this topic. If you
have any other questions, or if I wasn't clear enough, just post again. I am
watching the thread..

If you're interested, I have posted several free, illustrated articles and
tutorials about Fireworks MX at the following link:

[url]http://www.communitymx.com/free.cfm[/url]

--
| Extending Knowledge, Daily
| [url]http://www.communityMX.com/[/url]

| Jim Babbage
| Creative Partner
| Newmedia Services
| * Web Design * Photography * Training * Consulting *
| [url]http://www.nms123.ca[/url]
| [email]jbabbage@nms123.ca[/email]


"James Steele" <jimmydreams@mac.com> wrote in message
news:50a520ac.0307170527.13bf5157@posting.google.c om...

> "Jim Babbage" <jbabbage@rogers.com> wrote in message

news:<0enRa.91153$sI91.62447@news04.bloor.is.net.c able.rogers.com>...

> > James, when you say you "designed a whole site layout" do you mean just

the

> > look/interface?

>
>
> Yes Jim. The interface, with buttons, hot spots. When I preview it
> in the browser it all works fine, but I am not sure I am understanding
> how I take that interface into Dreamweaver, ie. I have a colorful
> border on top and on the left side. Do I make a seperate file for
> that border, slice it, optimize it and send it to DW or, while still a
> part of the whole interface, with text over the border, do I slice it,
> slice the rest of the interface as well and send the whole thing to
> DW. as one unit, sliced and optimized.
>
> I hope that helps with clarity.

[James Steele]

Thank you Jim. You have been very helpful and I have much more
understanding now that I have gotten these responses. I plan on
checking out the website you mentioned and again, I very much
appreciate your helpful advice

James Steele

[Jim Babbage]

You're more than welcome, James! Glad I could help.

--
| Extending Knowledge, Daily
| [url]http://www.communityMX.com/[/url]

| Jim Babbage
| Creative Partner
| Newmedia Services
| * Web Design * Photography * Training * Consulting *
| [url]http://www.nms123.ca[/url]
| [email]jbabbage@nms123.ca[/email]
"James Steele" <jimmydreams@mac.com> wrote in message
news:50a520ac.0307180939.2f40a5df@posting.google.c om...

> Thank you Jim. You have been very helpful and I have much more
> understanding now that I have gotten these responses. I plan on
> checking out the website you mentioned and again, I very much
> appreciate your helpful advice
>
> James Steele